Early Immigrant students in the early 20th century
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, education for immigrants and Mexican-American children was a major problem. As both groups started migrating across parts of the United States, questions about what to do about educating the children started being asked. Unfortunately, teaching immigrant children was for the most part frowned upon. Since these groups were discriminated against, the chances for a Chicano or any other immigrant to finish their schooling was slim to none. There are many other similarities, as well as differences between these two groups. Probably the most important ingredient in establishing a good school is hiring good teachers. Unfortunately, teachers willing to take the time to teach immigrant children were hard to come by. An immigrant student described his first grade teacher as "cold and forbidding." Teachers would often mispronounce or not say a student's name at all. And many times children were give an "Americanized" name. Mike, whose name was Serbian, went by Thomas because his teacher wouldn't pronounce or spell his name. Physical punishment by teachers was also very common in public schools.
Overcrowded schools were also a major problem for the early immigrants. One student in particular had a teacher who "would help me, hug me, and nurture me. Believe it or not, both groups were also discriminated against because of the ethnic food they ate. When I read Chapter 8 in our Social Fabric book, some immigrants had good memories of being in school. Teachers would actually complain that the ethnic lunches were too messy and say that in the long run, American food was healthier. The neighborhoods were usually old, so the schools were built smaller. Mexican-American children were often told to "go back to the god-damned beet fields. A classroom built for forty students was suddenly holding eighty children. Because of this, most immigrant and Mexican-American children never even made it into the high school level. If Hispanic children were able to attend school, it was because their mothers would go work in the beet fields for them. The only difference I saw is that European immigrants seemed to get more of a chance than Mexican-Americans did. It was often necessary for everyone in the family to work in order to have enough to live. Because of this, high school, which demands a certain number of credits, was nearly impossible to finish. Another room without any windows was used to hold seventy kids. In one case, a boy said that he would throw his lunch away "rather than ruin his reputation" by eating the Italian meal made for him.
Common topics in this essay:
Immigrants Mexican-Americans,
Serbian Thomas,
,
Platte Valley,
Social Fabric,
Mexican-American European,
immigrant children,
mexican-american children,
times children,
beet fields,
money family,
immigrants mexican-americans,
european immigrants,
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