Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/646

 SCHOOLS

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SCHOOLS

Schools of Foreign Natiotialities. — One of the most difficult problems that has confronted the Church in the United States has been the education of the children of the immigrants arriving from foreign ehores and speaking a foreign language. These im- migrants were poor, and yet, if their descendants were to be saved to the Faith, it was imperative that Catho- lic schools and teachers should be provided for them, as well as churches. The missionan,' priests who came to minister to the immigrants were, as a rule, keenly ahve to the importance of the Catholic school, and, acting in conjunction with the American bishops, they have, to a great extent, overcome the difficulties that stood in the way and built up flourishing systems of schools. The chief difficulty, besides poverty of material resources, was that of the securing of compe- tent teachers. Lay teachers were commonly em- ployed at first. Little by Uttle, however, religious were introduced, colonies of religious teachers being brought from abroad for this purpose, and even new rehgious communities founded here. Some of these communities grew rapidly, and they have furnished a constantly increasing supply of teacherg for these schools.

The Polish schools have the largest aggregate attendance. They are scattered all over the coun- tr>-. but are especially numerous in the large in- dustrial centres. There were, in 1910, 293 Polish parishes with schools, having an attendance of 98,126 and with 1767 teachers, the great majority of these being rehgious. Next, in number come the French schools, most of which belong to the French-Cana- dians, and are located in New England. These schools in 1910 numbered 161, with 1480 teachers, and a total attendance of 63,048. The Italians, aUhough they compare in numerical strength with the Poles and French, are far behind them in the matter of provision for Cathohc education. There were but 48 Itahan schools in 1910, with 271 teachers, and an attendance of 13,838. Bohemian schools, the same year, had an attendance of 8978; Slovak schools, 7419; and Lithuanian schools, 2104, with a corre- sponding number of teachers of these nationalities. There were formerly many German schools in the United States, but schools in German parishes now generally employ English as the medium of instruc- tion, although German is taught also as one of the regular classes. In the case of the nationalities men- tioned above, Enghsh is always a part of the curric- ulum of the schools, and often it is the chief medium of instruction. In Italian schools, very little time is given to the study of Italian, and the same is true in many of the French-Canadian schools. In schools of the Slavic peoples, more time is given, as a rule, to the parental mother-tongue, and it is used con- jointly with English as a medium of instruction. In Polish schools, from one-third to one-half of the time is most commonly devoted to the study or the use of the PolLsh language. Many of the States have attached to their child-labour laws the condi- tion that a child, even though of employment-age, shall have acquired the abihty to read and write English. Legislation has had an influence in the steadily growing predominance of the EnglLsh lan- guage in the schools of the foreign nationalities, but the effect is due in the main to the American hfe and atmosphere.

Irulustrifil Schools. — Catholic industrial schools in the United States number 117, with an attendance of probably 1.5,(XK). Many of these schools are re- forrnatorj' in character, but a large number are high- gra<ie industrial schfXjLs in charge of the teaching orders. There are also manual training classes in many schools, especially in schools for girls.

Schooln far Negroan ami Jn/liariH. — There are probably near 1.50,CXX) Catholic negroes in the United States, and for these there exist 119 Catholic schools,

with an attendance of about 8000. Various religious communities are in charge, conspicuous among which are two congregations of coloured Sisters, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, founded at Baltimore in 1829, and which now has a membership of 146, and the Sisters of the Holy Family, of New Orleans, which was founded in 1842, and has a membership of 112. A collection is taken up annually in all the churches of the United States for the mission work among tke Negroes and Indians, and many of the schools derive their support from this source.

The number of Catholic Indians is approximately 100,000. There are 63 Cathohc Indian schools, with nearly 5000 pupils. About 6000 Catholic Indian pupils are being educated in the government schools. 55 of the Catholic schools are boarding institutions. Many of these are of an industrial character, the policy of Catholics in respect to the education of the Indians having always been to give prominence to training in the manual and industrial arts. The success of this policy has been often testi- fied to by government inspectors of Indian schools as well as by distinguished American statesmen. A limited support is accorded to these schools by the Federal Government. Under the so-called "Peace Pohcy" inaugurated by President Grant in 1870, about 80,000 Catholic Indians passed from Catholic to Protestant control. Through the efforts of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, established some . years later, together with the active efforts of mem- bers of the hierarchy, a new policy was inaugurated by the Government, under which it entered into con- tracts with the Catholic authorities concerned to provide for the support of Catholic Indian schools. Catholic schools multiplied rapidly in consequerice until, in 1896, a policy was entered upon which in- volved the entire discontinuance of appropriations. for denominational schools. In the year 1900 ap- propriations ceased. To keep up the schools, an organization known as the Society for the Preser- vation of the Faith among Indian Children was founded, and with the contributions from this society, together with the annual collection taken up for the purpose, and the donations of generous benefactors, many of the Catholic schools were kept alive. In 1904, under the administration of President Roose- velt, through the work of the Catholic Indian Bureau, a considerable allowance was made to certain Catho- lic schools by the Government from the Indian tribal funds, in answer to the petitions made by Catholic Indians. This policy has been continued up to the present, and in 1908 the appropriations made to Catholic schools in this way reached the sum of .?111,586.90. Prominent among the agencies which have succes.sfully laboured in behalf of Catholic Indian education has been the community of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Coloured People, which was founded by Mother Katherine Drexel in 1889. These nuns now number 143.

Orphanages. — The number of Catholic orphanages in the United States in 1910 was 258: 45,343 children are cared for and educated in these institutions, which are found in every diocese, and which are in charge of religious communities, generally of Sisters. They are usually supported by the parishes or by the voluntary contributions of the faithful. A hmited number are endowed. (See also Education of thej Deaf and Dumb; Education of the Blind.)

SecoTulary Schools. — There are two classes of Catholic secondary schools in the United States, those which arc intended to prepare pupils for a higher education, and those which are closely con- nected with the parish scliools and aim to fit at least the greater number of their pujMls for active life. Th(! former an; found both in colleges for boys and in academics for girls. The latter are sometimes an integral part of the parish school system, or, again,