Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-05-12
America Has
An Unusual
Problem
Tragedy Follows If
Children Outgrow
Their Parents.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

WE HAVE, in America, situation
w that exists in no other country
in the world. We have children who
outgrow their parents These chill
dren are the sons and daughters Of
people who left their fatherlands to
give their children a richer, fuller.
happier life than they themselves had
known in the old country.
The children took to the new WAYS.
which were the only ways they ever
knew as ducks to water. They learned
the new language. 1t was their Ian
guage. They went to American schools
their own schools. They accepted the
customs and manners of their school,
mates; copied their clothes; shared
their amusements, their thoughts and
ambitions. And so became foreigners
IN the homes of their own parents.
While the children took on the new
ways, their parents. for the most part
held to the old ones. They learned
English slowly and spoke it with an
accent. They wore working clothes
patterned for the most part after the
old ones at home. They visited the
old friends. those from the village
they knew as home. talked Of the old
days in the old tongue and forgot as
much as possible that they were exiles
Year by year the children drew away
from them without their realizing it.
Suddenly one of the girls was grown
up and there was young man waiting
on her. 1t was then that the storm,
long gathering, broke over his home
and family. Maybe it was a boy,
graduated from the university, whose
unthinking behavior brought about
the crash. The astounded parents
discovered that they were all wrong,
quite out Of their children's lives.
Imagine the tragedy Of it! Think
Of these old people who gave up their
homeland; took up new life in a
foreign land; worked like machines,
often under cruel conditions; saved
and skimped and suffered that these
children might have education. food,
clothes, doctors and medicine. dentists
and teachers, all in the American
way. They lived, not in the hardship
Of the present. but always in the dream
future that made their children shin
ing lights toward which they lifted
their faces in triumph. Then this
discovery that they and their children
were as far apart as two civilizations
could put them. There Is no sorrow
quite like that.
The solution lies with the children
They have it in their power, always
to stay close to their fathers anc
mothers in affection. They have the
instincts Of human children to honor
and defend and love those who have
given them everything worth while
that they possess in life, health, edu.
cation and position. They understand
that by feeling ashamed Of theil
parents and their homes they deny
their own intelligence.
An education that makes q chile
ashamed of his parents speech, dres!
or manners is not worth the time
it took. Any normal-minded person
can learn lessons out Of books. THAI
Is not anything much to be proue
of. The education that is worthwhile
Is the sort that opens and enriche!
the mind; dignifies the intelligence
stimulates the spirit, and so opens tn,
mind Of the student to real values
the values Of the human soul 80 otter
shining in the old fathers and mother!
| Of young America.
| (Copyright, 1889