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| Format | Dissertation |
|---|---|
| Creator | Gawenda, Peter-Bodo |
| Title | The Use of the German Language in the Schools of San Antonio, Texas, from 1880 to 1910 |
| Dissertation Note (type -- academic institution) | Dissertation -- University of Houston |
| Date | 1986 |
| Extent of Work | 659 pp. |
| Abstract | The purpose of this historical study is to determine factors that either caused or contributed to the disappearance of the German language from curricula of American public school systems and higher education in areas with concentrations of German immigrants and their descendants. The selected time period is 1880 to 1910, when after-effects of the Civil War had subsided and the German Empire was established. The geographical area selected is San Antonio, Texas, the largest Texan city at that time. America was the primary destination for emigrants from German-language regions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is estimated that descendants of these population groups are almost as high as those of immigrants from the British Isles. While English became the American language, German only survived in different variances in small geographical pockets as a local means of communication. Focusing on San Antonio, the author evaluates (a) roles and functions of the contemporary society, (b) development and change of curriculum, (c) the role of German-language minorities in education, and (d) political, economic and social developments during the period in question. The study identifies several causes for the disappearance of the German language: 1. The background of German-language immigrants was diverse and multi-national. Thus German or German dialects did not serve as unifiers which could overcome former loyalties or animosities. 2. The European education of immigrants stressed the "fact" that English was the language of America and Texas. 3. European immigrant handbooks advocated acceptance of English as a prerequisite for success. 4. San Antonio's and Texas' education system was not fully organized until 1900. Before 1880 less than thirty percent, and from 1880 to 1910 between thirty and sixty percent of the scholastic population attended school. During sixty consecutive years an average of seventy percent of San Antonio's population received no formal education. 5. Language education and language maintenance programs were not established for immigrants and their Texas-born descendants. 6. German-language minorities were not involved in organized or spontaneous attempts of significant scale to develop a public school curriculum that would have aided the preservation of German. 7. Effective systems of bilingual education were only developed in select private schools (German-English) and were not considered financially justifiable for public school systems. 8. Limited language education in the city's grammar schools and the high school, the absence of teacher training and methodologies, and especially the character of supporting materials created the impression of "foreign" languages designed for use outside of the United States. An evaluation of German language books and of the development of German script supports this conclusion. 9. Associations or "Vereine" with primarily German-surnamed memberships served as preservers of German and of what was perceived as German culture. They were not active agents in curriculum development. 10. The German-surnamed population had developed a class system which eventually merged with San Antonio's class system. German did not become a class-bridging agent, but instead developed into a class identifier: recent immigrants (mono-lingual) could be distinguished from educated members of high society. 11. The city's landlocked geographical location and expansion of commerce and industry created needs for applied science education, making teaching of second languages a luxury. 12. Due to the alderman system of city government, the administrative structure of public education was an integral part of city politics; education was tied to economic and political interests. 13. Public linkage of culture (ethnicity) to language and the denial of multi-ethnicity or multi-lingualism within the American nation provided a final impetus to an anti-foreign language attitude or foreign-language syndrome (still existing today). |
| Notes | UMI, printed in 1988. Book, in MadCat. |
| Call Number | MKI LB1577 G4 G38 1986a; shelved with MKI dissertations |
| MKI Terms | German Americans -- Texas/ Immigrants, German/ Texas/ Language, German (US)/ Schools |