JUNE 1925
THE UNITED AMERICAN
Page Twenty-five
An Americanization Review From Cleveland
By GEO. A. GREEN, Director Citizens’ Bureau, Cleveland, Ohio.
(Special for The United American)
SPECULATION was rife among Adult Immigrant
Education workers after the enactment by Con
gress of the Quota Immigration Law of 1924, as to
what effect the new act would have upon the work of
Cleveland institutions dealing directly with the immi
grant. The two local agencies, it was expected, would
be immediately affected were the Travelers Aid
Society and the system of Public Evening School for
Adults, both being among the first of Cleveland’s
institutions to reach the immigrant upon his arrival.
The effect of the law which went into operation on
July 1st, was immediately reflected in the work of
the Travelers Aid Society, which during the calendar
year 1923 had met at the trains four thousand three
hundred and fifty-three incoming immigrants. During
1924, only one thousand one hundred and fifty-six
immigrants were reached in this manner, and the
greater part of them before July 1st. Where from
twenty-five to one hundred were arriving on a single
train prior to July 1st, only ten or fifteen arrived
thereafter.
Despite the drastic immigration restrictions the
Board of Education, however, registered very little
declension in the enrollment, and reported that the
anticipated difference was not a decrease to the point of
being commensurate with the decrease in the number of
new arrivals. This meant that enrollment and attendance
in the Public Evening Schools for Adults were main
tained by an increasing number of former pupils who
had returned for further instruction. The Evening
Elementary Division of the Public Schools, during the
year, has numbered in attendance at its classes for
adults, sixty-four thousand non-English speaking
residents.
Larger numbers were encouraged to remain in the
Evening Schools because of the inauguration of a
definite course of study and the possibilities provided
for better grading by the introduction of new language
accomplishment tests measuring the students’ English
language ability. For those who were willing to travel
some distance from the home there was provided a
course of study appropriate to their peculiar and
specific needs.
The total amount appropriated by the Cleveland
Board of Education for the Elementary Adult Classes
during the year was $65,011.00. A charge of $2.00
for a twelve week course consisting of three two-hour
sessions per week was made and the total fees collected
from this source amounted to $14,021.00.
The Division of Educational Extension collaborated
with the School of Education in developing courses of
study for the different grades, in making research
studies of the most imperative needs of the adult night
schools and in ascertaining the value of departmental
(Continued on Page Twenty-Eight)
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