INTRODUCTION THIS book has been in preparation since the summer of 1918 and was completed November 1, 1919. The author would call the reader's attention to the kaleidoscopic passage of events during this period. Never in a similar space of time has there occurred so much affecting human thinking and human destiny. At the beginning of this period the Germans were shelling Paris and seemed destined to make a footstool of the world, our own nation included. At the end of this period an old order had passed and a new order was being ushered in. This new order seems at the time of publication of this volume to have brought us as much discomfort and confusion as the domination of autocracy appeared to threaten. The reader will detect, I doubt not, some reflection of the rapid march of events in the character of this volume. The first chapter now appears to the author as a somewhat academic discussion of the ways in which the school can be a factor in the process of nationalization; the final chapter is largely a plea for the preservation of democracy. The first chapter centers attention upon a minority group in our population—namely, the immigrant; the last chapter deals with the immigrant only in the setting of the native group which is seeking to Americanize him, and which seems to have developed uncertainty as to the ideals and principles which it would have the immigrant adopt. No one can doubt that there has taken place a rather complete overturn of ideas respecting Americanization during this period of change; the term itself is being abandoned and we are substituting other terms, such as "citizenship" and "national unification." The author takes this occasion to acknowledge the assistance of those collaborators who have made the volume possible. Chapter V was prepared by Mr. Henry Goldberger, lecturer at Teachers College, New York; Chapters VI and VII by Mr. S. A. Courtis, in charge of research for the public schools of Detroit, Michigan; Chapter VIII by Mr. John J. Mahoney, director of immigrant education for the state of Massachusetts; Chapter IX by Mr. M. J. Downey, director of evening schools, Boston, Massachusetts; Chapter X by Mr. Raymond Moley, chairman of the Americanization Committee, of Cleveland, Ohio. The remaining chapters represent the authorship of the writer solely. The chapters written by the collaborators have been edited by the author, and in some instances substantially reduced in content to make possible their inclusion in this volume. In personnel the collaborators represent the ablest specialists in the fields of their contributions. The author believes that the reader is entitled to receive at first hand the ideas of these specialists and, consequently, has not attempted to reproduce their messages, but has presented them largely as they were prepared for the purposes of this volume. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, FRANK V. THOMPSON. |