1800s: In the 1800's America was a land pleading for immigrants. Schools reflected their students' needs. French was a compulsory subject in Massachusetts high schools. Dutch was taught in the district schools of seven communities in Michigan. German was taught in Washington, DC elementary schools. Many midwestern high schools were bilingual German - English.
Many schools throughout the US taught German as the main language. Why was this? Because about 5 million Germans migrated to the United States between 1850 and 1930 with a peak in the years between 1881 and 1885. They settled mostly in the Midwest. Between 1840 and 1930, around 900,000 French Canadians left Quebec to immigrate to the United States and settle, mainly in NewEngland. As more culturally diverse immigrants began flooding in, the public opinion of immigration changed from positive to negative and laws began to appear to curb immigration. 1882: Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act stated that limited number of immigrants of Chinese descent allowed into the United States for 10 years. 1906: Nationality Act of 1906 was the 1st federal language law requiring immigrants to speak English to become a citizen. 1914: WWI brought with it an anti-German philosophy. Proficiency in English became equated with political loyalty and the ideology developed that speaking good English meant being a good American. This lead to many states passing laws that banned German speaking in classrooms, churches, and public meetings. It was the tip of a very slippery slope, as not long after, this hostility spread to include all minority languages. English only legislation began creeping up in states all over America. Many even outlawed foreign language study in the elementary grades. 1923: The downward slide was slowed when in 1923, The Supream Court struck down Nebraska's law prohibiting the teaching of a foreign language in elementary schools in a case called Meyer vs. Nebraska. It stated that while proficiency in english is desirable, proficiency in another language is a constitutional right. Regardless, public option on multilingualism fell and there was a strong push for English proficiency and assimilation of all immigrants to an English American culture. Following WWII Japanese language schools in California and Hawaii were closed all together. Immigrants were not the only ones targeted for assimilation. From the 1880s through the 1920s There was an effort to assimilate Native Americans into the "melting pot" of America. Children were stripped from their parents and were placed in boarding schools following the civil war. The thought was that "traditional ways" could be replaced by the "values and practical knowledge of the dominant American society". |