Books for New Citizens

An Interesting Sentence (or two): "To reach the foreign-born and their children, who in 1900 comprised two-thirds of the city's population, considerable effort was put into what today would be called outreach services. Books were placed in mills, factories, fire stations, stores, schools (public, private, parochial, and Sunday), settlements, churches, syagogues, playgrounds, and homes" (Fain, 259).

While you can accuse librarians and corporate titans alike of manipulating immigrants into Americanization, I would simply describe this as an incredible educational effort the likes of which we just do not see in America anymore. Why doesn't America invest in its education anymore? Those that do take the time to invest in such an education end up paying exorbitant amounts of money for their educations and end up saddled with debt, and those who do not make less and less money every year when you adjust for inflation. If you ask me, a little bit of Carnegie approved "indoctrination" in order to shock this country out of its educational slumber.

If I was in someone else's country for an extended period of time (let's just say, America), I would not feel like I was being "Americanized". I would appreciate the education, and additionally when in Rome, I would speak Italian (if I could). I would never feel slighted by how I was being educated.

The foundation for the American century was a populous that wanted to be educated. Those who were not, could still afford decent paying jobs. Once the educated class started to shrink, the benefits seen by so-called Americanized immigrants began to fade into history.