Schooling/education

[MarcuccioV]

I'm curious about education levels in the years prior to many Italians emigrations.

Both my grandparents (my grandfather born in 1891 & grandmother in 1902) were both literate prior to their respective emigrations (my grandfather in 1910 & grandmother in 1922 after marrying my grandfather in Italy).

My grandfather lived in Philadelphia for his first 2-3 years in the US, and I assume he learned his English there (it was probably easier since he was already literate in Italian) prior to moving to Detroit (where an older sister was) in 1913 & being hired at Ford Motor Company.

My grandmother read/wrote/spoke only Italian upon her arrival.

However it seems many residents (their peers) in their commune (Valmontone, Lazio) were still illiterate around this time (based on civil record research I have done).

Both of their families were simple tenant farmers (contadini) & all the previous generations were illiterate. When did education begin to be the norm in these small to mid-sized communes..?

There are even instances in the same nuclear family where some siblings were educated but others not (seemingly random). Thoughts..?

[erudita74]

There were no compulsory education laws in Italy until 1877, but that law only made education compulsory for ages 6 to 9. However, all villages and towns did not have schoolhouses or teachers and, even if they did, there were not enough govt officials to enforce the law. Even when the officials did attempt to enforce the law, southern Italians and Sicilians were known to evade it. They would send their children to school at the onset, and then wouldn't send them during times, such as harvest times, when their labor was needed in the fields. These children, despite their young ages, constituted part of the family labor force. A 1901 census in Sicily even showed that 71% of males, and 77% of females, over the age of 6, were still illiterate. Also southern Italians and Sicilians did not place value on females being educated, as their fate was to become wives and mothers.

[MarcuccioV]

There were no compulsory education laws in Italy until 1877, but that law only made education compulsory for ages 6 to 9. However, all villages and towns did not have schoolhouses or teachers and, even if they did, there were not enough govt officials to enforce the law. Even when the officials did attempt to enforce the law, southern Italians and Sicilians were known to evade it. They would send their children to school at the onset, and then wouldn't send them during times, such as harvest times, when their labor was needed in the fields. These children, despite their young ages, constituted part of the family labor force. A 1901 census in Sicily even showed that 71% of males, and 77% of females, over the age of 6, were still illiterate. Also southern Italians and Sicilians did not place value on females being educated, as their fate was to become wives and mothers.

This seems to align with the evidence I have found. Thank you for your insights.

[darkerhorse]

I think, in general, despite the lack of formal education, women who immigrated permanently tended to have more fortitude than those who repatriated, and those who repatriated tended to have more fortitude than those who didn't immigrate. Less so among men.

[erudita74]

@Mark

I forgot to mention that there was also a govt study in 1907 which showed that Sicilians only half heartedly complied with the mandated compulsory education laws, even if they complied with them at all. Many rural schoolhouses in Sicily were, at that time, in deplorable condition, and many local govts simply did not have sufficient funds to replace them with new schools, Nor did they have sufficient funds to hire the number of teachers needed to run these schools. So these factors as well contributed to the illiteracy issue.

Erudita

[MarcuccioV]

I have a photodocumentary book of the commune from 1945 (after the WWII bombings) that not only shows schoolchildren on their way to school, but also a makeshift school in the home of a teacher who was in bed with an illness so the children did not miss any lessons. So by that time it was obviously a different mindset, especially with the hardships involved with everyday life in a town that had been vitually destroyed by war...

[erudita74]

Quite frankly, Mark, I haven't researched the literacy issue in Southern Italy and Sicily beyond the first decade of the 20th century, so I'm sure that, by 1945, the situation there was very different from the time period to which I have referred. In looking at the immigrant ancestors of my husband and myself, only two arrived in the U.S. after 1910, and they were my husband's paternal Sicilian grandparents. His grandmother was only 13 and 7 months when she arrived in 1913 from Sicily with her widowed mother, but she could not read or write, according to their passenger list. Having been born in Dec of 1899, she should have had some kind of schooling in Sicily, but apparently didn't. Ultimately, she became a US citizen by 1930, and since literacy became a requirement for citizenship here in the U.S. after 1906, she did learn to read and write. The 1940 census also states that she had completed grade 1 of school, and so I assume this was in a school in the Bronx, NY. I believe that education, at the time, was compulsory in NYC up to age 14, although the number of days required for schooling was less for those ages 13 and 14, if they also had a job. My husband's grandfather, who emigrated in April of 1914 at the age of 23, and from the same town in Sicily, was able to read and write, according to his passenger list. So, must have had some schooling in Sicily, having been born in 1891, although he was only a peasant/farm laborer in his native Sicilian town.

Erudita

[darkerhorse]

How accurate do you think education reported in the U.S. Census is for immigrants?

[MarcuccioV]

How accurate do you think education reported in the U.S. Census is for immigrants?

I couldn't be certain on accuracy, but certainly 19th century census' indicated many of those counted as illiterate, whether immigrants or native-born, however it seemed by the beginning of the 20th, most children were indicated as "at school" even if parents were still shown as illiterate.

I think the US (at the time) was at least a little ahead of Italy in regards to education, but Italy had only recently been unified. Plus as noted by Erudita, literacy (at least to some extent) was required for US citizenship later on...