In the Italian colony at Vineland, New Jersey, to give only one instance, there was marked conflict between the children who went to the public schools and their parents over the use of the Italian language. The children wanted to speak English and some even refused to talk Italian, though their parents wanted them to and tried to teach them. The children commonly acted as interpreters between Americans and their parents, especially their mothers. Unfortunately, they did not conceal their contempt for the latter for failing to understand and use English.
Often such differences are so pronounced that the immigrant parents are greatly grieved over the "estrangement" caused by the influence of the American public schools. This dissatisfaction takes an especially acute form among the sectarian immigrants. In San Francisco there are over four hundred families of Russian sectarian peasants—Molochans, Jumpers, etc. Their religion opposes war and military service, and on that account they were exempted from the draft. Notwithstanding this, four or five of their young boys volunteered, in spite of the opposition of their parents and of the whole colony. When the writer visited the colony last year the colonists were much agitated and upset. They openly cursed the American schools and the city streets for ruining their boys spiritually. "If we can't settle on land in the rural districts, then we have to get out of America!" exclaimed the aged leader. In rural districts, they think, they would be able to keep their children from going "astray." The street influence is absent and the school-attendance law is not so severely enforced as in the city, the immigrant leader believed.
In the Polish farming colony centered at South Deerfield, Massachusetts, where the Polish children all attend the American public schools, the children learn English quickly and prefer everything American to everything Polish. The parents are very much distressed over losing their children as Polish people. For this reason the parents stated that they were extremely eager to establish their own Polish school where they could teach their children the Polish language and Polish history. Only lack of money has so far prevented the founding of such a parochial school.
PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
When an immigrant group is planning either a parochial or some other type of private school of its own, one of its arguments is always that this school will keep the children in its own group, racially and religiously.
The North Middle Western states—Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, the Dakotas, Nebraska—have large immigrant groups. In the rural districts of those states it is a fact that where there exists a private or parochial school, the public school is neglected, poorly equipped, and has a very small attendance.
A county superintendent of schools in Minnesota reports:
One of our greatest drawbacks in attendance is the parochial schools. These retard the attendance and keep the school terms down. [23]
A county superintendent in South Dakota writes:
In a number of districts the attendance is so small, owing to the fact that many attend the parochial school, that interest and enthusiasm are lacking. [24]