Education of the Immigrant

UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN. 1913, NO. 51 . - - WHOLE NUMBER 562 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS READ AT A PUBLIC CON- FERENCE UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE NEW YORK- NEW JERSEY COMMITTEE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CIVIC LEAGUE FOR IMMIGRANTS, HELD AT NEW YORK CITY, MAY 16 AND 17, 1913 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1913 CONTENTS. rage. Letter pf transmittal 5 I. Domestic education of the immigrant 7 The work of the domestic educator.Mrs. Annie L. Hansen Teaching immigrant mothers proper food.Miss Winifred Gibbs__ 10 The training of the domestic educator- 1.By Miss Helen Kinne 11 ILBy Miss H. Kitredge 12 II. Immigrants in labor camps and isolated communities 13 I.By Joseph Mnyper 13 Jane E. Robbins -yr 15 111. Education of the immigrant child 18 I.By William H. Maxwell 18 John H. Hanren 19 111.By Cecil A. Kidd 22 IV.By Joseph IL Wade -23 Recreation for the immigrant.Edward W. Stitt 25 niversity settlement. 4kbbins Gilman 27 Coordination of welfaregencies LBy Margaret Knox II.By Warren C. Eberle 30 Annie Carroll Moore 32 IV. Education of the immigrant adult 33 Clarence M. Abbott 33 II.By E. N. LewinskiCorwin 36 .111.--Tly Mrs. Adelaide Bowles Maltby 37 Rosamond Kimball 37 V. Evening schools for foreigners 39 The necessity foci evening schools.Albert Shields Selection of eming-school teache 1. -By James C. Byrnes 42 11.Ity Edith L. Jardine.-- "0- 43 111.By Arthur J. Robert 46 The conient and method of inruction Fe I.By Robert B. Brodie_ 47 11.By Isador Springer 48 Supplementary activities I. By Albert Loewinthan 49 II.By Arthur V. Taylor 50 Michael J. Isaacs 51 8 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. .DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, November 1, 1913. Sut: To the people ofno other country is the problem of the education of immigrants ofso much importance as to the people of the United States.No other country hasso many men, women, and children coming to its shoresevery year from all parts of the world. In many of our cities andtowns, and in some of our States, the people of foreign birth constitutea very large proportion of the entire population.It is reported that the immigrantsstopping in New York city last year\were from 98 different countries and provinces and spoke 66 differentlanguages. In one school district in Pennsylvania thereare children of 29 different nationalities. Many of those who havecome to us in recent years are from countries having verymeager provisions for public educatiop. Ac- cording to the Federalcensus of 1910 more than 25 per cent of tile foreign-born population of3 States was illiterate, from 15 to 25 per cent of 5 States, from 10 to 15per cent of 11 States, and from 5 to 10 pe4 cent of 21 States.In only one State was theper- centage of illiteracy of the foreign-born populationless than '5.. Most of the immigrants inrecent years have little kinship,with the older stocks of our population, eitherin blood, language, methods of thought, traditions,manruirs, or customs;, they know little ofour political and civic life andare unused to our social ideals; their environment here is wholly different from thatto which they have been accustomed.Strangers to each other, frequently fromcoun- tries hostile to each other by tradition, ofdifferent speech and creeds, they are thrown together, stranigrsamong strangers, in a strange country, and are thought of by us onlyas it conglomerate mass of foreigners.With little attention to their specific needs,they are crowded into factories, mines, and dirty tenementquarters, too often the, prey of the exploiter in business and-thedemagogue in politics. That these people are interested in the elementaryeducation of their children, or at least obedientto th5school-attandance laws, is shown by the fact that,the least illiterateelement of our population his the native-born children of foreign-bornparents. The illiteracy ,4it 6 LRTTER OF TRANSMITTAL. among the children ofnative-born parent's is three times its great us that among the native-born children offoreign-born parents. But it is not alone the question of theschool education of children. The millions of adult men and women,and of children older than, the upper limit of the compulsoryschool-attendance age, must be looked after; they must be preparedfor American citizenship and for participation in our democraticindustrial, social, and religious life; they must be givensynipathetic help in findilig themselves in their_ new environment and in adjustingthemselves to their .new opportunities and responsibilities.For the enrichment of our national life as well as for the happineksand welfare of indivijluals wet must respect their ideals and preserveand strengthen all.of-the best of their Old World life theybring with them. We must not attempt to destroy and remake,---we canonly transform.Racial and national virtues must not be thoughtlesslyexchanged for American vices. The proper education of these people is aduty which the nation owes to itself and tothem.It can neglect this duty only to their hurt and to its own peril. Nosystematic effort has ever been made to work out the best methodstherefor. We have little definite usable knowledge of the varying characteristicsof the several races.We are ignorant even ofthe surest and quickest way to teachthem to speak and understand English.To work out the Aeveral phases of this vital probled of theeducation of immigrantsan'a their children should be the task of this bureau,and the bureau will gladly under- takeit whenever sufficient funds aremade iWilable for that purpose. In themeantime I recommend thatVre accompanying manuscript, which contains thesubstance of papers and addresses presented at the public conference onthe education,Af immigrants, held under' the auspices of theNew York-New jersey committeeof the North American Civic Leaguefor Immigrants at the College of the City of New York, May 16 and17,1913, be published as a bulletin of the. Bureau of Education.'I believe it may serve at least tocall attention to this problem and tothe need of a more careful, sys- tematic study of it. Respectfully submitted. P. CLAXTON, Commissioner. To the SECRETARY OF THEINTERIOR. EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. I. DOMESTIC EDUCATIONOF.THE IMMIGRANT. THE WORK OF THE DOMESTIC EDUCATOR. Mrs. ANNIE L. IIANHIN, North American !'iris ',repot for Imtnigrantx. Domestic education,as we understand it, is an effort to meet the educational needs of the adult immigrantwoman and to preserve the influence of her homeas a vital force in the training of her children. It is further designed tosupplement the work of the public schools with consecutive constructivework in the homes. We have becomeso used to modern conveniences that we are apt to forget that those coming tous from other countries have not had them. The immigrant womencome to us from environments en- tirely different from those they find themselvesin when they arrive in this country.The great. majority of themare of the peasant type, have had few or no opportunities for education,have gener- ally worked in the field, and havenever lived in the city or in close proximity to neighbors.' It becomes immediatelynecessary to teach the use of sinks, how to clean their, and howto flush out the drains. Thecome the toilets, garbage, slop pails, etc.Nearly all immigrant women need advicei and when the instruction isso put that they realize that to be sanitary is to be economical, theywaste no time in carrying it out. VENTILATION. The immigrant woman is ignorant of the value of freshair, and in our campaign of education we have to make the mother ofa family realize that ventilation prevents sickness and thatsickness means expense before she will attempt to ventilate her home. The educator has to create a horror of flies by drawing attentionto the flies on the filth in the 'street, and glen show how theyconvey gerMs into the house.Such a thing as ventilating clothingor comforters or pillows is unknown, and the educator shows thatunheard-pf things are possible by assisting. at the first bed cleaning.. 8 EDUCATION OF THE DOCIORANT. HYGIENE. When I questioned an Italian woman, who regularly swept the dust from the floor into a cupboard. about her sweeping in the old country, she replied: 4. At home I take a pall of water and a broom and wash and sweep everything out of doors, because the floor is stone.But here the inspector will not let me sweep into the hall, and when I used a pail of waterit ran through into the flat below: so I sweep into the cupboard. It never occurred to her to take the dust up in ,a dustpan. Many women who are clean about their homes are not cleanabout their persons, and in this connection the educator frequently finds herself confronted with superstition.For example, Ruthenians will not wasl,i the.top of a child's head at birth nor until after the second birthday, and a pregnant mother will not take a bath.It is difficult to get her to wash more than her face and hands, and all this because of a fear of being bewitched.Some believe they have been bewitched, and in fear of death they refuse to clean or comb their hair. Per- sonal service on the ,part of the educator is necessary to demonstrate the methods of personal cleanliness.The hot, weary mother of a large family was won for all time when the educator donned an apron and bathed the young children,instructing the mother in every detail of the bath and in the care of thehair and that of the nails.Many times a week the educator finds that a bath for the baby is the introduction to further instruction in household matters.

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