After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States declared war on Japan the very next day, officially entering World War II.
But the outbreak of World War II plunged American education into a full-blown crisis. After many people enlisted, demand for skilled workers surged.
This created a huge need for vocational training, especially in technical fields. Some community colleges added two-year degree programs and developed into business schools.
Some teachers decided to leave and pursue other fields where they could earn more, leaving most high schools with the helpless problem of not having enough teachers.
But the truly "elite" high schools, the academies closely affiliated with Ivy League universities, had no such problem.
Meister Academy had been founded in the 1870s in the suburbs of New York, just a thirty-minute drive from downtown and even closer to Long Island.
Today was Erik Lehnsherr's first day at school. Meister Academy was a coeducational school combining junior and senior high, with a seven-year program. More than sixty percent of its graduates went on to Ivy League schools.
James had brought Erik, his mother, and his father's bones back to New York and buried them at Ferncliff Cemetery. The grounds were beautiful, and many celebrities and important figures were buried there.
Erik Lehnsherr and his mother, Edith, were deeply grateful. Having lost their country and family, they were overwhelmed by James's invitation. Edith was an ordinary Jewish woman with a simple, heartfelt sense of gratitude; refusing him never even crossed her mind.
Through the car window, Erik saw the ornate iron gates of Meister Academy, covered in wisteria. He felt uneasy. He already knew some English; his father, Jakob, had long done business in the United Kingdom.
After arriving in New York, he had spent three months brushing up on English