unsystematic ways of many of the devices and methods for which this chapter contends.

To-day America stands face to face with what is probably a critical time in her history; problems press for solution on every hand. Not least of these is the need for rapid and efficient Americanization of the millions of individuals who at present live as aliens in our midst. The most hopeful feature of the situation is the attitude of these selfsame aliens; they are, in the main, favorably disposed toward America, and many of them would gladly become Americans if they could; they imitate and adopt much of what they see around them, but often without comprehending purposes and meanings which lie behind outward forms. They crowd into our evening classes, but they do not stay. Yet they have real and vital needs. Cannot the evening schools of our cities so reinterpret their function that new methods and new adjustments will meet those needs? For, as the present danger from an unassimilated foreign-born population is great, so also, if unselfish service is rendered, and the powers and spirit of many peoples are successfully grafted into the life of our nation, we may find that we have entertained angels unawares.

VIII

THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS

The

UNTIL very recent years the immigrant desirous of learning English as a first step toward Americanization was obliged to turn for instruction either to the public evening school, or to one of the several other agencies offering classes, such as factory educational departments, the Young Men's Christian Association, and others interested in the problem of the immigrant. All of these instrumentalities have proved unable to handle the task as it should be handled. causes of the failure of the evening school have already been discussed. Looming large among those causes has been the slowness on the part of the public, and not infrequently on the part of school people themselves, to appreciate the fact that the teaching of the adult immigrant is a highly specialized piece of work, requiring not only special aptitude, but special training as well. For years the evening school was but an appendage of the educational system, and for years it was felt that anyone could teach an evening-school class. At first the teaching of English and allied subjects in these classes was turned over to nonprofessionals, who not infrequently worked for the night's wage

and for nothing else. Suitable teaching materials were almost wholly lacking. It is not strange, with such conditions, that the schools failed to hold even those who wished to learn.

More recently we find the trained day-school teacher working in these classes for immigrants; and while this is no unmixed blessing, inasmuch as it means a double burden for teachers already burdened enough, it is yet an improvement over what has obtained hitherto. It is quite true that not every good teacher of children proves to be a good teacher of adult immigrants; it is also true that teachers trained by normal-school methods for day-school work have often made the mistake of trying to use this training, without adaptation, in their evening-school instruction. The presence of the trained teacher in the evening school, nevertheless, has marked a step upward in the efficiency of evening-school work.

Since 1915, however, there has come to the American people, and especially to school administrators, a larger vision as to the solution of the Americanization problem. No longer is the schooling of the immigrant to be an overtime task performed by teachers who have only a casually appropriate training. Day schools and factory classes for immigrants, mothers' classes for immigrant women, these and others are all to find place in the Americanization plans for the next few years. The teachers of these classes must be specifically trained; there is a distinct pedagogy in this work with adult immigrants, and a very distinct methodology. Reference is

made throughout this chapter to the teacher as a woman; needless to say, much of this teaching is and should be done by men.

KNOWLEDGE OF AIMS NECESSARY

The teacher of the immigrant must be acquainted with these; she must have a knowledge of the important aims of her work-namely, (1) what she is to teach, (2) how she is to teach, and (3) what standard of achievement she may expect.

The teacher of immigrants must know more specifically also what her aims should be in her tasks of teaching her pupils to speak, read, and write English, and how these aims, as well as those implied in other courses for immigrants, can best be accomplished. Finally-and this is of greatest importance she must appreciate that her big task is the making of Americans, and must understand just what that means and how it can best be brought about. All this means that the teacher must go to school to learn another phase of her business of teaching. Colleges, normal schools, state departments of education, large city school systems-all these should take it upon themselves to put the work of teacher training in this new field on an established basis; it is very far from being on anything like such a basis now.

TRAINING ATTEMPTED BY MANY AGENCIES

Returns secured through a questionnaire are usually unsatisfactory because they are likely to be very incomplete. A questionnaire on

teacher training for immigrant classes was sent out and this case was no exception to the general rule; of the hundreds who were questioned, only dozens replied. Nevertheless, the results justify certain conclusions, and, since these conclusions tally with what those people who are best informed already know, the probabilities are very good that the conclusions are correct. The figures given below represent returns from publicschool superintendents and state normal-school presidents or principals.

Information was requested also from industrial firms, the international institutes of the Y. W. C. A., and state councils of defense. The returns from these latter were so few as to make it inadvisable to report thereon. In passing, however, it may be noted that returns from the industries or the institutes, even if more generally received, could in no way challenge the conclusions.

The questions which, with their replies, were most significant for this investigation, were as follows:

1. How many teachers in your organization have been teaching day or evening classes of non-English-speaking persons over sixteen years of age?

2. How many have had only the usual professional training, such as is given for day-school teachers in a normal school or teachers' college?

3. How many have had only the special training given in a regular course for training teachers of immigrants?

4. How many have had no training except a short, intensive course for teachers of immigrants? (Teachers of factory classes are usually in this class.)