A third task to which some agencies address themselves is that of
providing educational opportunities for the immigrant family. This
effort often consists first of inducing the mother herself to enter a
class, and, second, of securing the attendance of the children at the
public school rather than at the non-English-teaching parochial
school. The difficulties in the way of securing the mothers'
attendance at a class have already been described. It need only be
pointed out here that the case worker who has won the mother's
confidence may often persuade her to go when the stranger will fail.
Where a regular allowance is given and support for a considerable
period is contemplated, it has been treated as something in the nature
of a scholarship or educational stipend and conditioned on the
mother's fulfilling definite requirements in the way of better
qualifying herself to use the allowance.
The subject of establishing connections between the members of the
families and such educational opportunity has been somewhat confused
by the fact that the case-work agency often depends upon the
settlement to supply certain recreational facilities for the children
in the families, and there is a temptation to use the settlement club
or class rather than the school for the mother.
With reference to having the children attend the public school or the
school in which all instruction is given in English, it would be less
than frank to ignore the difficulty often occasioned in the past by
the nationalistic and separatist Church. The society may be faced
with a real dilemma here, since it desires the co-operation of the
Church and is loath to weaken any ties that may help in maintaining
right family life. And so, when the Church conducts the school in
which the mother tongue is used, and in which English is either
inadequately taught or not taught at all, the relief agency may be
practically forced into a policy involving the neglect of English in
the case of both mother and children.
KNOWLEDGE OF BACKGROUNDS
These have been some of the fundamental difficulties in the
relationship between the case-work agency and the immigrant family.
The knowledge of the Old-World background and the impressions made by
the experience of emigrating that should illumine all the work of the
agency, are generally lacking to the case worker. Of course there are
brilliant exceptions. One district superintendent of the Boston
Associated Charities, for example, whose work lies in the midst of a
Sicilian neighborhood, will have no visitors who are unwilling to
learn the language and to inform themselves thoroughly concerning the
history and the habits of the neighbors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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