Next: Meyer vs. Nebraska, 1923
Up: Language policy in early
Previous: Attacks on language schools.
1917-20 attacks: US entered war in April 1917.
Anti-German sentiment erupted immediately, and German was prohibited in many
states for all educational institutions. Some states prohibited German, others
prohibited German for ``regular" subjects", or all non-English instruction;
some prohibited non-English in elementary schools only.
- 1.
- Louisiana: 1918-21
- 2.
- Iowa: governor's proclamation
- 3.
- South Dakota: State Council of Defence
- 4.
- Nebraska: resolution of legislature (later challenged in case that went to the
US Supreme court Meyer
v. Nebraska and was not decided until 1923.
- 5.
- After the war the campaign of ``Americanization" began: ``right of
the child" to an education in English.
- 6.
- ``Foreign" languages were chased from the elementary schools in
state after state, relegated to high-school only. Remember that in this period only 5
to 10% of grade-school graduates went on to high school.
- 7.
- Covert assumption: `foreign' language not necessary part of any child's
education; useful only for adults, especially college-bound adults.
- 8.
- See Mertz's article on folk-Whorfian
ideas in American language policy,
as exemplified by immigration and naturalization policy.
- 9.
- See also Haugen's Bibliography and Reference Guide for early research on
harmfulness of bilingual education.
Notice that only English is not a foreign language but all others are
``foreign".
Harold Schiffman
9/21/1998