El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-25

M/ The Investigation into the
w status Of the children of immi-
! Grants in schools was one of the most
| extensive planned and carried out by
| the immigration commission Inquiries
| were made which reached more than
| 1000. 900 school children, approximately
| 100000 of them in parochial schools.
It also reached some $4,000 teachers and
upward of $4,000 students in tne higher
| Educational institutions of the country.
/ The purpose was to ascertain to what
I extent the children OF foreign parent
age make use of our educaLlon ma sy j.,
| school work
Hard Time Getting Started.
The children of the races who do
not speak English have rather marc
time getting started There are rev
executions. For instance, IN the case
of the Swedes. there are only niue
more than half as many of their emil
dren behind in their studies as there
are among the native american en- EI
dren The little Dutch boys ana sIlS
show about the same amount OF pre-
cocitv. But when it comes to some OF
the other Municipalities there rs 53 ~
ferent story TWo-thlros Oh Ills e ,, OI1I
Jew children have an unequal SI4SsI5S
in their work, while nearly Two ILii III -
of the children from sunny S0ullIeI ~
italy are unable to keep up with t IIE
American fellow pupils More than mar
of the Sloval1S, MagyarS, FOIeSi MI u
Italians, and Jews are oenlnu me iOi
MAJ ct With ali the difficulties ex-
Derienced by the children of the non
English speaking Io[SI5iISjII. 1eSsI1riTe.
a better percentage OF PupllS IISe5Ssu tI iLS1
I'D to the average SchOol SIanoaIus Illelli
is shown by the American hes[o
Whereas. taking them as a WhoIe, the
non-English- speaking foreigners chlI-
dren show only 43 retarded pupils OUT
of 100. the negro children show .oS.
These figures are the most extensive
ever brought out concernlng tne IeId-
tive mentality OF Whlte anu neSIO
children, and have added interest De
cause they come from 81 cities; only
one of which is south Of the Mason
and Dixon line
Aliens Among Teachers.
The teachers in the schools Of the
cities investigated ought to be aole 20
sympathize with the StruggleS o. III
children of immigrants for II IS SHOWN
that One-half of them were elIner I'M
migrants Themselves or the chlldren OF
teachers, of course, came from norIn n-
western Europe, although other races
were not without representation ne
Irish furnish more than Twice as many
teachers in the schools Investigated as
aboat tWo-fifths of all the school
teachers of foreign parentage in those
cities-more than the Germans, EngIlSh,
and Scotch-Irish together.
In the parochial schools covered Dy
the investigation it was found that
children of foreign .parentage largely
predominate; nearly two-tdhirdss ans~e5FF
them are of Irish parentage-
One can scarcely OvereStimate the
assimilation force of he'public schools
as disclosed by the investigation It
shows that the immigrants do not 1a1l
to put their children into the schoois,
and that once there they are certain
to become genuine Americans by the
time they leave school.
Take Interest in Schools
The immigration commission mas
much cause for cOngratulatlOn on the
way the foreigner: generally speaking,
takes an interest IN the SCHOOLS ana Is
ambitious that his children should
learn to read and write. While IN the
congeSted districts this tendency IS not
as marked as it is in communities hav-
ing only a normal foreign population,
. even in those districts the children are
given at least an elementary education;
And where they have grown UP ana
become the fathers and mothers OF
as good a record as the native Amer1-
cans in the education OF their children
The children Of foreigners IN the
smaller Industrial CenterS DO not as a
rule, fare so well in school as those IN
the cities. The average school in the
mining village or camp IS poor Usually
six months in the year. and when It IS
in session the teaching is often of a
decidedly inferior quality A mother.
burdened with a house full of little
children, and perhaps keeping a halr
clined to keep her girl OF 10 home. 70
help her. Likewise, the father, desiring
to supplement his own meager wages,
puts his boy to Work as soon as ne IS
big. enough to pick the slate out OF
coal
Sometimes teachers have found the
children Of immigrants eager to play
but very reluctant to wash one
teacher encOuntering this disposition
told the boys that they could play IN
the gymnasium on condition that they
first used its shower baths The desire
to play overba1anced the Discrimination
to wash. and a clean lot of boys was
the result In one Of the New York
schools there was a boy who would
frequently jump out of his seat make
funny gestures and go through other
tried to break him of his habit but
without success Later the mother told
her the boy was crazy for gymnastic
exercises.
The problem of the working boy is
one of the hardest with which those
who would educate the child OF the
immigrant have to contend. Thousands
OF these boys come to America when
they are too old to enter the primary
grades. If he does try to enter those
grades he is so big that he is laughed
to be the butt Of the children's laughter.
So he gets no education. The same is
largely true Of the boys born here but
forced to work as soon as they are old
The Investigations that have been
made by various agencies tend to show
that there Is a markedly greater
tendency to crime among the children
of foreign parentage than among those
or native parentage. The experience
of the secretary of the Playground
association Of Maiden, Mass, perhaps
explains why this IS So He found that
as soon as the playground was opened
and the boys Of foreign parentage I
brought out of the alleys and given
petty crimes committed by them fell
off fully so percent.
Tomorrow-Immigrant and Crime.