The League visitors made very definite efforts to organize campaigns
for acquainting the housewives of various neighborhoods with the
opportunity thus provided, and for persuading the women to "come out."
The services of the foreign-born visitors have been particularly
valuable in the work of organization. These visitors certainly put
forth valiant efforts in behalf of the plan. The Lithuanian and
Italian visitors, for example, made in three instances 40, 96, and 125
calls before a class was organized, and even then less than twenty
enrolled for each class. They have found it necessary to make visits
in the homes of women whom they hoped to draw out, and have also used
posters, printed invitations, and advertisements in foreign-language
newspapers. Nor have their efforts ceased when the class was
organized. Often misunderstandings occur, the attendance begins to
dwindle, and great efforts must be made to discover the cause and to
bring back the members.
The classes organized in this way have usually been small, composed of
housewives of a single national group. Considerable individual
attention is given the members of the class, and the foreign-speaking
visitors attend the classes so that they may interpret when necessary.
The plan has been carried out, of course, on an extremely restricted
stage. The efforts have been limited almost entirely to English and
cooking classes, and instruction in other phases of household
management has been quite incidental.
The teachers supplied by the Board of Education have not, of course,
always possessed social experience and training. The classes are
sometimes short lived. In the case of a Lithuanian cooking class, to
which the teacher came too late to give the lesson, or too weary to
give the lesson, it was necessary to reorganize the group. Where the
teachers change, the group will dwindle, and the efforts of the
visitor will have been substantially wasted.
The subject matter is often poorly adapted to the needs and desires of
the foreign housewife. A new domestic-science teacher, for instance,
gave to a group of Lithuanian women seven consecutive lessons on pies,
cakes, and cookies, in spite of the organizer's request for lessons
on "plain cooking." At times, as has been pointed out, the teacher is
wholly ignorant as to the habits and tastes of the immigrant. There
is, sometimes, an ill-advised attempt to substitute American dishes
for foreign dishes instead of modifying or supplementing the
well-established and perfectly sound dietetic practices of the
foreign-born group.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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