INTER-AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP CAN BE DEVELOPED ONLY AS A PEOPLE'S BIBLIOGRAPHIES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Illustrations used in this bulletin have been supplied through the courtesy of the following institutions: Central High School, Oklahoma City, Okla.; San Diego City Schools, San Diego, Calif.; Riverside City Schools, Riverside, Calif.; Hyattsville High School, Hyattsville, Md.; San Jose City Schools, San Jose, Calif.; Newark Museum, Newark, N. J.; Santa Barbara City Schools, Santa Barbara, Calif.; Kansas City Junior College, Kansas City, Mo.; Theodore Roosevelt High School, Des Moines, Iowa; Abraham Lincoln High School, Los Angeles, Calif.; Jackson High School, Jackson, Mich. Foreword T HAT WORD Pan-Americanism is increasingly resounding throughout the schools of this country. What does it mean to the millions of boys and girls in these schools of the United States? How can it be made to hold a still deeper meaning and significance? The U. S. Office of Education, in line with its basic purpose to "show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems," is presenting this report with a view to giving some answers to the above questions. The report is based upon a research study conducted by the Office of Education for the specific purpose of ascertaining the extent of inter-American studies that are already a part of the school curriculum. Replies of school administrators to the questionnaire form the basic information from which material in this bulletin was developed. As the author points out, however, "the central purpose of the investigation was to discover the curriculum-learning opportunities and patterns of teaching relative to the development of inter-American understanding that are to be found in the elementary and secondary schools of the United States." It is hoped that the discovery and presentation of some of these opportunities and patterns of teaching will assist in furthering the constructive understanding of inter-American relations. It is also hoped that wider opportunities and a greater number of patterns may develop throughout the schools in the months ahead. Cooperating with the author, Verna A. Carley, Professor of Education, University of Maryland, were the following staff members of the U. S. Office of Education: Walter S. Deffenbaugh, Chief, American Schools Division; Helen K. Mackintosh, Senior Specialist in Elementary Education; and Carl A. Jessen, Senior Specialist in Secondary Education. The Office of Education wishes to express its appreciation to the many school administrators who, through supplying illustrations and descriptive material, and their replies to inquiries, helped make this bulletin possible. BESS GOODYKOONTZ, Assistant U. S. Commissioner of Education. Inter-American Friendship Through the Schools "W Introduction WE HAVE on this continent-these broad plains, mighty rivers, steaming jungles, majestic mountains-the chance of centuries to build the greatest single area of peace, freedom, and liberty that the world has ever seen. The Americasunited in spirit and purpose-cannot be disappointed of their peaceful destiny. So may the day come when Pan America can lead a distracted world into permanent peace and brotherhood." Thus Simón Bolívar speaks to the children of the United States. He speaks to them over a public address system in a high-school assembly program. He speaks to them from records transcribed for class use. His words are the inspiration of editorials in school newspapers and magazines, and are the keynote of pageants and plays. Read in English or in Spanish, his message, as well as others of like import, serve to impress upon the youth of North America the common idealism that exists between the peoples of the North and the South. In school publications, in club and assembly programs, as well as in class study, the pupils meet the heroes of American liberty. They hear young Bolívar swear solemnly to free his people from Spanish tyranny. They see Washington striding through the snow at Valley Forge. They follow Hidalgo and Juárez, Sucre and Santander, Moreno and O'Higgins along the road to democratic independence. They cross the Andes with San Martín. They live with Lincoln in his struggle for human liberty. They describe these experiences in Spanish and in English. They study, discuss, and dramatize them in classes, in assemblies, and in clubs. They organize pan-American leagues and forums. They correspond with youth in southern lands, and receive messages of good-will in return. They fill the exhibit cases in the school halls and libraries with the flags of the 21 republics, with serapes and embroideries, with silver, glass, and pottery of the South American artists. They sing La Paloma, Estrellita, and Cielito Lindo. They dance the rumba, fandango, and bolero, the conga and the tango, the cueca and joropo. They listen to radio programs from the other Americas, and broadcast over shortwave to their southern friends. * An editorial in the Webster Echo, the high-school paper of Webster Groves, Mo., expressed the situation this way: "Posters, displays, programs the whole school is Pan-American conscious. Why? Because Pan-Americanism means something around Webster." * To what extent does pan-Americanism mean something around the various schools in the United States? This was the question in the minds of the staff of the U. S. Office of Education in addressing an inquiry form to the administrators of public schools to ascertain the extent of inter-American studies in the schools. The specific questions contained in the inquiry are listed below: Is Portuguese taught in your schools? What is the number of pupils in each grade taking Spanish and the total enrollment in those grades the first semester of 1940-41? How many pupils are this year for the first time receiving instruction in Spanish? How many pupils took Spanish for the first time last year? In what grade is Spanish first introduced? How many schools under your supervision have in recent years extended their offering: (a) By starting Spanish in earlier grades than formerly? (b) By adding 1 or more years of Spanish study? What changes in offerings, in teaching methods, etc., are contemplated in your schools with regard to Spanish and Portuguese? How many elementary and secondary schools under your supervision offer courses in: International Relations, Pan-American Relations, PanPacific Relations, or others of similar type? What are the titles of units and the grade level at which each is offered of units or courses which schools under your supervision offer on other American republics (their history, their geography, their government, their literature, their art, their music, their products, etc.)? What are the activities in your community, either within or outside the schools, which are designed to develop understanding and heighten appreciation of the literature, language, culture, economic conditions, history, characteristics, occupations, and general achievements of the peoples inhabiting other American countries? Report the names of school clubs, lay organizations, exchange of correspondence, assembly programs, radio programs, entertainments, special showing of films. museum visits, etc. The replies of school administrators to these questions form the basis of this report. In response to the inquiries sent to 6,623 administrators of school systems in the United States, there were 2,471 replies (37 percent) received in time to be tabulated for this report. Of this number 671 (27 percent)1 stated that Spanish was being taught and gave the enrollments of classes. One-half of the schools reporting (1,250 school systems) indicated that, although they did not offer Spanish, they provided a study of the other Americas in various other courses given 1 Twenty-nine additional administrators indicated that Spanish was being taught, but did not furnish all the information necessary for inclusion in the tabulation. |