In Massachusetts, power has been granted to the director of the division of immigration and Americanization, with the approval of an advisory board, to employ methods which will develop in the foreign born “an understanding of American government, institutions and ideals.”[329]
Arizona’s law of 1918 permitted the establishment of night schools in school districts for those over sixteen who were unable to read or write the English language, in which there was to be instruction in “American ideals” and an “understanding of American institutions.”[330]
The year 1919 saw the adoption of Americanization programs by the legislatures of Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Utah, Montana and California in which the purpose of teaching American ideals and institutions received express mention.
Maine’s statute, designed for those persons “of normal mentality over eighteen years of age who are unable to read, to write, and to speak the English language to a reasonable degree of efficiency,” prescribed the teaching of “the duties of citizens in a democracy” and of “such other subjects as will increase their civic intelligence.”[331] In her legislation, New Hampshire called for “the abolition of illiteracy and the instruction of illiterates over sixteen years of age in the common school branches and in the privileges, duties and responsibilities of citizenship.” Immigrants over sixteen years of age were to be taught “to appreciate and respect the civic and social institutions of the United States,” and to be instructed “in the duties of citizenship,” which are “an essential part of public school education.”[332] In Rhode Island, people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one years of age, unable to read and write English or to speak it with reasonable facility, have been given the privilege of a continuation school held for the purpose of teaching the English language and American citizenship.[333] Pennsylvania’s attempt to cope with the problem has led to the passage of an act “to provide instruction in citizenship and the principles of the government of the United States of America and of this commonwealth to foreign-born residents of the state of Pennsylvania, in the several counties thereof, who are not required to attend the public schools of this commonwealth.”[334]
The Delaware law was designed for the foreign-born over sixteen years of age not able to speak English, but who, through evening classes, might be instructed in that language and “in the institutions and forms of government of the United States and the State of Delaware.”[335]
An appropriation of the Minnesota legislature of 1919, to carry out a provision of an Americanization law of 1917, became available for work providing for instruction in English for those whose knowledge is too limited to carry on business or to read intelligently periodicals and newspapers, and in the essential and vital facts of American history, American government and ideals, and the duties and obligations of citizenship.[336]
By a joint resolution of 1919 the Oklahoma legislature created a committee on Americanization and made it incumbent upon public school officials to organize classes in English and in citizenship instruction wherever a petition signed by ten residents of foreign birth over sixteen years of age was presented to them.[337] A minimum of two hundred hours of instruction during the school year aided Utah in her Americanization program which included classes in the “fundamental principles of the Constitution of the United States, American history, and such other subjects as bear on Americanization.”[338] Montana’s legislation, designed for those over sixteen years of age who were not familiar with the English language, provided for instruction in “American history and the Principles of Citizenship and any other school subjects which the school trustees deem necessary for the Americanization of the students enrolled.”[339]
The Americanization movement was further aided by a law approved April 19, 1920, in which New Jersey provided instruction for the foreign born residents of her state, over fourteen years of age, in English and “in the form of government and the laws of this State and of the United States.”[340] American history, the Constitution of the United States, with an exposition of the privileges and the duties of American citizenship tending to produce a spirit of loyalty, were phases of the Americanization programs of Ohio, Idaho, Wyoming, and Oregon in 1921.[341] In the last state, “home teachers,” whose duty it is to instruct in the fundamental principles of the American system of government and the rights and duties of citizenship, were named as an aid in carrying on the work of Americanization.[342] In Michigan, the superintendent of public instruction has been given power to provide for the education of aliens and of native illiterates over eighteen years of age who are unable “to read, write and speak the English language and who are unlearned in the principles of government” of Michigan and of the United States.[343]
In general, the most popular means for educating the alien population is by attendance at a night school, where, through evening classes, teachers regularly employed in the public schools seek to instruct in the English language and in an appreciation of and respect for “the civic and social institutions of the United States.” New York has tried the employers’ school to effect the same purpose, whereas “home teachers” are endorsed by California and Oregon. In the four years preceding the outbreak of the World War, 5,174,701 immigrants came to the United States, of whom 22.1 were unable to read and write any language. In 1920, nearly one and a half million, or 11 per cent, of the foreign-born whites in this country could not speak English. For this group, even more than for the native element, has it seemed wise to encourage education, because it has become a common belief that a lack of education endangers the well-being of the state.