The public school touches the foreign-born family at two points:
First, in the compulsory education of the children, and second, in
the opportunities that it offers to the adult members of the family to
learn English, to fit themselves for citizenship, and to adjust their
lives to the new community.
The adaptation of the public schools to these tasks belongs properly
to another section of this study.[55] In so far, however, as the
school contributes through its attitude toward the parent to a
breakdown in family discipline, and in so far as it tries or does not
try to instruct the foreign-born housewife in the art of housekeeping,
it is concerned with problems that are primarily family problems. It
may be of interest, then, to cite certain evidence obtained from
foreign-born leaders and typical foreign-born families as to the
relationship existing between the schools and foreign-born parents,
the methods used by the schools in the education of foreign-born
women, and their apparent success or failure.
Reference has already been made to the place that the school sometimes
plays in the breakdown of family discipline, because of ignorance on
the part of the teachers concerning the social and domestic attitudes
prevailing among the foreign-born groups.
The school has, in fact, been able to take so little account of the
mother that so long as things run fairly smoothly she is usually
unable to realize that she has any place at all in the scheme. Again
and again, to the question as to whether she visits the school where
her children go, comes the answer, "Oh no, my children never have any
trouble in school." As long as they are not in trouble she is not
called into consultation. She may even be made to feel quite unwelcome
if she is bold enough to visit the schoolroom, so she very soon comes
to the conclusion that the education of her children is really none of
her business.
Sometimes the teacher thoughtlessly contributes to the belittling of
the parent in the eyes of the child. An Italian man tells the story of
a woman he knew who whipped her boy for truancy and then went to
consult the teacher. But instead of a serious and sympathetic talk,
the teacher in the child's presence upbraided the mother for punishing
the child. The child of foreign-born parents, as well as the
native-born child, often learns in the public school to despise what
is other than American in dress, customs, language, and political
institutions, and both are thus influenced to despise the foreign-born
parent who continues in the old way.
There is, of course, often a failure on the part of the teacher to
uphold the dignity and authority of the parents in the native-born
group, and the need of bridging the gap between school authorities and
parents has been recognized by the organization of the Parent-Teachers'
organization as well as of the Patrons' Department of the National
Education Association. It may be that at a later date, when certain
general fundamental questions of co-operation have been dealt with,
devices for meeting the difficulties of special groups of parents will
be developed.
On the subject of courses of instruction attention has been called to
the many points at which the foreign-born housewife needs instruction
and assistance in familiarizing herself with the new conditions under
which she lives. When there exists such a universal and widely felt
need which could be filled by giving instruction in a field in which
the material is organized and available, the opportunity of the school
is apparent. Not only courses in English, in the art of cooking, in
the principles of selection and preservation of food, but those
describing the peculiarities of the modern industrial urban community
as contrasted with the simple rural community, could be planned,
methods of instruction could be developed, and regular curricula could
be organized.
There are, to be sure, certain inherent difficulties to be met in the
instruction of housewives. The old saying, "Man's work is from sun to
sun, but woman's work is never done," has been so long accepted as the
expression of the inevitable that it is difficult to persuade anyone,
most of all the housewife herself, that she can manage to give an
hour or two a day to learning something new. Her time seems never her
own, with tasks morning, afternoon, and night.
Nor is it only a question of overwork. Undoubtedly careful planning is
uncommon, and the tradition that woman's place is in the home has its
effect. In fact, there is a vicious circle; she cannot study because
her housekeeping is too arduous, but it is so partly because she does
not take time to learn better ways of doing her work.
There is, moreover, among most housewives, whether native or foreign
born, a certain complacency about housekeeping and bringing up
children. Housekeeping is supposed to come by nature, and few women of
any station in life are trained to be homemakers and mothers. If they
take any training it is generally designed to fit them to earn a
living only until they are married. They do not realize how useful
certain orderly instruction might be.
Moreover, instruction for foreign-born housewives must include the
subjects needed for homemaking as well as English. Having survived the
first hard adjustments it is difficult to persuade the foreign-born
mother that she has any need for speaking English when housekeeping is
all that is expected of her. The situation is often complicated, too,
by her age at immigration and her lack of education in the old
country, which make her particularly ill-fitted for ordinary
classroom instruction.
Besides these difficulties there are certain prejudices to be met. The
middle-aged woman does not wish to study English in classes with her
children of working age or others of their age. She dreads the
implication of this association. Many of the foreign-born mothers also
have a hesitancy about going into classes with men, as they feel a
mental inferiority, and many prefer not to be in classes with students
from other national groups.
The most frequent criticism by immigrant leaders interviewed is the
inelasticity of the public-school methods. The classes are usually
held three or four nights a week, and no housewife should be expected
to leave home as often as that. The groups are composed of both men
and women and of all nationalities, disregarding well-known prejudices
that have already been mentioned.
A more fundamental criticism than these has reference to the failure
to adopt or devise new methods of instruction for persons who cannot
read or write in their own language, and who have arrived at a period
in their lives when learning is extremely difficult. The classes are
often conducted in English by day-school teachers, who are accustomed
to teaching children and who are entirely unfamiliar with the
background of the immigrant woman and her special problems.
There are reports also of the unwillingness of the school authorities
to relax formal requirements, with reference to the minimum number for
whom a class will be organized. Often it is necessary to "nurse the
class." In Chicago sixteen women have in the past been deprived of a
class because the Board of Education refused at the time to open the
schools to groups of less than twenty.