El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-10-14
Teaching Children of Southwest
Offers Many Serious Difficulties
By MRS. HELEN SHERRY,
Former Truaut officer in Shelter School Dlstriet'

II
: American child not rarely finds him
self deadlocked in his advance
] through his studies. 20 the point OF
! seeking TO run away from place
that has become a torture house for
Z him. Consider. then, how slow must
ne the progress Of the Mexican pupil
who enters a class in which the
/ teacher explains the rudiments OF
each study in terms OF language
not a word Of which he understands
Z in spite Of the fact that II is assumed
Z 10 he the common medium OF com
munication between himself and his
! teacher. As a consequence o. this
disastrous combination Of circum-
: stances. the Mexican child hardly
learns in two or three years what an
! American pupil learns in from six
months 10 year
This condition, already so lamenta-
BILE in its primary phase. is greatly
aggravated by another fact- the text
books used to teach reading IN the
schools are grievously inadequate
While they may fairly we'll serve the
Durpose in the case OF American chill
dren. so far as the Mexican youth IS
concerned they are little short OF
pitiable misfit. In this connection
It is interesting to learn. as We have
done quite recently. that, in her ap-
mission, Miss Winkler has at last
realized her most worthy ambition TO
cooperate more actively than, with
her limited authority in the matter,
it has so far been possible, in miti-
eating The difficulties with which her
young charges have to contend n
their struggles to learn the language
and the culture OF their adopted
country-difficulties which she has
long deplored-
The question OF religion. though 1t
presents less obvious characteristics,
is hardly less important than that OF
language. The Mexican child is pre-
vailingly Catholic. and before the
eyes of the parents the ever present
specter OF the danger Of their off
spring being diverted from the faith
of their fathers hovers- This ex-
plains why. where there exists one,
the parish school is preferred to the
public. and not infrequently it is found
that the enrolment Of the former is
double and treble that Of the latter
Besides this, every two or three
blocks in even the poorest settlement
a small private school may be found
for the smaller tots These are
maintained by private subscription on
the part Of families which are for
the raost part incredibly destitute
This is an inheritance from the Latin
races who. one and all, shrink from
having their children educated at the
public expense The public schools
are 10 the AIexicans, either govern
ment schools or Protestant schools.
and alas Of the government and the
Protestant religion they are about
equally suspicious N this matter
therefore, the path TO success Is to
encourage these children of our
neighbor to the south in loyalty to
their chosen belief. Indeed, this is
one of the modes IN which Miss
Winkler has endeared herself to the
Mexican communities
why, Miss Winkler," breathlessly
exclaimed some one TO her one day,
do you know that Miss K. "a new
teacher OF the Catholic persuasion) IS
taking her classes 10 mass every
morning."
Fine" was the reply.
But I thought you were Protest
ant"
True, but my charges are Catholic.
Think what a purchase a Catholic
teacher has on the confidence Of the
children It's like giving the whole
community a good tonic"
This is excellent logic; the daugh-
ter Of Puritans who left beloved
fatherland to affront the treacheroUs
sea. the virgin forests of a new con-
tinent. and hOrdes Of ruthless savages
for sake Of their religion. may well
understand the passion Of others for
their hereditary faith
As for the question OF patriotism,
this Is none the less urgent for being
largely latent Many Mexicans have
come here on account Of recent /
troubles in the home land and remain
deeply attached to it II should
never be forgotten that, owing tol
causes which must be passed over in
silence here, many Mexicans enter
tain a certain bitterness Of spirit to-
ward US. that their newspapers call
Us the Colossus Of the north, that in
their Imagination the Colossus in
in question is invested with a set Of
greedy entacles-tentacles which, |
having already raked in Texas, Cali I
fornia, New Mexico and Arizona, are
still relentlessly reaching. out, not
only for territorial conquest but for
economic exploitation So that upon
festive occasions the Mexican flas
must always accompany the uprear-
ing Of the Stars and Stripes. Under
Miss Winkier's regime the two occupy
the same rank, an extremely propiti- !
ating practice. The Mexican children
learn to love America in proportion
as they are encouraged to remember !
with tender regret the land Of their
As for the economic question, It is
not too much TO say that in some sec
tons it overshadows all others. In
some quarters the people are too poor
to feed their children before sending I
them to school Under such pathetic l
conditions the teachers allow the lit /
tie ones, as they grow sleepy from
hamilton. TO drop their heads on their I
desks and sleep away the hours while 1
the better fed ones recite.
A year ago this month Miss Winkler 4
was invited by the Federation Of
Clubs to appear before them and out I
line briefly the main problems pre-
scented by the county schools. After |
giving a summary OF these as re-
quested. Miss Winkler emphasized the /
economic condition referred to above. /
To the honor Of the organization |
named. be it said that upon learning
Of the deplOrable state Of things at /
the Lincoln school. where the trouble ]
was peculiarly acute, a committee
was at once appointed to take charge 1
Of the matter, with the result that in !
a few weeks a good. substantial meal !
was daily served to those erstwhile I
hungry infants, whereupon they at
g.