JUNE 1925
Page Twenty-one
THE UNITED AMERICAN
Americanizing the Home
By ANNA HELENE ANDERSON, 662 East 70th Street N., Portland, Oregon
(Special for The United American)
encompassing all the joys, all the “thrills” of
I? VERY FORM of adult education has as its ultimate
aim the correcting and strengthening of home
influences. When public interest began to be directed
to the needs of the foreign-born, it was natural that
attention should be centered upon the man, the wage
earner, the economic factor of the
home as the social unit. A realiza
tion of the importance of reaching
the woman, the spiritual factor, is
now coming, but oh! so slowly.
School authorities have been
prevailed upon to organize day
classes for women, provided an en
rollment of fifteen in each can be
attained; some six women start
work; no more can be brought
out; after a few weeks the work
Miss Anderson
in such a class is discontinued.
Net result: the women will feel that it is useless to try
again; the school authorities that they have done every
thing that can be expected of them.
This is an old, old story, of course. And just as
the worker in the field knows the inevitable result of
an effort of this kind, so she knows the contributing
causes; first, on the part of the foreign-born them
selves, a lack of interest based on realization of the
vital importance of channels of communication with
individuals and institutions among which she is rearing
her family; second, on the part of school officials, a
misconception of what constitutes adequate facilities
for language instruction to adults.
The vexing problem is who is to make the first
move, in the “vicious circle” of everybody waiting for
somebody else to do so and so. School authorities
maintain that they cannot act*until there is an articu
late demand; trained workers know that such a demand
must be created; to make active a latent demand in
this field, just as in that of economics, requires a
large expenditure of money and the work can be
successfully accomplished only by experts. Who will
pay the bill ? And here we are back again to the public
school. Should it undertake a never-ending publicity
campaign to reach and hold the adult who needs
training for citizenship? Can we give assurance that
the results will justify such an extension of the func
tion of our public schools ?
Before the publicity expert can outline his cam
paign, he must determine the probable quality and
quantity of the latent demand. What kind of training
does the foreign-born woman need to fulfill, according
to American standards, her mission as custodian of
the spiritual contributions her family has to make to
the community? How many women can be reached
and how long can the contact be maintained ?
I. What is the matter with our young people?
Youth — whose true beauty is promise,
not fulfillment of life’s meaning — youth,
restless, reckless, bored, insisting that life
give! give! give! immediately and abundantly,
three score and ten only a generation ago.
II. Why is the number of broken homes and
broken lives on the increase?
“Middle age, the harvest time of life, and
what is the harvest ? Bitter disillusion, broken
spirit, broken law.
III. Why do so many old people, with children able
to care for them, live lonely, discontented lives
in institutions for the aged?
Old age — nature’s time for leisurely con
templation and meditation, a “review” of
life’s lessons, the deep joy of quiet achieve
ment — now how utterly futile, a misfit any
where in the scheme of things.
Such is the picture of twentieth century civilization
as it is painted to us by everything that we see and hear
from our morning paper to the jazzy end of our day.
Of course we do not accept this picture. We can touch
it up as our understanding of relationship between
underlying causes and surface manifestations gives
an insight into the real significance of current thought
and action. However bright we can thus make the
outlook, the shadows remain very deep here and there.
And all who have given any thought to the matter
know that whatever condition is menacing to the
(Continued on Page Thirty-Two)
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Adult Immigrant Education
1
ITS SCOPE, CONTENTS, and METHODS I
By
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William Sharlip
Supervisor of Americanization
Philadelphia, Pa.
and
Albert A. Owens
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South Philadelphia High School For Boys
Philadelphia, Pa.
With an Introduction By
A. Duncan Yocum, Ph. D.
Professor of Educational Research and Practice I
University of Pennsylvania
This is the first authoritative, comprehensive, and
systematic exposition of the pedagogy of adult immi-
grant instruction. It is of particular value because
of the present unfortunate lack of standardization or
community of aims in Americanization work through-
out the country.
The text is designed specifically for two purposes:
first, definitely to prepare new teachers for the work;
second, to further the training of teachers now in.
service. The book is a comprehensive, practical manual.
It outlines the subjects usually taught in the courses,
the qualifications for teachers, the purposes of the
work, and contains an abundant appendix which gives
among other things, sample lesson plans and a steno-
graphic record of actual lessons.
Write for information
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New York, Chicago, Boston,Dallas, Atlanta, SanFrancisco
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Place Your Orders With The United American Advertisers—and Tell Them Why
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