VIII
RURAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES
The term "Americanization" is used in two senses. In the narrower one it
applies to our immigrant population only, and in a broader sense it
applies to everybody, natives and immigrants alike. This means the
Americanization of America. This broader meaning embraces the whole
national life in all its conditions, tendencies, and forms of expression.
When the writer accepted the invitation of the Study of Methods of
Americanization to make a field investigation of rural developments from
the viewpoint of Americanization, he was certain that the study must be
conducted in relation to the immigrant colonies only. The study of the
Americanization of America would lead us nowhere, especially in view of
the smallness of available forces and the shortness of time. The study
must be confined, therefore, to the immigrant elements of the
population, and even then it could only be a preliminary survey to
reveal the problems to be studied later in detail.
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION
But the first observations in the field study soon convinced him that a
broader scope is inevitable. For instance, inquiry into the conditions
of the immigrants in relation to the acquisition of land for cultivation
necessarily led him to the general land question in the country, land
policies, land laws, land-dealing methods. In even a more striking way
did the field study of immigrant education in the rural districts lead
to the question of general public education in rural communities
regardless of their racial composition.
[Illustration: THESE CHILDREN AND TEACHERS IN NEW MEXICO JOIN FORCES TO
WIPE OUT ILLITERACY]
[Illustration: THE LARGEST GIRL WON A PRIZE FOR SCHOLARSHIP]
Education has always been more of a problem in rural districts than urban.
Evidence of this is found in the 1910 Census, which shows that for every
illiterate person living in an urban community there are approximately two
living in rural communities. The higher per cent of illiteracy in the rural
districts is even more marked in the states where immigrants are settling
than in the country as a whole. In New Mexico, Arizona, and California the
ratio is about 250 illiterates in the country to every 100 in the city.
Among the foreign born in rural districts in three of these states an
exceptionally high per cent of illiteracy prevails. For Texas 35 per cent,
New Mexico 34 per cent, and Arizona 37 per cent, of the rural foreign born
are illiterate--in contrast to 13 per cent for the United States. With the
exception of Louisiana these per cents are the highest in the country and
presage a problem that cannot be overlooked in a consideration of land
settlement for the foreign born.
Equally significant are the 1910 comparisons of the figures for
immigrants' inability to speak English in urban and rural communities.
Although the contrast for the country as a whole is not so striking,
being 21.9 per cent in cities as compared with 25.2 per cent in rural
districts, the differences in the four states where new immigrants are
settling on farms are considerable.
TABLE IV
PER CENT UNABLE TO SPEAK ENGLISH, OF TOTAL FOREIGN BORN, TEN YEARS OF
AGE AND OVER, IN URBAN AND RURAL COMMUNITIES[21]
================================================
| Per Cent |
---------------+---------------| Ratio of
| Urban | Rural | Rural to Urban
---------------+-------+-------+----------------
Texas | 41.8 | 64.0 | 153.1
New Mexico | 28.5 | 61.7 | 216.5
Arizona | 48.2 | 62.6 | 129.9
California | 10.5 | 22.4 | 213.3
|-------+-------+----------------
United States | 21.9 | 25.2 | 115.0
================================================
Over 60 per cent of the foreign born in rural communities in Texas, New
Mexico, and Arizona are unable to speak English. The principal foreign
group is composed of Mexicans who come from a non-English-speaking
country which has a high per cent of illiteracy. They go into the rural
communities of these border states, where there is practically no
schooling opportunity either for learning the English language or for
learning to read and write. While only 22.4 per cent are not able to
speak English in California rural districts, this is more than twice as
many as are unable to speak it in California cities. This is a high
ratio in the one state in the country which provides public settlement
projects. While these situations are perhaps extreme, their existence is
manifestly inexcusable in a land which prides itself on educational
opportunity for all. There is virtually never equality of opportunity in
rural and urban communities, for either native or foreign born, and the
immigrant who lives on the land is especially handicapped.
In another report[22] of this study there is evidence which points to lack
of educational and social opportunities in rural districts. The average
length of time after arrival in the country before petitions for
naturalization papers are filed is tabulated by occupation for more than
twenty thousand cases. These figures show that, for all occupational groups
of any size, agricultural workers take the longest time, about fourteen
years, before petitioning. The average length of time for workers of all
occupations is about ten and a half years. Back from the currents of life,
with fewer opportunities to overcome disqualifications, the farm worker
does not become a citizen as quickly as his city brother.
The term "education" as applied especially to the rural population is a
very broad one. It comprises everything which helps to elevate the
people materially as well as mentally and spiritually. In this direction
various educational agencies are working. The most important of them
might be classified as follows:
1. Schools:
A. Public:
(1) general.
(2) evening.
(3) home teacher.
(4) vocational (training in agriculture).
B. Private:
(1) general.
(2) church or parochial.
2. Churches:
A. American, service in English.
B. Immigrant, service in foreign tongue.
3. Libraries:
A. Public:
(1) community or town.
(2) traveling.
(3) package.
(4) school.
B. Private:
(1) church.
(2) school.
Among these agencies the public school is the foremost in the
Americanization process. It directly influences the children and
through them their parents--the adult immigrants.
BRIDGING DIFFERENCES
An observer of the home life of immigrant families finds a marked
difference between the parents and the children who attend American
schools, as well as between the American-schooled children and their
European-schooled brothers and sisters. These differences lead often to
friction and dissension in the families, and though each difference may
be concerned with a trivial matter, yet in their entirety they represent
the variation of the American from the immigrant.
The writer once entered the home of a large Russian immigrant family
just when a quarrel between two sets of children was going on. The
European-trained children wanted the window shades rolled entirely up,
for the sake of more light, while their American-bred brothers and sisters
insisted that the shades be left halfway up, as the Americans have them.
Another illustration of these differences is found in the fact that the
immigrants are conservative in clinging to their old-country diet. The
first breach is usually occasioned by pie--the American national
dessert. The immigrant children learn about it and taste it in the
school cooking classes and also in the neighboring American families,
insisting that their mothers make it also. As a result the pie appears
on the immigrant table, though in the poorer families only on holidays.
In the case of language, the parents and their European-schooled
children continue to speak at home their old-country tongue and read
newspapers and books in the same language. The American-schooled
children prefer to speak English and read American newspapers and books,
taking a special pride in this. They answer their parents in English,
although the latter do not always understand English. They call
themselves Americans, in distinction from their European parents and
older brothers and sisters. "My father, mother, and older sisters are
Poles, but I am an American!" answered an American-born Polish boy of
about twelve years when asked about his nationality.
"How do you know that you are an American?"
"I was born here and I speak the American language."
In the Italian colony at Vineland, New Jersey, to give only one
instance, there was marked conflict between the children who went to the
public schools and their parents over the use of the Italian language.
The children wanted to speak English and some even refused to talk
Italian, though their parents wanted them to and tried to teach them.
The children commonly acted as interpreters between Americans and their
parents, especially their mothers. Unfortunately, they did not conceal
their contempt for the latter for failing to understand and use English.
Often such differences are so pronounced that the immigrant parents are
greatly grieved over the "estrangement" caused by the influence of the
American public schools. This dissatisfaction takes an especially acute
form among the sectarian immigrants. In San Francisco there are over four
hundred families of Russian sectarian peasants--Molochans, Jumpers, etc.
Their religion opposes war and military service, and on that account they
were exempted from the draft. Notwithstanding this, four or five of their
young boys volunteered, in spite of the opposition of their parents and of
the whole colony. When the writer visited the colony last year the
colonists were much agitated and upset. They openly cursed the American
schools and the city streets for ruining their boys spiritually. "If we
can't settle on land in the rural districts, then we have to get out of
America!" exclaimed the aged leader. In rural districts, they think, they
would be able to keep their children from going "astray." The street
influence is absent and the school-attendance law is not so severely
enforced as in the city, the immigrant leader believed.
In the Polish farming colony centered at South Deerfield, Massachusetts,
where the Polish children all attend the American public schools, the
children learn English quickly and prefer everything American to everything
Polish. The parents are very much distressed over losing their children as
Polish people. For this reason the parents stated that they were extremely
eager to establish their own Polish school where they could teach their
children the Polish language and Polish history. Only lack of money has so
far prevented the founding of such a parochial school.
PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
When an immigrant group is planning either a parochial or some other
type of private school of its own, one of its arguments is always that this
school will keep the children in its own group, racially and religiously.
The North Middle Western states--Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa,
the Dakotas, Nebraska--have large immigrant groups. In the rural
districts of those states it is a fact that where there exists a private
or parochial school, the public school is neglected, poorly equipped,
and has a very small attendance.
A county superintendent of schools in Minnesota reports:
One of our greatest drawbacks in attendance is the parochial schools.
These retard the attendance and keep the school terms down.[23]
A county superintendent in South Dakota writes:
In a number of districts the attendance is so small, owing to the
fact that many attend the parochial school, that interest and
enthusiasm are lacking.[24]
Another report from Minnesota states that,
the poorest schools in the country are in communities where there
are private schools in connection with a church.
The children attend these for years at a time, and when they return to
the public schools find themselves behind their former companions.[25]
In 1915-16 there were in the state of Wisconsin 78 rural public schools
enrolling five or fewer children, and 445 rural public schools enrolling
six to ten children. The state school authorities explained to the
writer that the small enrollment in certain public schools does not
always indicate that there are not enough children of school age in the
district or that the children do not enroll. Very often in the same
district there is a well-developed parochial or private school attended
by immigrant children. The parents prefer these schools to the public
schools for racial and religious reasons, and contribute liberally to
their development and maintenance.
In a number of cases where there are public and private schools in
immigrant localities, the writer observed an active and intentional
neglect of the public schools by the local school authorities. For
instance, in some cases where the state gives a certain sum of money for
the support of the public schools, the money is deposited in the bank
instead of being used for the development of the public schools. Such
deliberate neglect of the public schools by the immigrant local school
leaders was quite conspicuous in the state of Wisconsin.
[21] _Thirteenth Census of United States_, 1910, vol. i, p. 1279.
[22] John P. Gavit, _Americans by Choice_ (in preparation).
[23] Minnesota Department of Education, Nineteenth Biennial Report,
1915-16, p. 84.
[24] Superintendent of Public Instruction, South Dakota, Report, 1916.
Report of Superintendent of Hanson County.
[25] Minnesota Department of Education, Nineteenth Biennial Report,
1915-16, p. 85.
IX
PRIVATE SCHOOLS
One of the greatest negative agencies, and in a large number of cases
consciously negative agencies, affecting the Americanization of immigrants
in our rural districts has been private schools. Among these--the writer
wishes to be entirely outspoken--the most conspicuous have been immigrant
Catholic and Lutheran parochial schools and Hebrew schools.
Many of them are run in the spirit of preference for the old country and
for the immigrant race or nationality to America and the American
nationality. Furthermore, the very spirit and aim of their methods are
foreign to America. In their training of children they lay special
stress on discipline, obedience, on the form of things, on punctuality,
on memory, and on mechanism. All these qualities have been desirable in
the "subjects" and in the small "subject nations," from the point of
view of the monarchical and aristocratic European regimes, with which
Catholicism and Lutheranism have been identified, or of the Talmud, upon
which extreme Hebrew nationalism is based.
The authorities of parochial schools, especially the higher authorities,
such as bishops, allow themselves to criticize sternly the American public
schools for looseness, too much freedom, lack of moral teachings, etc. A
prominent German Catholic bishop, who has been for thirty years in America
and who can hardly speak English, stated to the writer that the American
colleges, high schools, and even public schools are no good, that their aim
is to prepare children and students to get easier jobs, to get along in
life without labor and effort. Religious and moral teachings are entirely
lacking in his opinion and the schools work against these teachings.
Especially, the training of girls in America is entirely wrong. They are
not educated to be good housewives, but are just reared for an easy and
joyful life; in fact, girls are too lazy to do family work or any work. The
severely nationalistic churchman was unable to approve the democratic
spirit of the American public school with the stress which it lays upon
freedom of action, self-reliance, initiative, and imagination in children.
He looked upon children as if they were somebody's property or tools, not
human beings with individual destinies.
How important the parochial schools are considered to be by certain
immigrant nationalistic leaders and high clergy is shown by the speeches
delivered at the southeastern Wisconsin district conference of the
Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and
other states, held in the summer of 1918. Prof. A. Piper stated that,
we must concentrate all our powers upon keeping our hands on our
schools. To hold our schools we must compete with the public
schools, must hold classes five days a week, and must work with all
the strength that is in us. The most important part of all of our
missionary work is the work in our schools.
The importance of concentrating effort on the parochial schools was
further emphasized by W. Grabner, Milwaukee, who asked:
What has made Chicago the greatest Lutheran city in the world? [and
replied] I say it was the Lutheran parochial school. It has served
as a nucleus for all Lutheran families to settle about. Round it
all life and activity centered. Our Lutheran forefathers nourished
the little Lutheran schools with all the powers they possessed.
The situation in the rural districts of various states in regard to the
private and especially the parochial schools in connection with the
Americanization of the children of immigrants born here and abroad is
shown by the following field notes and material collected by the writer.
NEBRASKA
The Nebraska State Council of Defense made a report on the
foreign-language schools in Nebraska, dated January 14, 1917. The data
were secured through the personal investigation of Miss Sarka Hrbkova,
chairman of the Woman's Committee, aided by Miss Alice Florer of the
State Superintendent's office, and through the efforts of the county
chairmen of educational propaganda of the Woman's Committee. Professors
Link and Weller and other representatives of the German Evangelical
Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod co-operated with Miss Hrbkova. The
following facts indicate the extent of parochial schools in Nebraska.[26]
Foreign-language schools are located in 59 counties of Nebraska.
There is a total of 262 schools in which it is estimated that
10,000 children receive instruction in foreign languages, chiefly
the German. In these 262 schools 379 teachers are employed. Five
thousand five hundred and fifty-four children are attending the
schools of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Missouri
Synod, this number including those in the summer sessions as well.
About 20 teachers give instructions in their homes or in church
buildings. Of these 379 teachers in private schools, 2 give
instruction in Danish, 6 in Polish, 14 in Swedish, and 357 in
German. Less than 2 per cent of the teachers of these schools are
certified. About 120 of the German teachers are likewise ministers
in the German Lutheran parish where the school is located. The
county superintendents of the 59 counties in which the
foreign-language schools are located reported that in only a few
cases do these schools give the equivalent of the eighth-grade
public school. For the most part, the eight years' attendance at
such a school fits pupils for the sixth grade of the public schools.
In certain schools in Fillmore, Cass, Franklin, Gosper, Jefferson,
Pawnee, and Wayne Counties the instruction is given entirely in the
German language. In about 200 of the schools three hours daily is
devoted to instruction in the German language.
In Deuel, Fillmore, and Jefferson Counties the superintendents
report that the German national hymn is sung in certain
foreign-language schools. In Nance and Washington Counties they
report that it was formerly sung, but not this year. In Cedar Creek
District No. 88, Cass County, Reverend Kunzendorf, teacher, states
that they do not sing the American hymn because they do not sing
any hymns at all. The American national hymn is not sung in about
100 of the German-language schools. Over 100 foreign-language
schools lack an American flag. One minister, Rev. J. Aron, from
Wayne County, writes, "We have no flag, but will see to it that one
be put up, if requested to do so." In Madison the minister declared
foreign-language and parochial schools are not required by law to
have an American flag, and therefore he does not display one.
Public schools have been closed and forced out by German parochial
schools in Cedar County, Cheyenne County, Clay County, Colfax
County (No. 36), Gage County (No. 103), 2 in Johnson County, 5 in
Platte County, District No. 99 in Saline County, 8 in Seward
County, No. 38 in Stanton County and Wayne County. In Cedar County
the Bow Valley, Constance, and Fordyce schools are taught by
Sisters. In the following counties there are public schools with
only four or five pupils, because the German-language schools
absorb the pupils: Clay, Cedar, Cuming, Dixon, Howard, Nuckolis,
Platte, Polk, Seward, Stanton, Wayne, and Webster.
The following statement was made by Prof. C. F. Brommer, Hampton,
Nebraska, president of the Lutheran Synod of Missouri, at the hearing
before the state Americanization Committee held in Lincoln in September,
1918:
I think we have more parochial schools than any other Protestant
body in this state; between 150 and 160, with about 5,000 children
in these schools.
In answer to a question by a member of the committee, Professor Brommer
said:
I know of one [public school] district where there is no public
school. There is no need of one, as the children all go to
parochial school. There are a few such cases.
George Weller, of Seward, Nebraska, stated to the same committee:
German has never been taught in our schools [German Lutheran] as an
end, but as a means to an end. We could not teach the old folks
English, and in order to allow the children and the parents to
worship together we taught the children the German language.
J. W. Robb of Lincoln informed the commission that in one district the
Germans control the public-school board and they closed the public school
two months in a year, and the children are deprived of two months in
English schools or must go to a German parochial school during that time.
NORTH DAKOTA
The situation in regard to parochial schools in North Dakota has been and
still is, perhaps, more serious than in Nebraska. The writer in his field
study in North Dakota was impressed that the public officials were afraid
to do anything more than recommend certain desirable changes in these
schools; some were even afraid to visit the German counties or sections on
public business, such as Liberty Bond or Red Cross drives. Several reasons
were given, such as politics, ignorance of the German language, and even
care for their own safety. Therefore an English-speaking German woman was
engaged to speak for Liberty Bonds in North Dakota German sections. She was
successful only because in her German public speeches she praised the
Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty and condemned the Czechoslovaks in Russia.
"Well, she brings home the bacon. For what else do we care!" ironically
exclaimed a North Dakota man to the writer.
The State Superintendent of Public Education made the following
statement to the writer when he asked for data on the foreign-language
schools in the state:
The State Department of Public Education has no authority whatever
over the private and parochial schools in the state. There is no
legal ground for collecting information in regard to them.... There
have been cases when children of immigrant groups, attending a
private or parochial school, had to learn the foreign tongue of
other groups.
A Catholic bishop stated:
The first grades in the parochial schools use German because the
children who enter the schools do not know English, and it is far
better and more successful to start work with them in their mother
tongue as a teaching language. At the same time, they teach them
English. As their knowledge of English gradually grows, the
teaching in the higher grades is transferred to the English language.
To the writer's question whether the non-German children in their
parochial schools--for instance, Bohemians and Hungarians--have also to
start in German, the bishop said that in some cases this is true, for
they are not able to find teachers for each language.
In the bishops diocese there are 37,000 Catholic families. Among these
are 2,000 Indian families, about 2,000 Bohemian families, and between
300 and 400 Hungarian families. The rest are German families, over 100
of whom are from Germany; about 2,000 were born in America, and the rest
are Germans from Russia.
An American church head made the following statement, in reply to an
inquiry about the schools:
Strasburg, Emmons County, has a large parochial school where German
is the only language both for teaching and speaking. The public
school there has only a handful of children. There are plenty of
parochial schools in which German is taught exclusively in McIntosh
and Emmons Counties, and in the western counties (in the town of
New Salem, etc.). Some of the teachers, of whom a goodly number are
Sisters, cannot speak English at all. Children of other
nationalities would also be under German influences. There is
undoubtedly German propaganda in these schools, and American or
other children become Germanized. Every graded school, private and
public, should be conducted in English exclusively. Every teacher
need not be American born; many foreign-born people are better
citizens than some native Americans. But every teacher should have
to understand and speak the English language. No one should teach,
preach, or hold public office who cannot speak English.
The editor of an English daily in Bismarck, North Dakota, said:
The Americanization work is weakest in North Dakota, and yet it is
more needed here than anywhere else, for the population is mainly
composed of foreign elements. Foreign-language churches, parochial
and other private schools, and certain American public schools in
which, as it is in a number of places, the teaching language is a
foreign language, very often German--are keeping the old country
alive in the state. We have a large number of the second
generation, grown-up people born here of foreign-born parents, who
do not know how to write or read English, who do not know anything
about America, but know well the history of Hohenzollern and
Hapsburg dynasties in Europe.
A leader of the Women's Organization, North Dakota Council of Defense,
made the following statement:
The Red Cross work, food-conservation work, and child-welfare work
are organized in every county, a wide-awake woman being chosen as
county head. Great difficulty is experienced in reaching the
foreigner. A large number of them, especially women, do not
understand English, and do not know enough about the country, its
traditions, and spirit. Aside from remaining foreigners, they are
in many cases unbelievably ignorant. For instance, the organization
undertook a baby census, which included weighing the babies. The
baby of a German housewife was underweight--that is, below normal.
When its mother learned of this she began to cry hysterically.
After the other people succeeded in quieting her she expressed the
fear that the American government would kill her baby for being
below normal weight.
MINNESOTA
The statistical data on parochial and other private schools in the state
of Minnesota for 1918, compiled by the Department of Public
Instruction, are as follows:
TABLE V
ENROLLMENT AND LANGUAGE USED IN PAROCHIAL AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN
MINNESOTA, 1918
=============================================================
Number of parochial and private schools 307
Number of pupils enrolled 38,853
Number of teachers 1,359
Number of schools using English only 94
Number of bilingual schools in which the teaching is in
English and German 195
English and Bohemian 1
English and Dutch 1
English and French 4
English and Norwegian 1
English and Polish 10
English and Danish 1
___
Total 213
=============================================================
The Isanti County school superintendent reports for 1915-16:[27]
The poorest schools in the county are in communities where there
are private schools in connection with a church. The children
attend these for years at a time, and when they return to the
public schools find themselves behind their former companions. We
wish arrangements might be made so that these schools could not
teach the branches unless the teachers were as well equipped as the
public-school teachers and that the children could be sent to them
only at the confirmation age for two years.
The Martin County superintendent reports:[28]
Parochial schools should be required to report to the county
superintendent the names of their teachers, length of term, etc.
The teachers should be required to make monthly reports and be
subject to the same supervision of inspection as those of public
schools. Their certification should also be subject to state
approval. Failing this, the pupils should be required to attend the
public schools for at least eight full years, or until they
complete the regular eighth-grade work.
Near St. Cloud, Minnesota, there is a Slovenian colony of about fifty to
sixty families. Near by there is a much smaller German colony with a German
parochial school in which the teacher, at the time of the writer's visit,
was a German and the teaching language was German. Quite a number of the
Slovenian families sent their children to this school, where they were
Germanized instead of Americanized. A Slovenian family head explained to
the writer that those Slovenians who are sending their children to the
German school do it for a practical reason. They expect some time to visit
their native Austria, where German is the state language. The man claimed
that about one tenth of the settlers do not understand English, and that
only about one fifth of them can speak and write English, although the
colony was founded in America about fifty years ago.
MICHIGAN
The following statement made by the Superintendent of Public Instruction
in the state of Michigan to the writer, September 11, 1918, shows the
situation in regard to the private schools in that state. Parochial
schools exist as follows:
One hundred and sixty-six Catholic; 124 German Lutheran; 19
Adventists; 22 Christian Reform. There is a total of 331. Of these,
190 maintain as many as eight grades, and 62 maintain more than
eight grades. In the grades below the high school there is an
attendance of 43,836, and in the high schools, 2,813. There are
employed about 1,200 teachers. Eighty-six schools use German as a
medium of instruction, German partly; sixteen use Polish; 5 use
French. Only 2 schools in the state give no time to the teaching of
the English branches. Seventy per cent of all the schools use the
English language only as a medium of instruction. The census of the
state contains 892,787 children of school age, five to nineteen
years, inclusive. There are enrolled in the public schools of the
state, 635,020. We regret that we have not yet the data from
Saginaw and Detroit. The city of Detroit alone would perhaps show a
parochial-school attendance as large as the parochial-school
attendance of all the rest of the state.
In a Finnish colony in upper Michigan the writer found three one-month
religious summer schools, well attended. One of the leaders of the
colony stated that they have only Finnish teachers in these schools and
the teaching is in Finnish. The program contains mainly religious
instruction and a limited amount of Finnish history. The expenses are
paid by the church treasury. The people want these schools for
maintaining their religion among the children as well as for sentimental
nationalistic reasons. The schools are conducted in the public-school
rooms during summer vacations.
In the same section of the state the writer visited an old and
comparatively large Polish colony, located at Posen. His field notes
supply the following information: There is at the church a four-room
parochial school, housed in a substantial brick building, with five
teachers, including the priest. The school year lasts ten months.
Teaching is in English, except that an hour each day is devoted to the
Polish language and Polish history. The priest admitted that the
teaching of religion is in Polish. The school program is the same as in
the standard public schools of eight grades. The same textbooks are
used. Although the law does not require examination of the children,
nevertheless to appease the county officials and show the efficiency and
value of their school they send the children to the county board of
education for examination, and the county board has always expressed
great satisfaction with the advancement in education of the children of
the Polish school. The teachers are all Poles, appointed by the bishop,
candidates being presented by the priest.
The need of this school the priest explained as follows: It Americanizes
the children more quickly than the American school--that is, it is more
efficient in teaching the children the American ways of life and American
history than the American public schools, for the teachers are all Poles,
know their people and their psychology better than do the teachers in the
public schools. During a later discussion the priest admitted that the
church service is in the Polish language and that the Polish school exists
rather for sentimental reasons of a racial character than for practical
reasons. The settlers also claimed that the Polish school and the church
service in the Polish language are needed, for the reason that they like
this better; they complained that the expenses are too high; they would
have the county or state help them. Sometimes a few adults come to the
school, but they are irregular in attendance.
The priest explained that the issue of the immigrant schools in the
state has become practically a political issue, and to his mind it ought
not to be, at least not in such a sharp form. Prohibition of these
schools would have a bad effect on the foreign-born population. The
schools might be modified and reformed and the state might exercise
some sort of control and supervision over them, but only so far as it is
agreeable to the colonies themselves. In this way the schools would be a
valuable asset to the education of the people. They would work toward
Americanization, better than the ordinary public schools, for they can
reach the depths of the soul more easily than the American schools. He
believed that his school would be an ideal means to this end.
The writer observed in this colony that the majority of the colonists
are of the second and third generations. Not many families are foreign
born. The colony is on the way to Americanization. The main causes
holding it back are as follows: the colony is to a large degree isolated
from the outside world; the Catholic Church and its schools are keeping
the Polish language and the racial characteristics very much alive. The
writer heard in the town grown-up people talking Polish. All the people
the writer met spoke English fluently. In the street he noticed several
groups of children playing; some spoke Polish, some English. Two boys
were talking together, one speaking Polish, the other English. In
watching and hearing the boys, the writer felt the influence of the
Polish church and school over them. The faces and build of the people
have a specific Slavic character. Otherwise their appearance is American.
At Holland, Ottawa County, Michigan, there is a large long-established
Dutch colony, the vast majority of the settlers being already of the
second and third generations. The colony is far advanced on the way to
Americanization. The writer found the town and farming districts
surrounding it almost the same as any native rural district. He did not
hear any Dutch spoken in the streets, stores, or public offices. Yet the
Dutch language was the language of the service in the churches and the
teaching language in the parochial schools up to recent years. In regard
to this fact the local church head explained to the writer:
Aside from a number of lower parochial schools, there is one
parochial high school and one parochial college, Hope College. The
high school is a preparatory school for the college. The college
prepares ministers for the village churches. The language used in
the high school and college was formerly Dutch. They taught Dutch
history, literature, and mainly religion--Bible study. But during
late years English has become the teaching language, and the Dutch
language has remained only as a subject of study. Up to this time
the leaders of the colony have been working toward Americanization
unconsciously, but now they have awakened to the fact that the
Dutch are rapidly Americanizing. They accept this fact as a
desirable one, and are now working consciously toward the end of
Americanization. They realize that even if they would like to keep
the Dutch nationality alive in the colony, they would not be able
to do it, so that they yield to the inevitable. The activities in
the church and parochial schools have now to be turned more toward
Americanization.
In a German colony at Au Gres, Michigan, the writer learned that the
colonists have a parochial school in which the teaching is in German.
They teach the German language, the Lutheran religion, and the rudiments
of sciences. The church is composed entirely of Germans. Both ministers
are appointed by the German Synod. The Congregational church has
Saturday and Sunday school. The Saturday school lasts from nine until
twelve in the morning, and the Sunday school from nine until ten in the
morning. The teaching is in German; the subject is Bible study, and also
the learning of the German language and the singing of hymns. The
meaning of these schools was explained to the writer by the settlers as
follows: The parents would like to have their children know the German
language, be able to read and write German, and be instructed in
religious matters, for neither German nor religion is taught in the
American schools. The local native settlers stated to the writer that
the German parochial school ought not to be there. It is a Germanizing
school, opposed to America and Americanization, they argued.
WISCONSIN
The Superintendent of Public Education of the State of Wisconsin told
the writer that there is no law enabling the public authorities to
supervise or inspect the private schools or even to collect information
in regard to them, except in a roundabout way. There is a law requiring
that the county boards keep records of school attendance and this law
enables the county boards to learn the attendance of every school in
each county. The enrollment in private and parochial schools in
Wisconsin was as follows:
TABLE VI
ENROLLMENT AND TEACHING FORCE OF PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS IN
WISCONSIN, 1914-15 AND 1915-16[29]
=========================================================
|1914-15|1915-16
-----------------------------------------+-------+-------
Number attending private or parochial | |
schools only--counties |24,370 |25,373
Number attending private or parochial | |
schools only--cities |21,736 |18,556
Number attending both public and private,| |
or parochial schools--counties |34,335 |34,958
Number attending both public and private,| |
or parochial schools--cities | 1,441 | 3,276
| |
Teaching force of private and parochial | |
schools in counties: | |
Men | 288 |
Women | 600 |
Total | 888 | 909
=========================================================
There was a case in Wisconsin in 1918 of a German father sentenced to
five years in the penitentiary for persuading his son to evade the
draft. An editorial commenting on the case said:
This man, though German in every sense of the word, was born in
America. Yet when he was on trial he had great difficulty in
understanding questions put to him in English. Born in America,
educated in American schools, nearly fifty years old, yet "he had
great difficulty in understanding questions put in English!" Why?
Because in the German--not American--community in which he was
raised the education of American citizens was conducted in German.
A rural postmaster of German descent in a small backwoods town in
Wisconsin, who claimed to have lost long ago his faith in "the Kaiser's
Fatherland," as he put it, stated that there are thousands and thousands
of such victims of the German parochial schools in the state, who,
though born and brought up here, are unable to converse freely in
English. This is especially true among those who live on farms in a
German colony and go only to a German school and church.
Now these people suffer and are ashamed of themselves. But who is
responsible? I think both the German clergy and other leaders for
victimizing these people, as well as the American public for
allowing such mischief.
SOUTH DAKOTA
In regard to the situation in South Dakota, the Federal Bureau of
Education reports (Bulletin, No. 31, 1918) that,
some counties, Hutchinson, for example, are largely peopled by
German stock. A large portion of the school population attend
German Catholic and German Lutheran parochial schools in which
German has been used largely as a medium of instruction. (Recently
stopped by order of the State Council of Defense.) In this county,
and in Hanson County, the German-Russian Mennonites still live the
quaint community life brought with them from Russia. German, not
English, is the language of the villages, although in most of the
schools English is the medium of instruction.
CALIFORNIA
The California Commissioner of Public Education stated to the writer
that the state authorities have no right to interfere in any way with
the private and parochial schools and that he is not legally able to
collect any information in regard to these schools.
Even the leaders of the Russian sectarian peasant colonies maintain some
sort of a private school of their own. The San Francisco colony has
classes for children two evenings a week, in which they are taught
reading and writing in the Russian language. In Los Angeles the colony
leaders explained that their children learn the Russian language in
their homes, where Russian is spoken exclusively, and that they learn
Russian reading and writing in their Russian private evening schools,
one hour each evening. The peasants themselves teach them. The parents
have to pay certain small sums to the teachers.
The leaders expressed a keen desire that the city should provide them
with a Russian school, for they would like to have their children able
to read, speak, and write the Russian language. If they should not be
able to settle in America on the land they would be compelled to return
to Russia. The leaders of the Russian colony at Glendale, Arizona, said
that they are attempting to teach Russian to their children in the
evenings and other spare time, but owing to lack of time and proper
teachers they have not made much progress.
HEBREW SCHOOL IN NEW JERSEY
The local manager of the Hirsch fund in Woodbine, New Jersey, a Jewish
colony, stated that there is in the colony a Hebrew school supported by
individuals and to a certain degree by the Hirsch fund. It is a Hebrew
school connected with activities of the synagogue, maintained for
religious purposes. It corresponds to the parochial school of Christian
churches. About sixty pupils attend this school.
OPINIONS ON BOTH SIDES
It goes without saying that during war-time excitement, with its
heightened suspicion, the statements made by the defenders of the
foreign-language schools and their opponents do not always correspond
to the reality. It has been the writers impression that the defenders
were inclined to diminish the negative influence of these schools, while
their opponents in a number of cases saw these schools darker than they
really were.
For instance, it was a usual experience of the writer, when he arrived
in an immigrant colony and explained either to individual leaders or to
a meeting of the whole colony the purpose of his inquiry, to receive at
the outset the following answer: "Well, we are all Americanized; we are
all Americans; we understand and speak the American language and love
the country; we are not a colony at all, but just plain American people
of a certain old-country stock," etc. When it developed that the
language of their church service and the teaching language in their
private schools was their old-country language, the leaders began, with
certain embarrassment, to admit that the old folks and the late arrivals
do not understand English, and therefore the mother tongue of the
parents becomes the home language for both the young and old. And since
some settlers intend to return to the old country, and do not like to
lose their former nationality--their old-country tongue is used in the
churches and taught in the schools.
Perhaps the Polish settlers were most outspoken in their attachment to
their nationality, while the German settlers were either silent or
denied their preference for the German nationality; their main argument
in favor of the use of German in their churches and schools was based on
purely religious grounds. It was solely on this religious ground that
they explained the higher proportion of German-language schools to the
number of German immigrants than obtains in any other immigrant national
group. The Jews claimed that their racial characteristics, such as diet,
moral conceptions according to the Mosaic laws, and study of Hebrew
history, were really contributions to America. They justified on this
ground the cultivation of their racial differences, maintaining that
there is nothing in this opposed to American ideals, but that, on the
contrary, it is in accord with what this country stands for and fosters.
On the other hand, the opponents of foreign-language schools often
viewed them as the sole hindrance to the better understanding and
acceptance of American ways and institutions, the creators of
disloyalty. They would close all foreign-language schools in the country
at once, without any further consideration.
As a result of the war-time revelations and excitement, certain changes
have taken place in these schools. In a number of states the use of a
foreign tongue as a teaching medium and even as a subject of study in
the common schools has been prohibited. In a number of places the
immigrant leaders themselves have voluntarily changed their teaching
language to English under the pressure of both public opinion in general
and that of the members of their own group. "It is an injustice to our
own people if we teach them a foreign tongue instead of the language of
this country," stated a Lutheran pastor to the writer.
But in many cases the nationalistic leaders expressed their
dissatisfaction with the changes "enforced" upon them. They expressed
the opinion that after peace is established their people would have
things their own way through their votes. Many of them are already
naturalized and still more are going to be.
TEMPORARY USEFULNESS
The elementary foreign-language schools undoubtedly perform a service in
preventing the disruption of families and are justified to this extent.
The question arises, however, whether much more cannot be done to assist
the parents, through evening schools and home teachers, to learn the
language and customs of the country. If this work could be adequately
done, it would not be necessary to hold the children back by teaching
them a foreign language, only to be used to bridge a temporary gulf in
their homes.
The justification for foreign-language elementary schools does not
apply to the higher institutions. In the Dutch colony at Holland,
Michigan, the writer was struck by the fact that while the people were
largely Americanized and English had become their home or mother tongue,
the colony leaders insisted on the Dutch language in their high school
and college. The only explanation given was that this was done
unconsciously. During recent years they had become conscious of the need
and the inevitableness of Americanization, and, as a result, had
substituted English for Dutch in their higher schools.
The Jewish colony in Woodbine, New Jersey, had a Jewish agricultural
college, supported by the Hirsch fund. To the writer's inquiries as to
why there was need of a special Jewish agricultural college, why the
Jewish boys cannot enter American agricultural colleges, receiving
scholarships from the Hirsch fund if need be, the answers of the
authorities were varied: They had to follow the will of Baron de Hirsch;
in a special Jewish institution the Jewish boys are kept from "going
astray"; teaching and training can be better adjusted to the
peculiarities of the Jewish boys, etc.
NEED FOR REGULATION
There is no question that the foreign-language private schools have done
great harm to the country as a whole and to the immigrants themselves.
The question is, What has to be done?
The parochial schools must be regulated by the following measures: All
elementary private schools should be licensed or registered in the
office of the public-school authorities; all should meet the same
requirements as the elementary public schools in regard to the
qualifications of teachers, school terms, program, teaching language,
and inspection and direction by the public-school authorities. Exception
might be made to permit religious instruction certain definite hours
during the week to the American-born children in English and to recently
arrived immigrant children in their mother tongue as well as instruction
in their mother tongue as an extra cultural subject. The lessons should
be given by a duly qualified teacher.
In another volume[30] of these Studies there is a further discussion of a
successful experiment along this line. The parochial schools of New
Hampshire have co-operated voluntarily with the state authorities. Progress
toward regulation and the establishment of a minimum standard in all
schools in the state has been made. Only through some such provision can
this country insure equal opportunity to its potential citizens.
[26] Report of the Nebraska Council of Defense, January 14, 1917.
[27] Minnesota Department of Education, Nineteenth Biennial Report,
1915-16, p. 85.
[28] Minnesota Department of Education, Nineteenth Biennial Report,
1915-16, p. 92.
[29] C. P. Cary, _Education in Wisconsin, 1914-16_ (1917), p. 93.
[30] Frank V. Thompson, _Schooling of the Immigrant_, chap. iv.
X
IMMIGRANT CHURCHES
Immigrant or foreign-language churches are needed by the immigrants so long
as they have not learned to understand the English language. But for those
immigrants who have been long enough in this country to know English and
for the immigrants' children born in America no foreign-language churches
are needed. If the church authorities conduct the church services and
activities in a foreign tongue for those immigrants who understand and
speak English, they then do this for racial or nationalistic reasons--as a
service to the old country or to a nationality other than the American
nationality. That this is often the case is shown by the fact that certain
foreign countries have been financially supporting churches here for their
people who have come to America; for instance, the former Russian monarchy
gave liberally for the establishment and upkeep of Russian Greek Orthodox
churches in this country.
In the use of foreign language in nearly all the rural colonies visited by
the writer where there was an immigrant church, the language used in the
church services was the old-country tongue, although occasionally the
services were bilingual, both English and the foreign tongue being used.
In North Dakota an American minister described the situation as follows:
Most of the German Catholic and Lutheran church services are in
German; some are bilingual. The Lutherans almost entirely have
all-German services. In the western part of the state a Bohemian or
a Slav can get only the German tongue. Scandinavian churches also
use their own tongue. All foreign churches here use their own
languages. Quite a number of foreign ministers are foreign born.
Some can scarcely speak English.
At a hearing before the state Americanization Committee in Lincoln,
Nebraska, held in the fall of 1918, a large number of the priests and
pastors of immigrant churches testified as to the use of the old-country
language in their church services and pleaded for its retention. It was
apparent from the testimony that the foreign-language church service was
prevalent throughout the state in the immigrant churches. Practically
every priest or pastor claimed that the majority of his congregation
could not understand services in English.
The following extracts from the testimony are characteristic. Peculiar
emphasis was laid by the church authorities upon the fact that although
the people might understand and speak English fluently in their
everyday affairs, yet they could not understand church service or
religious instruction when these were given in English.
Statement of H. F. Hensick, Madison, Nebraska, pastor of German
Evangelical Lutheran Church:
In my own congregation in Madison there are thirty-six who are not
able to understand the religious instruction in English; they are
those who were born in this country or who came here years back.
Statement of Richard Kuehne, Lincoln, Nebraska:
We have in Lincoln about eight thousand German-Russian people; the
most of them cannot follow an English sermon at all.
Statement of M. Lehninger, Plattsmouth, Nebraska, representing
Evangelical Lutheran General Synod of Wisconsin and other states:
While there are a good many people who do understand English well
and speak it quite fluently in everyday conversation, they all have
had their religious instruction in German, and they understand a
German sermon where they cannot understand an English one. The
people of my church have come partly from Germany and partly from
Canada, and many communicant members are native-born American
citizens, and still it is a fact that perhaps only half a dozen
members of the two hundred and fifty communicant members will have
the full benefit of an English sermon.
Statement of Vic Anderson, Minden, Nebraska, Swedish Lutheran:
It is my judgment that 35 per cent of our people do not understand
preaching in the American language. They can do business in that
language, but when it comes to understanding the interpretation of
the Bible, they would like to have it in the Swedish language
because that is the language that their fathers and mothers taught
them in.
Statement of John H. Steger, Plattsmouth, Nebraska, St. Paul German Church:
Half of my congregation cannot understand the English language.
Statement of C. F. Brommer, Hampton, Nebraska, Lutheran pastor:
In every congregation, but mostly in the congregations of the city,
we have people who understand the English sermon as well as the
German sermon, and then I think the majority speak, read, and write
English, in common, everyday life, perfectly, but they still would
derive greater benefit from the German than the English sermon, and
I think there are probably nearly 98 per cent of our congregations
and people who do not understand the English sermons and never will
learn to understand them. These are mostly old people. When they
came here they did not have the time nor the opportunity to learn
the English language.
Statement of Adolph Matzner, Lincoln, Nebraska, representing the
Nebraska district of the German Evangelical Synod of North America:
The majority of the voting members of our congregation are
immigrants. They came to this country thirty or forty years ago;
they settled in the country; they had no opportunity to get
acquainted and to learn the American language. In the country and
small towns they have no night schools, and these people never had
a chance to learn the American language. We have members in the
congregation who are able to understand it, or at least able to do
their business in the American language. They can talk to you about
politics and about the weather, but they cannot get the benefit
from an American sermon that they can from a German sermon. They
would perhaps understand a sermon on how to keep cool on a hot day,
but when you come to a sermon on religious subjects they are not
able to understand it.
Most of the priests and pastors stated that there were so many
difficulties in the way of having separate English and foreign-language
services, the former for the children and those who understand English,
and the latter for the old people who do not understand English, that it
would be practically impossible to do this. The argument usually given
was that presented by Joseph G. Votava of Omaha, a Roman Catholic,
representing the Bohemians:
About having separate meetings for the old folks and the
children--this question came up from Greeley County, and they
wanted us to have our German service between nine and ten, and
Sunday school between ten and eleven, and from eleven to twelve an
English sermon. The old folks and the children come together in the
same vehicle, and they certainly don't expect the children to sit
down on the curbing or in the shade until the old folks get
through, and therefore it is hard to separate the meetings in the
rural districts, of which we have many congregations all over the
state.
BILINGUAL SERVICES
That it is possible to have bilingual services successfully was
testified to by John P. Gross, Hastings, Nebraska, a United States
citizen born in Russia, representing the Adams County Council of
Defense. He said:
Then we were told to have one preaching service a week in the
English language, and we all agreed to do that, and we were told we
could have as much German besides that one English sermon as we
wanted. And we agreed to have that one English sermon. I went to my
congregation of three hundred and fifty people, at least half of
whom did not get any benefit from the English sermon, and I put it
before them and told them, this is what we are requested to do; you
don't have to do it, but they would like to have you do it, and
they unanimously voted in my church, and every other church in the
county, to adopt the plan. Our congregations in the evening are not
as large as before because some of the older people do not come
now, but enough come to church who are living in our community so
that we can hold the service. So we have lost in one way, but we
are slowly gaining along another way; one old grandfather there
said it would have been better if these plans had been adopted
fifteen years ago. And this plan has worked very satisfactorily in
our county.
In several of the rural immigrant communities visited by the writer
there were successful bilingual churches. In the Polish colony at Posen,
Michigan, the sermon in the Catholic Church is in two languages, Polish
and English. The priest explained that the Polish language is needed, as
the people, especially the older people, understand it better and the
priest is able to penetrate their souls more intimately in their mother
tongue. The English language is needed for two reasons: among the
colonists are a few American farmers who belong to the same church and
do not speak Polish; and a few of the younger generation understand
English better than Polish, especially those newcomers who have been
born outside of the colony among Americans.
In the Dutch colony at Holland, Michigan, the churches are bilingual.
One service in the morning is in the Dutch language and the other in the
evening is in the English language. English has become a necessity
because a number of the young people have difficulty in understanding
Dutch, and also because a number of the congregation are either native
born or of some other nationality.
ENGLISH FAVORED BY MEMBERS
On the whole, the writer, in his field study, was impressed by the fact
that the rank and file of the immigrant congregations favored the
English-language service, while the priests and pastors were opposing
it. Whenever an English-language service had been lately introduced it
had been done under the pressure either of the members of the
congregation or of the state Council of Defense.
The clergy often maintained that the foreign-language service was
needed, even in cases where the members of the congregation were largely
American born and understood and spoke English well in everyday life.
Perhaps the most conspicuous in making such claims were the German
Catholic and Lutheran priests and pastors. According to a number of
them, no other language than German is suited for services, no matter
how far advanced the church members are in the use of English.
There were cases where among the membership of a German-language church
there were Bohemians or Scandinavians or Poles. To the writer's question
whether services for these people were conducted in their mother tongue,
the answer was usually given in the negative, with the explanation that
there was no money to engage additional preachers and that these people
understood German well. The only explanation of such extreme claims for
foreign-language services is the nationalism of the clergy.
OPPOSITION TO "INTERFAITH" MARRIAGES
Certain church authorities hinder amalgamation of the immigrants by
making severe requirements in regard to "interfaith" marriages. For
instance, in a case where one party is Catholic and the other is not,
the Catholic Church requires a written sworn statement from both parties
in regard to certain conditions which they must fulfill in their married
life. What these conditions are the following blank given to the writer
by a Catholic bishop shows:
In Casu Disparitatis Cultus.
Vel Mixtae Religionis.
FORM OF PROMISE TO BE SIGNED BY THE NON-CATHOLIC PARTY.
AGREEMENT
I, the undersigned, never baptized (baptized in the ..........
Church), of .......... do hereby promise that if ..........
receives from the Bishop a dispensation to marry me, I will never
by word or act interfere with .......... faith in the Catholic
Church or with .......... practice thereof, and that I will not
prevent the children of either sex to be born (and already born)
from being baptized and brought up in the faith and practice of the
Catholic Church. I also promise that in the solemnization of my
marriage, there shall be only the Catholic Ceremony.
Signed in presence of
......................... .........................
Date .........................
FORM OF PROMISE TO BE SIGNED BY THE CATHOLIC PARTY.
I, the undersigned, of .........., a Catholic, wishing to marry
.........., unbaptized (baptized in the .......... Church), do
hereby promise that, if the Bishop finds canonical cause for
granting me a dispensation, I will have all my children baptized
and reared in the Catholic Church, and that I will practice my
Religion faithfully and do all I can, especially by prayer,
example, and the frequentation of the Sacraments, to bring about
the conversion of my consort.
Signed in presence of
......................... .........................
Date .........................
There is no question that such requirements may prevent a number of
marriages between native born and immigrants, when one is a Catholic and
the other a non-Catholic. It is not always possible for a non-Catholic
to follow the required conditions and as a result family quarrels and
the disruption of families may occur. The writer has observed three such
cases. In one case there were involved a native and an immigrant, and in
two cases immigrants alone.
A similar ban or check on interfaith, which often means international,
marriages is found among sectarian immigrant groups. Their extreme
religious sentiment prevents them from marrying outsiders, and as a
result inbreeding occurs. They marry close relatives and defectives. For
instance, near Lincoln, Nebraska, where a small German colony of
Mennonites is settled, the birth of idiots and otherwise defective
children was so noticeable that the colony's leaders and their neighbors
decided to bring about a change. The marriage of close relatives was
prohibited and the ban on marriage with outsiders was done away with.
This change has had a very good result, according to the colony's
leaders. The change was possible only because the sectarian beliefs had
been weakened under the pressure of the general American conditions.
The orthodox Jews are similarly opposed to the marriage of their
members with the Gentiles. So far as the writer has learned, they do not
require signed promises. They are uncompromising in such matters and
ostracize any one of their members who marries an outsider.
The usual explanation of the need of such a ban or check on interfaith
marriages is that if the parents are of different faiths the children
will be lost to the Church. Whatever the explanation or justification of
the Church opposition to interfaith marriages, it often applies to
immigrants and makes for their continued separation from America.
IMMIGRANT PASTORS
Very often the priests and pastors of the immigrant churches are freshly
arrived immigrants themselves. They scarcely speak English and know
little about America. Consequently they are not able to educate the
members of their congregations in American ways. On the contrary, they
tend to criticize America and favor their old country in their sermons,
public addresses, and activities. During recent years quite a number of
such church heads have been prosecuted in the courts for their seditious
utterances and activities.
Testimony given at the hearing before the state Americanization
Committee in Lincoln, Nebraska, showed how many of the ministers know
little of the English language and little of America:
Joseph G. Votava of Omaha, representing the Bohemians, Roman Catholic,
stated:
A great many of the ministers have come from foreign churches and
countries, and if you gentlemen were forced to listen to them
making English sermons, I don't know whether you would go to church
very often or not.
Rev. F. E. Pomp, Omaha, representing the Swedish Evangelical Mission
Association of Nebraska, said:
A great many of the ministers in our denomination were born in
Sweden; some preach very well in English, but the majority,
perhaps, of those born in Sweden cannot preach in the English
language.
The statement of Rev. Matt W. Nemec, Wahoo, Nebraska, Bohemian Roman
Catholic, was:
There are eight of these gentlemen who have come over here and are
in training, and they cannot speak the English language fluently,
and it would be a great hardship for them to come up before the
young people who speak English very well and try to preach in English.
POTENTIAL POWERS FOR GOOD
An immigrant church can do much toward the amalgamation of its members.
There are a few immigrant churches, Catholic as well as Protestant,
which are doing valuable work in this direction. But while an immigrant
church can do much good it also can do much harm when its services and
activities are conducted in the spirit of preference of the old country
to America. To prevent such harm some action must be taken by the public.
The writer recommends that the immigrant church heads (priests, pastors,
ministers, rabbis, and others) should be American citizens either by
birth or by naturalization. Foreign-language services should be
conducted for freshly arrived immigrants only, and for those old-time
immigrants who have not mastered English.
Immigrant churches should be required to report regularly on the
Americanization progress of their congregations (number of families,
home language, service language, naturalization, etc.) to the state or
Federal Bureau of Education.
XI
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL
The preceding three chapters show how important is the public school as
an instrumentality of Americanization. The question is whether the rural
public school meets present-day requirements. Field investigations and
search through both public and private reports have convinced the writer
that the rural public school is the most neglected class of all the
educational institutions in the country. It is far behind the times. It
not only does not adequately meet the problem of immigrant children, but
it does not even root out illiteracy from the rural population in
general. Some of its limiting features are inevitable, while others are
gradually being changed.
LIMITATIONS OF THE ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL
The great majority of rural public schools are one-teacher schools. The
Commissioner of Public Education of California stated that there were in
the state of California in 1918, 2,300 one-room public schools and 410
two-room schools. Over a third of all the Wisconsin school children,
city as well as country, and 42 per cent of the Wisconsin
school-teachers, are found in the one-teacher country schools.[31] A
report on school conditions in Arizona shows that 149 rural schools, or
70 per cent of a total of 214 reporting, are one-teacher schools.[32]
The one-teacher school usually means a crowd of children of various
grades taught by one teacher during the same day. In most cases the
recitation work can go on only with one grade at a time, while the other
grades have to do study work. Without the supervision of the teacher,
this is much less efficient than the recitation work. About two thirds
of the rural teachers answering questionnaires sent out by the United
States Bureau of Education[33] instructed eight or more grades and held
from twenty-two to thirty-five classes a day, which means that the
recitations averaged the absurdly short time of nine to thirteen
minutes. A few teachers manage to lengthen the recitations by a system
of organizing the grades into groups and of combining classes, but this
is the exception, not the rule.
As a rule the one-teacher schools have limited room and equipment. Most
of these schools visited by the writer were small one-room frame
buildings with porchlike attachments on which were built a tiny hall and
dressing "rooms." Quite a few did not have even these "modern
conveniences." The toilets are usually at a distance from the building
and are not always kept clean.
Several teachers stated that the smallness and poverty of the schools
have a depressing influence upon the teachers and prevent any great
respect on the part of the people toward the school.
A third defect of the one-teacher school consists in its monotony and
lack of color and variety as compared with larger schools. Rivalry is
lacking and the recreation enterprises are limited. Of course, much
depends upon the qualities of the individual teacher, but a good teacher
does not stay long in a one-teacher school; she is attracted by better
opportunities elsewhere.
Dissatisfaction with the one-teacher school the writer found to be quite
general, even among the immigrant settlers. The Finnish settlers at
Rudyard in upper Michigan expressed the wish that the government should
give a better public-school system, although the existing schools were
said to be standard schools. They wanted three or four-room schools, a
better heating system, and higher salaries for teachers. Only in this
way could better teaching forces be attracted and kept steadily in the
same schools.
The Polish colonists in Posen, Michigan, explained that they have six
one-room standard public schools in the colony and its vicinity, but
that as the teacher has to deal at the same time with eight grades the
efficiency of her work is naturally below what it should be. The
settlers said that consolidation or enlargement of the schools is badly
needed. No agricultural training is included in the school work.
Reverend Kuizinga of the Dutch colony at Holland, Michigan, stated that
in the backwoods parts of the colony, in purely rural districts, the
school activities ought to be more efficient than they are; certain
schools might be consolidated so as to make fewer grades for one
teacher, teachers' salaries must be increased, and the program for
teaching citizenship broadened.
A leader of an Italian colony at Canastota, New York, stated that the
Italian parents appreciate the schooling of their children, who attend
the American public schools, speak English among themselves, and prefer
the American to the Italian ways of life. In regard to the same colony,
the county school superintendent said that the Italian children attend
school fairly regularly, are able pupils, and excel American children in
their studies.
There is at least one school district in the same colony which has a
defective one-teacher school, which the writer chanced to visit. The
trustee of the school, an American woman, married to an unnaturalized
Italian settler, said that she was worried about getting a
school-teacher for next year, as the county pays only $17 a week. Last
year it paid $15, and that was an increase of $3 over the former salary.
She thought the county might possibly pay $20 this year if she could not
get anyone for less. The people did not like the teacher they had last
year--they thought she did not know enough. There are now seventy-three
children of school age, but there were only twenty-six before, and the
schoolhouse is only large enough for twenty-six. The building is very
small, oblong in shape, with a small partition at one end for cloakroom
and entrance. The school board voted $250 for enlarging the building and
taking down the partition, but the trustee was certain that this would
not be done for that small sum, as "lumber is so high, and the carpenter
wants something." The building needed painting and a number of the
windows were broken The woman said that last year many children of
school age worked instead of going to school, as there was nobody to
force them to go. Now that she was trustee, she said, she would see that
everybody went.
GROWTH OF THE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL
The defects of the one-teacher school have led to the consolidation
movement which is rapidly developing throughout the country. The
Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Dakota reported in 1916
that the consolidated school was becoming more and more the school of
the rural districts and he recommended liberal state aid to these
schools. There were at that time 123 "open country" consolidated schools
in the state and 210 town consolidated schools, the latter being in
reality rural schools.
One county superintendent reported that in the last two years a number
of districts had voted to consolidate their schools; another said that
40 per cent of the pupils were attending consolidated schools. The Rural
School Commissioner of Minnesota stated that consolidation has a very
promising growth in the state; that 210 districts have been organized,
half of which were established during the two years ending in 1916. And
so the story goes in each state that has a largely rural population.
There is some opposition to this movement by parents who live farthest
from a proposed consolidated school, because of the distance and
inability to provide children with hot lunches. But this opposition is
easily overcome by the provision of public transportation facilities for
the children and by serving hot lunches at the schoolhouses. Some
opposition comes from the landowners in the neighborhood of a
one-teacher school which has to be closed on account of consolidation.
Their fear that there will be a lowering of land values is baseless, as
the settlers in that section get much better school accommodations
through consolidation than they had before.
Advantages of the consolidated school over the one-teacher school are
obvious. It makes possible a better division of time in recitation and
study. The teaching is more efficient on account of specialization and a
better and more stable teaching staff.
In the office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, North
Dakota, the writer found the following statements in the reports of
various county superintendents for 1916.[34]
Barnes County:
The past two years have been marked by the number of districts that
have voted to consolidate their schools. Five township consolidated
schools have been built in the open country. Each of these
buildings has four schoolrooms, a good-sized gymnasium, an
auditorium with a stage, domestic-science room, and a
manual-training room. They are modern buildings in every respect,
steam heated, water system for drinking fountains and toilets. One
six-room village consolidated school and one open country two-room
school have also been completed. They are also modern buildings. In
these schools the country child has equal opportunities with the
city child. These schoolhouses are used as centers for the social
life of the neighborhood and are proving most successful.
Benson County:
Several districts during the past two years have consolidated. We
believe these schools are demonstrating their superiority over
one-room schools at least in the way of graduating pupils from the
eighth grade. Ten schools operating as consolidated schools
graduated as many farm boys and girls as did nearly eighty one-room
schools, during the past year.
In connection with practically every consolidated school is some
form of community or farmer's club.... Especially during the past
year much was done through these agencies for the promotion of
rural life, social and educational. The consolidated school
principal, with his faculty, is experiencing a new and enlarged
obligation and opportunity.
Bowman County:
Considerable work for consolidation has been done from this office.
Sixteen public meetings have been held, and the proposition of
consolidation thoroughly discussed with more than twelve hundred of
our people. Through this system of education the movement is
finding favor with our people, and it will be only a short time
before more than half of this county is consolidated.
McHenry County:
We have three purely country consolidated schools, each serving a
township, and from our experience here we have come to the
conclusion that districts of this kind are not a success with bus
transportation unless they have an assessed valuation of $175,000
or more. Part of the burden of transportation must be borne by
parents of the children attending school. With the family
transportation system these schools are working out very well,
being able to employ three teachers and run nine months of school
per year without exceeding the maximum tax levy.
Eighteen consolidated and graded schools were in operation in the
county last year, and 40.2 per cent of all the children in the
county are now enjoying graded school facilities.... McHenry is a
purely agricultural county.
Everywhere the consolidated school has been successful and has shown far
greater efficiency than the scattered one-teacher schools. This gives
promise that the consolidated rural school will in a few years prevail.
THE RURAL SCHOOL-TEACHER
In a number of states visited by the writer the prevailing type of rural
school-teacher was a girl of from eighteen to twenty years of age. That
the country school-teacher is an astonishingly young person is attested
by all reports on the subject. An educational survey of South Dakota[35]
showed that the largest group of rural teachers range between nineteen
and twenty-five years of age; twenty-nine teachers were under seventeen
years of age, and fifty-three were just seventeen.
Most of the teachers about whom the writer collected information were
serving their first or second year. Only a few had been teaching for
three or more years. According to the above survey of South Dakota, 31
per cent of the rural teachers were teaching their first school, and
only 9.6 per cent had taught as many as four schools. Few teachers, the
report showed, have taught more than one or two years in a school, while
the average teaching life of a rural teacher is three and three quarters
school years. The instability of the profession is so great that it is
necessary for the state of South Dakota to recruit annually about one
third of its total teaching force of 7,000.
An investigation made by the United States Bureau of Education in 1915
covering all sections of the country found that the number of school
years taught by the average rural teacher was six and one half, but
stated that the large majority of these teachers fell far below the
average. The average time spent by a teacher in one community is
extremely brief; the investigation showed that it is less than two
school years, or considerably less than one calendar year. Even this
average is considered a high one for the majority of the teachers.
Equally illuminating figures on this point are contributed by the state
of Wisconsin. The state Superintendent of Education reports as follows:
TABLE VII
LENGTH OF TEACHING SERVICE IN WISCONSIN RURAL SCHOOLS, 1915-16[36]
==================================================
|Teaching Services| Total Teaching
Period | in Locality | Service
----------------+-----------------+---------------
1 year or less | 4,136 | 1,421
2 years | 1,650 | 1,545
3 years | 508 | 1,093
4 years | 187 | 738
5 years | 83 | 517
6 years and over| 66 | 1,316
----------------+-----------------+---------------
Total | 6,630 | 6,630
==================================================
A number of the teachers that the writer interviewed had only
grammar-school education, with a year or two of high school. Only a few
had full high-school training. In general the training which qualifies
the rural teacher for his work is appallingly slight. Of the rural
teachers in South Dakota covered by the survey mentioned, 58.3 per cent
had completed a four-year high-school course; 45.8 per cent reported
attendance at professional schools; 54.2 per cent became teachers by
taking examinations instead of by going through normal schools and
colleges of education.
The investigation of the United States Bureau of Education referred to
above brings out the striking fact that about one third of the rural
teachers have had no professional preparation whatever, not even summer
courses or other short courses. It was discovered that 4 per cent of
them had less than eight years of elementary training, and that 45 per
cent of the rural teachers have completed four years of high-school
work, but have not done more.
A bulletin of the United States Bureau of Education[37] presents the
following facts regarding the training of rural school-teachers: The
average rural school-teacher remains in the teaching profession less
than four school years of 140 days each. This means a complete turn-over
of teachers every four years, or that about 87,500 new teachers must be
provided annually. During the school year ending 1915 the normal schools
graduated 21,944 students. It is quite certain that most of these found
positions in towns and cities, as did most of those graduating from
schools of education in universities and colleges. Therefore the great
majority of the 87,500 new teachers needed annually for the rural
schools must go to their work professionally unprepared.
Extracts from the reports of county superintendents in various states
show the same low level of qualifications; one reports that nearly 40
per cent of his teachers have been untrained and inexperienced. The
following quotations are taken almost at random from the 1916 reports of
county superintendents filed in the office of the state Superintendent
of Public Education of North Dakota,[38] and might be duplicated by
reports from almost any other state having a largely rural population.
Bowman County:
During the last two years (1914 and 1915) nearly 40 per cent of our
teachers have been untrained and inexperienced. We are trying to
convince our school boards that training for teaching is just as
essential as training for any other vocation in life, and that the
trained teacher is worth more and should receive more pay than the
untrained, and that the sooner we engage trained teachers for our
schools the sooner we will have better schools.
Logan County:
There is a lack of permanency in the teaching force (due to lack of
resident teachers--over 90 per cent are non-residents), and this
has many disadvantages. Too many of the rural teachers are not in
sympathy with the rural conditions in this county.
The teachers in the rural districts, especially in the backwoods places,
impressed the writer as having little influence upon the surrounding
community, particularly in cases where the community was composed solely
of immigrants. The immigrants seem not to take the teacher seriously. A
number of them said that they do not go for any practical advice to the
school-teacher, believing that such a young girl knows little. In
personal interviews the teachers said that they are doing some
Americanization work by explaining to the children certain big
historical events in the country's life, such as Washington's crossing
of the Delaware, the battle of Bunker Hill, the liberation of the
negroes. Their understanding of the difference between the American
democracy and the European autocratic and aristocratic governments
seemed to be vague. Even their knowledge of American history was
mechanical rather than conscious or interpretative. In general, the
writer was impressed that teachers of this type--young girls--themselves
need further development before they can do effective educational work
in the schools, not to speak of the community.
The teachers themselves complained of low salaries, difficulties in
handling boys, especially immigrant boys who come from big cities. There
are hardships in finding suitable living quarters and board,
particularly in new immigrant colonies where the people live in
shanty-like shelters and continue to eat pork and sauerkraut, sour milk,
herring, onions, etc. One teacher, a girl about nineteen, told the
writer that she could find an American farm only at a distance of five
miles from the school and that she had a hard time to reach the school
from her boarding place in the winter snows and blizzards.
Not one of the teachers interviewed expected to make teaching a lifetime
profession. They all looked upon their present position as only a
stepping-stone to a better life. They hoped either to continue study and
go through college, or to take up skilled office work, such as that of a
stenographer or bookkeeper.
The average salaries of rural teachers are given in the reports of
various state superintendents as follows:
Average monthly salary of teachers in rural schools in
North Dakota:[39]
Year ended June 30, 1914 $53.25
Year ended June 30, 1915 54.92
Average monthly wages of teachers in rural districts in
South Dakota:[40]
Year ended June 30, 1915 $53.75
Year ended June 80, 1916 55.04
Average monthly salary of teachers in Nebraska, year ended
July, 1916:[41]
Males $73.21
Females 50.94
Average monthly wages of teachers in rural districts in
Minnesota, 1916:[42]
Men $62.00
Women 52.00
Teaching salaries of rural school-teachers in Wisconsin,
1914-15:[43]
Percentage receiving less than $40 0.2
" " $40-$49 78.9
" " 50-59 17.9
" " 60-69 2.4
" " 70-79 0.5
" " 80-89 0.1
" " 90-99 none
In regard to the influence of the nationality of the teacher upon her
work in a public school there have been no authoritative data
published. In a number of the immigrant colonies investigated by the
writer immigrant teachers were employed. While both the colonists and
their leaders claimed that a teacher of their own nationality can get
better results in her work than a native teacher, because of her
intimate knowledge of the colonists and their children, the school
authorities and the native neighbors did not believe there was any
difference. If a teacher of foreign parents was born in America or
immigrated in childhood, has received American schooling and normal
training, and if she speaks perfect English, knows and loves the
country, there cannot be any difference.
In one case the head of a native family expressed his dislike of a teacher
of Finnish nationality on account of her defective English and because she
taught foreign songs and plays to the American children. As the teacher was
on vacation, the writer could not interview her. The colonists themselves
believed that she was a good teacher, for the children liked her; and the
county superintendent was satisfied with her teaching progress.
In Vineland, New Jersey, there were four teachers in the public schools
of Italian parentage. These teachers would be counted as Americans in
every way. As they understand Italian, know the Italian immigrants and
their children, they get better results in their school and community
work than the native teacher. One good thing is that they stay in the
same school much longer than the latter.
In general the writer is inclined to the opinion that, given equivalent
abilities and training, the teacher with the command of the foreign
language can do better work in an immigrant community than a native-born
teacher who speaks only English. Such a teacher must be thoroughly
imbued with the American spirit and traditions. She will have a better
chance of imparting these to her pupils and their parents if she has
also a knowledge of, and sympathy for, the nationalistic backgrounds and
inclinations of the people in her community. This is a rare combination
to find in a rural school-teacher, but it typifies the characteristics
needed to succeed in amalgamating the colonists, both young and old,
into a common life and purpose.
IRREGULAR SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
It is a fact that school attendance is much poorer in the agricultural
sections than in the industrial centers. It is believed that on an
average about 20 per cent of the rural children of school age do not
attend school at all. The attendance of the children of immigrant
settlers is less than that of the children of native farmers. The
immigrants are more used to child labor in the old countries. They are
hard pressed financially, often paying off mortgages and developing new
land. The land and colonization companies are sometimes known to
encourage rather than discourage the use of child labor by the settlers
in their newly created colonies.
The states vary in the length of school term provided for children, ranging
from about five months to over nine months. In only three fifths of the
states, however, are children compelled by law to attend the full school
year.[44] In only rare cases are the compulsory attendance laws completely
inforced, so that the average amount of schooling the child gets is less
than that prescribed by law, and in a number of states less than the amount
of schooling available. This is especially true in rural districts.
The situation in some of the states where land settlement is being
carried on is indicated by the data given below. Although urban and
rural figures are not distinguishable, those given are for predominantly
rural territory. Wherever city populations are included it is a safe
assumption that the attendance showing is better than in the country
districts alone. In Arizona, where conditions are almost entirely rural,
the percentage of children not attending any school is 14 per cent or
above in every county, and runs as high as 48 in one of the counties.
TABLE VIII
PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION IN ARIZONA SIX TO TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE IN
SCHOOLS AND NOT ATTENDING SCHOOL, 1915-16[45]
===================================================
| | Private or |
| In Public | Parochial | Attended No
Counties | Schools | Schools | School
| (Per Cent) | (Per Cent) | (Per Cent)
------------+------------+------------+------------
Apache | 77 | 7 | 16
Cochise | 72 | 3 | 25
Coconino | 70 | 11 | 19
Gila | 80 | 1 | 19
Graham | 78 | 6 | 16
Greenlee | 76 | 1 | 23
Maricopa | 81 | 4 | 15
Mohave | 65 | 11 | 24
Navajo | 72 | 14 | 14
Pima | 57 | 12 | 31
Pinal | 77 | 1 | 22
Santa Cruz | 47 | 5 | 48
Yavapai | 70 | 5 | 25
Yuma | 78 | 1 | 21
===================================================
The irregular attendance of children at the schools in rural districts
of Minnesota is commented upon as follows:[46]
Irregular attendance is an evil beyond calculation, and we have
much of it in the open country school. Many schools last year
showed an average daily attendance of less than 60 per
cent--children in school only one half or two thirds of the time.
Anoka County:
The loss of time in the consolidated school is only two thirds of
that lost in the other rural schools.
Kittson County: