Success and failure in adult education: The immigrant experience 1914-1924

Between 1914 and 1924, fear of radicalism and political disloyalty as well as desire to help newcomers led Americans to launch a massive campaign to educate unnaturalized immigrant adults. The campaign reached only a small proportion of its target population because of inappropriate methods and materials, inadequate financing, and, most importantly, failure to meet immigrants' needs. Educators offered Americanization—English, civics, home economics—but many immigrants wanted literacy in the native language also. More important, immigrants wanted education in the entire spectrum of their cultural and intellectual interests. Therefore, they responded in large numbers to the many and varied educational oppor tunities offered by churches, unions, theaters, newspapers, and cultural, nationalist, and fraternal organizations within their ethnic communities.