.

A prominent Italian in the Italian colony at Vineland, New Jersey, said
that evening schools were needed there. A year ago they had one with two
teachers, but the funds gave out. The people attended. These night
schools would teach voting, civics, etc., to the adults. The
superintendent of schools in the town said there were no classes in
English for the adult immigrants, but suggested that for Americanization
purposes classes should be organized and that the Italian leaders should
be approached and persuaded to bring in Italian people to the classes.

In the Bohemian and Slovak colonies at Willington, Connecticut, there
were no evening classes or schools, though several of the settlers
thought it would be a good thing to have such a school and believed that
the people would go if they had a chance.

In interviews, the rural evening-school students usually explained that
they felt "funny" and were shy and awkward in the school. They went to
the same school which their children attended, sat on the same benches,
had the same teacher, and read the same books which their children did.
Finally, they stopped, deciding that their children could do the
learning of English for both themselves and their parents. They also
explained that their time was too limited to allow of school attendance.
After the daily farm work they have to do chores.

Around a farm, especially a new, developing farm, there are countless
things to be cared for. There is no moment when a settler can say: "Now
everything is done and I am free." Besides, even if he does take time
and goes to the evening school, he feels tired there and is restless
about the work left undone at home. Another explanation given by the
immigrants in regard to their failure to attend the school was that the
school did not teach anything useful to them in their farming, and that
the progress in learning English was slow, almost imperceptible. It
seemed to them that never would they be able to master the language, and
they grew disappointed and discouraged.

The impression made upon the writer was that the complaint about lack of
time and weariness was not well founded. There are certain seasons,
especially in winter, when the settlers have time to go to the evening
school. Even in the heavy working season they might attend school, for
their fatigue from farm work is rather physical than nervous or mental.

EDUCATION MADE INTERESTING

The root of the trouble is in inad