Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-11-03
HOPEST MAKE
.D..PASS IOWA
LlIERACY
Miss Nelson Throws Out
Challenge To Hawkeye
State For Future

;" 0J 1NSpl.AAS
in her office here this morning for a
few hours between her trips to the
different county institutes of the
state, Hiss Minnie j.. Nelson, state
superintendent of public instruction
flung out a challenge to Iowa. as well
as to the United States at large,
claiming that North Dakota would
take the place Of the Hawkeye state
as the most literate state in the
Union. Enthusiastic from six weeks
meetings with the teachers Of the
state. Miss Nelson issued her chal-
lenge with o full assurance of the
cooperation of the instructors who
must bear the brunt of the work.
Iowa has the smallest percentage
of illiterates of any state" said Miss
Nelson. in discussing the program
for the elimination of il%literacy in the
state, but North Dakota Is second
and is not far behind. 1t will take
work, but the enthusiasm with which
the teachers of the state have ac-
Dakota in the literate leadership OF
the nation If the teachers car get in
touch with the illiterates.
Is Patriotic Duty.
1.-THE first part of the program, and
lI1lS HIS oSSA III p1o5ISSo LII oC!IAS
; time, is an awakening of the people
Of the state to the need and to the
patriotic opportunity before them
America never has taken education
! seriously. The war developed the
great lack of prepared men, and
showed the actual illiteracy within
the United States. The censu JUS
taken did much also to open the eye
of the people to the actual conditions
New York thought her self without il
literacy, but last years figures devel
oped that almost half a million mel
and women there could not read o.
write.
THE second part of the program
will be finding the people who canno
read and write and getting them t.
accept the instruction offered. TIL
work of the instructors will be volun
tary, as funds are not available TO
the creation of schools. \ small
amount of money is available from
both county and state funds, but thi
is not to be relied upon to wage wa
upon illiteracy within the state L,
many counties the illiterates are S
widely scattered thai it will be
problem Of .one instructor and on
pupil. In the counties where the il
l1ICl dlGo Il 6oSALSASo 'HS "AS
towns, numbers can be gathered to
gether for instruction.
That the problem before the in
structors o fthe state, largely is tina
of adult education, is shown by tn
North Dakota illiteracy figures if II
is ten years of age and cannot read Q
write any language. BY these stand
ards, North Dakota has 1887 Hitter
ates among it's whites and negroe!
the latter, however, being Il negl!gi
/ BILE figure. Indian ,illiteracy is nc
considered in the state figures. q
: the total i~lliterates Of the state 9,31
are over twenty-one years of, age.
Few Lllitcratcs Arc Natives.
Few of the North Dakota illiterate
are born of native parents. a CON
paratively small number are natiH
! born of foreign or mixed ~parentag'
j, The figures are:
I%lliterates whose parents were
native born ID
Il]literates of mixed p~arentage.. ~
Foreign born il~literates ....... 49,
Included within the mixed paren
! age. are those. whose parents are bot
foreign born, or those with one pal
: ent foreign born and the other natl1
l born. Statistics concerning the pei
., ccntage of about one thousand al
l lacking.
The illiterates of North Dakota, a.
L. u 1Q0n <,,r,, ora al