The School and the Immigrant
Chapter 4: Characteristics of National Groups
Herbert A. Miller
Table of Contents | Next | Previous
There is a current belief that the prime qualification of a public school teacher is to know certain school subjects and how to teach them. It must not be forgotten, however, that the human beings she is teaching respond with great readiness to genuine sympathy and understanding and that her real success depends in no small measure on her personal relations with the children in the school. The provincial self-satisfaction which many teachers feel in their Americanism does not help them make good Americans out of their foreign pupils. They seem to fear sometimes that if any affection for foreign traditions and ideals is retained, the child is likely to he less American in his sympathies. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Them is the closest relation between the central ideal of Americanism—freedom and liberty—and the principal motive underlying the abandonment of his native land by the immigrant.
With the exception of the Germans and the Italians, many of the immigrants come from
(56) subject races and they come here primarily for freedom. It is true that the economic advantage offered by America is the assigned reason for their coming, but the fact that no Roumanians come from Roumania, no Serbians from Serbia, no Russians from Russia, shows that something besides economic influences cause the emigration. Again and again, when the immigrant has been asked for a comparison between this country and his own, the invariable reply has been "America is free."
The immigrant is often criticized for living in segregated groups. No criticism could be more unjust. Is it not perfectly natural everywhere for social groups having something in common to try to live in the same neighborhood? Even should they try to avoid segregation, their American neighbors would not allow it. The result is that every effort is made to keep them from getting into a new section. Nevertheless, as soon as the standard of living is raised, we find all the nationalities breaking away from the original colony.
As a matter of fact, we find within these various colonies a neighborliness and social organization which are sadly lacking in much of our modern society. A teacher should know something of the social life to be found within these various groups, both in order that she may un-
(57) -derstand her pupils better and that she may be able to use these social forces to the advantage of the school and the community.
In addition she ought to know something of the history of the region from which her pupils or their parents have come. If she knows even a few words of their language, it might prove of inestimable value in establishing a sympathetic relationship between the teachers and the children, but more especially between the parents and the school. A knowledge of the geography of the child's native land would be an asset to teacher and principal. From one school some children were listed as speaking Ukrainian. Now it is true that very few people know the difference between Ruthenian, Russian, and Ukrainian, and in all probability the children themselves did not know. As a matter of fact the Ukrain is a section of the Southwestern part of Russia and the language spoken is a dialect of the Russian and is called not Ukrainian but either Little Russian or Ruthenian. There are at least 35,000,000 who speak this language—certainly enough to justify some knowledge on the part of the teacher as to their existence, particularly since there are over 900 children from this part of Russia in the Cleveland schools.
Again, "Slovenian" figures in the list of
(58) languages used in the investigation conducted by the Survey, and yet some teachers added "Griner." Even granting that the children do not know the difference between Slovenian and Griner, certainly when there are approximately 20,000 Slovenians in Cleveland and over 1,000 in the public schools, principals with a considerable enrollment of Slovenians ought to know that Griner is a name derived from the name of the province of Krain, and that the people themselves generally repudiate its use.
These illustrations show the common indifference of teachers who take it for granted that all they need is a knowledge of the subjects they teach. There are, of course, a considerable number of exceptions. For example, the principal of one school attended by many Italians speaks Italian, and the parents are constantly coming to the school for consultation about their children and for general advice. Certainly this makes possible an Americanizing influence through the school which is far more effective than would be secured by requiring the parents to speak English.
The following pages contain a brief statement as to the national and racial characteristics of the various foreign groups with a few suggestions as to supplementary reading for
(59) teachers in charge of classes made up largely of foreign children.
BOHEMIANS
It is impossible to understand the Bohemians in America without some knowledge of Bohemian history. They are one of the national divisions of the Slays. The Bohemians who dwell in the northwestern part of Austria, directly between Dresden and Vienna, have been the subject of more German influence than any other Slavic people, and in many respects are indistinguishable from the Germans. In 1415 the church and the state burned at the stake John Huss, a Bohemian priest, the first martyr to religious freedom. A revolt took place which made Bohemia Protestant until the Thirty Years War, which began in 1618. After that Catholicism was re-established, and to this day embraces nearly all the inhabitants of Bohemia. In America, beginning more than 50 years ago, a reaction was organized until at the present time approximately two-thirds of an estimated million are aggressive free-thinkers. In Cleveland about half are Catholics and the rest free-thinkers, with only a few hundred Protestants. Both parties have many organizations and, while the feeling between the two is very
(60) strong, the common Slavic feeling manifests itself most strongly in antipathy for the German language. The free-thinkers are the more nationalistic, and fortunately so, for with the loss of the control of the church there is a tendency to materialism which ran be counteracted only by devotion to some social cause. There is no group to which the mother tongue and national history can have more moral value. This is in part because their history is peculiarly rich. Commenius, one of the world's greatest educators, was a Bohemian, exiled during the Thirty Years War. The influence of Bohemian history has been such that the people refuse to accept dogma, and even the children argue theology.
The best descriptive book on the Slays is "Our Slavic Fellow Citizens," by
Emily Green Balch, published by the Charities Publication Committee, New York,
1910. This deals with both European and American conditions for Bohemians,
Croatia., Russians, Roumanians, Ruthenia., Serbians, Slovaks, and Slovenians.
CROATIANS AND SERBIANS
These two people can be considered together. Their spoken language is the same, but the Croatians are Roman Catholics and use the
(61) Latin alphabet, while the Serbians are Greek Orthodox and use the Cryllic or Greek alphabet. Most of those in America come from exactly the same region in southern Austria-Hungary. In fact the census taker classifies them under one or the other name solely by their religion. They have been dominated by the Hungarians. They, with the Slovenians from the adjoining Austrian provinces, are group-conscious as South Slays, being entirely separated by Germans and Hungarians from the North Slays—Bohemians, Slovaks, and Poles. Their deepest purpose is freedom.
FINNS
There happens to be only a small number of Finns in Cleveland, but there are some facts which should be known about them. Finland was for six and a half centuries ruled by Sweden, and since 1800 has belonged to Russia, but the culture has been continuously Swedish until almost the present decade. Now the Finn is claiming his own national individuality and his language is rapidly replacing Swedish. The Finnish language is extremely difficult, and every Finnish child in the schools must learn Russian and many learn Swedish. These languages are all so difficult that they can master
(62) English very quickly. The Finns are almost all Lutheran, and have decidedly socialistic tendencies which are being abated somewhat by the growing nationalism. In cleanliness they are quite the equal of the Dutch. Helsingfors, the capital of Finland, is probably the cleanest city in the world.
GERMANS
A large proportion of the Germans who come from Germany have been in America a long time. A majority of them came for the same purpose of securing freedom that has influenced the other groups. They belong to the earlier immigration and very few have come to this country in recent years. Most people are so familiar with the Germans that it is unnecessary to add anything here except to call attention to the fact that conditions are now tense and the Germans are feeling a self-consciousness which the majority of them did not feel hitherto.
JEWS
The most complex and most variously regarded of all our immigrants are the Jews. The earlier arrivals came from Germany, and many have been here for several generations and occupy a most important place in American life. Later
(63) many came from Hungary. With only occasional exceptions, all are proud of being Jews. The commonly mentioned "Jewish characteristics" can be explained in a large measure by conditions of economic and social life under which the Jew has been constrained to live for generations in every country.
Although the Jews have religious expression ranging from the extreme of orthodoxy to the extreme of liberalism, there are fewer internal conflicts than in most religions, for Judaism is not so much a dogma as it is a progressive education. Jewish children are eager pupils, not because they are naturally brighter than others, but because the whole Jewish life develops mental alertness and the learned are traditionally respected. The religious forms are highly organized and of great historical as well as contemporary interest. Every teacher should learn the significance of the 14 holidays that occur during the school year. Some effort should be made to understand what the Talmud deals with.
Linguistically the Jews are among the best equipped people in the world. They know Hebrew for religious purposes, Yiddish for common use, and the language or the languages of the country in which they live for commercial purposes. Most Hungarian Jews speak Hun-
(64) -garian and German, and Slovak if from the north, Roumanian if from the east; and Croatian if from the south. Some good books are: "The Promised Land," by Mary Antin, published by the Houghton Mifflin Company; "Jewish Life in Modern Times," by Cohen, published by Dodd, Mead & Company; "The Jews in America," by Peters, published by the John C. Winston Co.; "Jewish Ceremonial Institutions and Customs," by Rosenau, published by the Friedenwald Co., Baltimore; "The Talmud," by Darmstetter, published by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
HUNGARIANS
Hungarians should properly be called Magyars, but they themselves have no objection to the name which is derived from the geographical district in which something over 50 per cent of non-Magyars live. As a people they have come into national consciousness in comparatively recent times. Their nearly successful struggle for independence from the Germans has given them confidence. Their anti-German feeling has been strong and their disdain for other peoples has been striking. The result is that a large proportion of them know no language but Magyar, while many Slovaks and Roumanians
(65) know equally well their own language, German, and Magyar. The Hungarians have strong Protestant denominations, a large number of Roman Catholics, and not a few Greek Catholics. A book full of information but unsympathetic with the Magyars is "Racial Problems in Hungary," by Scotus Viator.
ITALIANS
Most of the Italians in Cleveland, as in the United States, come from southern Italy, following the line of their commerce. From northern Italy they follow their ship lines to South America. There are divisions among the people according to the provinces from which they come. Each province has a somewhat distinctive dialect, but since all official business is in good Italian, the people understand it even if they do not speak it. The large majority of the Italians have Catholic traditions, but both in Italy and in America show only moderate devotion to the church. Although there are two large Italian congregations in Cleveland, it has not been possible to establish a parochial school. There is no language richer than Italian in form or literary content, and no history, ancient or modern, more full of heroic incidents and high ideals.
( 66)
LITHUANIANS
Although there are many Lithuanians in America, they are very little known. Living in the midst of Russian Poland, they are generally thought to be Slays, but or a matter of fact they are a quite distinct nationality which for many generations has preserved its language and many of its traditions, while adopting much from its Polish environment. Like the Poles, the Lithuanians are Catholics, but since they identify the church with the Polish imposition of culture, they are inclined to be lukewarm religiously or to go into anti-church organizations. In fact they are often less hostile to the Russians, who lay political restrictions on them, than to the Poles, who seek to make their culture dominant. Within the past Ill years there has been a remarkable revival of a nationalism which had hitherto seemed almost dead. There are now several Lithuanian newspapers in America, many of whose subscribers have had to learn to read Lithuanian since coming here.
POLES
Poland, divided into three subject provinces by Germany, Russia, and Austria, is fired by the one ideal of national freedom. The Prussian attempt to Germanize her province is the finest
(67) illustration that society affords of the impossibility of coercive assimilation. The tremendous emotionalism nourished by this Polish consciousness has made them highly idealistic. It is next to impossible for the children to feel the controlling emotions of their parents and no substitute has been provided to take its place. Their rebellion against authority is illustrated by the frequent secessions of Poles from the Roman Catholic Church. They secede and establish independent congregations which they call the Polish Catholic Church. There was formerly such a congregation on the southeast side, and within the past year one has been established in the old Olney Art Museum on West 14th Street.
Poland has given the world several literary and musical persons of great
eminence. However, the problem of the Pole is one of the most difficult which
America has to solve, though conditions are better in Cleveland than in most
other cities. Much help can be secured by cooperating with the positive
qualities which they possess.
RUSSIANS AND RUTHENIANS
These have already been discussed. They belong to the newer immigration. The Ruthenians are the only Slays who are anti-Russian. This is
(68) because they are generally Greek Catholic and have been made to feel that the Orthodox Church will be imposed on them if Russia is in control. Formerly Galicia, from which they came, was part of Russia and Orthodox, but when it came into the possession of Austria the existence of congregations of the Orthodox Greek Church in large numbers was thought to be dangerous to the government. The result was that the Roman Church, in return for their acknowledgment of the headship of the Pope, allowed them to retain intact their Orthodox ritual and their married clergy. This was the origin of the Greek Catholic or Uniate Church. The church interior and the service are hardly distinguishable from the Orthodox Church, yet allegiance is to the Roman Catholic Church. This makes a complex situation which cannot fail to have interesting developments in the future.
ROUMANIANS
No large group of immigrants is less known than the Roumanians, who have come to America in very recent years. They have come almost exclusively from Austria-Hungary, and like the Ruthenians belong to the Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches. There is a strong tendency to organize along national lines. At the recent
(69) dedication of a Roumanian church on Buckeye Road the tenor of the
priest's remarks was that they should drop the use of Magyar, which many know
better than Roumanian, and maintain the integrity of the Roumanian ideas. The
Roumanians claim to be descendants of the Romans, who colonized their region and
their language has a large proportion of Latin roots. Nevertheless their
sympathies are prevailingly Slavic.
SLOVAKS
As has been said above, the Slovaks are linguistically closely related to the Bohemians, but unlike them they have never known political freedom. They have had less contact with the modern currents of the world, and have thus preserved more of the old customs and traditions. They have little literature of their own, but several of their writers have written in Bohemian. They come from Northern Hungary, and the effort to Magyarize them, which has been constant and especially severe in recent years and which is the cause of the large immigration, has resulted in great bitterness and increasing devotion to their language.
( 70)
SLOVENIANS
The Slovenians or "Griners" come from southern Austria where they had been
almost Germanized. They have come in large numbers to Cleveland in the last 15
years. They have been highly illiterate and are almost all Catholics. The clergy
in Austria is prevailingly in favor with the government and has kept down rather
than stimulated national feeling. Here in America, however, there is a growing
feeling for the right of national freedom in Europe.
OTHER NATIONALITIES
It is unnecessary to discuss in detail the other nationalities represented in our public schools. There are some facts common to all these which have been described, the most striking of which is the great number of mutual benefit societies, all of which have a certain social and national value. For example, the Slovenians have 72 such societies. Some are for men alone, some are for women alone, and some for men and women. In the National Bohemian Hall on Broadway, 68 societies, clubs, and lodges meet every month. The Jews have at least 150 Vereins, as well as more comprehensive organizations, such as the Hebrew Relief and Socialist and Zionist clubs. The same thing runs through every nationality.
( 71)
The object of the teacher should be to see her group from the inside as it sees itself. In this way not only will sympathetic relations be established, but human values recognized which cannot be comprehended when seen from the outside. Dr. Edward A. Steiner's books, while perhaps glorifying the immigrant overmuch, will be of great value in arousing respect.
SUMMARY
The success of the teacher in dealing with for-rife children depends in no small measure on her personal relations with them. In order that the most effective work may be done, it is essential that the teacher should know something of the history- and characteristics of the different national groups. The object or this chapter is to present in brief outline some of the more significant facts concerning each one of the leading nationalities, and to give in addition references to the most reliable and interesting books concerning them.
