Introduction

Jane Addams, born in 1860, was a fascinating character. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931
and was an author, lecturer, social and political activist, sociologist and philosopher. Indeed, she
wore many hats throughout her interesting life and she was 48 when she wrote “The Public School
and the Immigrant Child’, a book that generated a great deal of discussion (Vaughan, 2015).

In this book, Addams describes the challenge of teaching immigrant children but argues that
educating the immigrant child and taking time to recognize their family cultures and experiences is a
key connection for the immigrant family settling into American society successfully. Addams believed
it was the role of the teacher to be the bridge between the immigrant family and American society. 

Addams believed that education should take the lead in connecting with immigrant families and
facilitating their immersion into their new country. This connected with her role as a social and
political activist. Immigrant issues were increasing at the time as people moved to America to find
work but there was clearly a lack of the English language, low levels of education generally and too.
Few jobs which resulted in poor slums, begging and higher levels of crime (Panza, 2017)

Article response
Schools are places where children come to learn and the setting is created specifically for children
as school is where they belong and where they must go to learn. It is not a place for their families
and schools should focus on educating children and not vice versa. 

Children need to recognize that they go to school to learn facts and information that will benefit them
in finding worthwhile jobs in society and becoming successful. They do not go to school to talk about
their families – what is the value in that? They are simply wasting time when they should be learning
their alphabets to help them learn English and access their lessons more quickly. School is a place
where children listen to adults to learn, not the other way round. 

Teachers are at school to teach children and make sure that all the subjects are taught correctly.
This is a very busy profession and they simply do not have the time to concern themselves with the
families of the students they teach. It is unrealistic to expect teachers to stop teaching and spend
time getting to know the children and their families. Getting to know the children’s’ families will not
help them learn their 3 R’s. 

Learning about the children’s’ families will not help the teachers teach. It is unrealistic to expect
these professionals to 

In addition to all of these arguments, there is the simple assumption made by Addams that the
families would want to participate in these exchanges. These parents are too busy working and
looking after their other children to be interested in meeting with the teacher to talk about their past
lives. How can the teacher facilitate this when they only speak English and the majority of immigrant
parents do not speak any English? Are the children capable of assisting in these discussions and
understanding what is going on? For sure, there are much better uses of everyone’s energies, all of
them should concentrate on their main roles and for the teachers, the role that they have trained
hard for. 

Teachers are not trained to take on this role and they will not know what to do – who will tell them
what needs to be done and how to do it? 

In summary, it is not the role of the school or the teacher to do more than they are expected and
they serve immigrant children best by providing a good education and helping the children learn
English and the skills they need to be successful later in life when they join the workforce. The
children can then support their own families to get on in American society. 
Reference list

Addams, J. (1908). The Public School & the Immigrant Child. Retrieved 21 February 2021 from
https://educ820in2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/addams-1908-the-public-school-and-the-
immigrant-child.pdf

Panza, S., (2017). Jane Addams: an experience of multicultural education and social care. Chicago,
1889 – 1910. European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies September-December 2017 Volume 2,
Issue 7 306. Retrieved 21 February 2021 from
http://journals.euser.org/files/articles/ejms_sep_dec_17_nr_2/Silvana.pdf

Vaughan, M., (2015). The Public School and the Immigrant Child Prezi Presentation. Retrieved 21
February 2021 from https://prezi.com/r-tgjxolh5gx/the-public-school-and-the-immigrant-child/