THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS IN SCHOOLS.
This investigation was one of the most extensive planned and carried out by the Immigration Commission. The report includes a total of 2,036,376 school children (1,815,217 in public schools and 221,159 in parochial schools), 49,067 public school teachers, and 32,882 students in the higher educational institutions. Information was secured for the children in public schools in 37 cities, for the children in parochial schools in 24 cities, for the teachers in the elementary grades and kindergartens of the public schools in 30 cities, and for the students in 77 higher educational institutions.
The purpose of the investigation was to determine as far as possible to what extent children of the various races of immigrants are availing themselves of educational facilities and what progress they make in school work. This study is primarily a study of the children of immigrants either foreign-born or born in the United States of foreign-born fathers-but for purposes of comparison information was also secured for children of native fathers.
All information is presented by race or people. The same classification of race or people is used here as in other reports of the Commission and follows that used for several years by the United States Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. In common with the other inquiries of the Commission, the investigation into schools could not cover the entire country but was confined to selected areas. In so far as the collection of the data was concerned the school investigation was separated into five divisions, a description of which is here inserted.
1. Public schools-General investigation.-This investigation was conducted in the public schools of 30 cities, as follows:
This list includes the first 20 cities of the United States in point of population as shown by the census of 1900, with three exceptions. Washington, D. C., and Louisville, Ky., were excluded because the population of foreign origin is not conspicuous in those cities, and Jersey City, N. J., was omitted because its population so nearly parallels the population of the neighboring cities of New York and Newark. Kansas City and Los Angeles were included owing to their geographical locations. Other cities were selected primarily to secure data concerning different races; thus, certain New England cities were selected owing to considerable proportions of French Canadians in their population, Scranton and Shenandoah were included in order