The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip., June 01, 1925, Page 32, Image 32

Page Thirty-two
THE UNITED AMERICAN
AMEICANIZING THE HOME
(Continued from Page Twenty-One)
stability of the homes of native-born Americans
becomes a far greater danger where it touches the
foreign-born.
I. No course is quite so uncharted as that of
foreign-born youth.
II. No life at its fruition can be quite so blighted
as that of mature foreign-born who are not
rooted in the soil of their adopted land.
III. No old age is so pitifully alone as that which
must sit dumbly by while the currents of
thought and emotion of dear ones pass, but
never touch, feebly groping senses.
The American woman sees and hears on all sides
the warnings about the pitfalls in modern life. How
much of all this penetrates to the foreign-born mother.
Yes, she is always on guard, that is true. But what
happens to her children when they are out in the
strange life all about her, she can know nothing. She
senses the dangers, of course, but she is helpless to
avert disaster. If she can be convinced that safety
for herself and her flock lies in knowledge of condi­
tions and the maintenance of her natural position in
the life of her children, she will meet educational
agencies half way. However, no experienced worker
has any illusion as to the obstacles to be overcome
in making clear to the prospective student, even the
most intelligent, the vital significance of training in
American ideas and ideals.
As a rule, definite requests of foreign-born for
instruction meet with what is, by the average person
who has not studied the matter, considered ade­
quate response on part of school officials. The
school building is opened for two or more meetings
a week and one of the teachers — any one of them —
is secured for these hours of work, in addition to her
regular school duties. Surely-, that is doing hand­
somely by the foreign-born, comments the average
patron of the school, if he gives the matter any thought
at all.
The trained worker knows that this perfectly natu­
ral method of meeting a demand, the real nature of
which no one of those concerned has had any oppor­
tunity to ascertain, not only checks the demand, very
close to its source, but, more than that, builds up a
barrier that succeeding efforts of like nature only
serve to increase. The stages in this damming-up
process are much the same, everywhere and every
time: It is announced that a class for foreign-born
women, we’ll say, is to meet at a certain time and
place, in response to what is understood to be a demand
for such instruction. The women come, some fifteen
in number. As we consider these fifteen human
beings, the important thing, for our present purpose,
is their differences. In order to get some realization of
what the possibilities of variations are, one would have
to sit down with pencil and paper and enumerate differ­
ences as noted. Noting differences in previous training,
only, there would be the women who were illiterate
in their own language; those who could read their
native tongue some, but had never tried to make a
language symbol; those who could speak English a
little, but could neither read nor write; those who
JUNE 1925
could speak very well, read a little, but not write at
all; and so on.
Well, they are at school now, seated, more or less
uncomfortably in seats built for children. The teacher
looks over the class and, thinking in terms of her day-
school pupils, decides this number will make a nice
class. And “a” class they become, the first act of
the tragedy. That group is likely to have the material
for at least five groups; for certain partu of the instruc­
tion larger numbers might work together profitably.
The attempt to give mass instruction to the fifteen
marks the beginning of the end of the undertaking
which has cost such effort. “What is the basis of
classification,” one might ask, concerning such a group.
“Oh, they are all grown up, you know, and it will be
so interesting for them to work together; they will
learn to understand each other so much better, and
to forget the foolish dislikes they brought with them.”
Quite true. ' If I should have my three-year old niece
begin the study of Spanish, it would no doubt help
her to develop a tolerant attitude toward people of
other nationalities if she were to have as a classmate
a college-trained Frenchman, but it would require con­
siderable training on the part of the teacher to maintain
the interest of fifteen pupils of such different types. The
women in the class under discussion, largely ignorant,
as well as indifferent, to the socializing value of their
work, want to make reasonable, or even unreasonable,
progress in learning the language. This they cannot
do, under such conditions.
The development of language instruction for adults
must be toward classification on the basis of mental
capacity, primarily, involving, usually, smaller groups,
with shorter recitation periods for each group; or,
if periods of instruction are to remain the same, more
teachers will be required, which, in turn, will mean
greater expenditure, necessitating, perhaps, some con­
tribution on the part of the student to the cost of
maintaining the work. Surely it is childishly short­
sighted to insist that unless education can be offered
the adult on the same liberal terms as the child, it
shall not be offered at all.
FOR SUCH IS THE GOVERNMENT OF AMERICA
(Continued from Page Twenty-four)
pleased, so long as their actions should not interfere
with the equal rights of others. Such is the govern­
ment of America.
We welcome you to full partnership in that
government. We give you freely of all we have. We
share with you gladly the heritage that is ours. We
ask only that you cherish it, that you protect it against
all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you keep it se­
cure from all encroachments that tend even remotely
to make its purpose other than to secure the natural
rights of man. We ask only that you be eternally and
intelligently vigilant that government of the people,
by the people, for the people shall not perish from the
earth.
There is no penalty to virtue; no penalty to wisdom; they
are proper additions of being. In a virtuous action I properly
am; in a virtuous act I add to the world; I plant into deserts
conquered from chaos and nothing and see the darkness
receding on the limits of the horizon.
— Emerson.