Sara Kaplan
Teaching Tolerance
Well, I liked teaching kids what they didn't know. I liked teaching kids about black kids and white kids and Asian kids. I liked that kind of thing. I never was angry with any student that I had. If I wouldn't like what he was doing, I'd tell him so. But I liked teaching. I really liked it.Ó
“I’ve been to Israel twice. My husband took me once, and in the 1960s I took, I think, 14 kids to Israel when there was a convention. And I took them from different high schools. I took one from Seattle, I think I took two from my school, and then took one from every school here. There were no Jewish students. Or maybe one Jewish student, a mix of kids, a mix of religion. I took a couple of foreign students there. And it was very nice. I wish I could do it again.”
Shared Passions
“I really loved Seymour Kaplan. I keep thinking about him all the time. He was an Anti-Defamation League Director. We were kindred spirits in many ways. We shared his work. And working with the Democratic Party, and I guess everything. And he was very good to our children.”
The Importance of Israel
“One day, when the Democrats were not supporting Israel, we actually walked out of a political party. I had been a Jew in a foreign city-Pearsall, Texas. Where none of my friends were Jewish, except they went to my graduation. But when the State of Israel began, it was great. I was in New York at [Columbia] University when the State of Israel was formed. A lot of people came to my room and told me. It was a very exciting
moment for me.”
Mrs Kaplan was my practicum teacher at Franklin High School in Seattle in the early 70s. As a young “naive” white man, I was shocked at the conditions in the school compared to my high school - a white middle class area - not more than 5 miles away from Franklin. The inequality was horrendous, but they had Sara Kaplan who embraced the challenge to make a difference. And she did make a difference! I learned so much under her guidance regarding tolerance, care, history, and progressivism that has sustained me over the 50 plus years since. Sara was a unique soul and we are all richer because of the work she did day in and out. We could use a hundred Sara Kaplans today! Thank you Mrs Kaplan!