The Humble and the Heroic: Wartime Italian Americans (Hardcover)
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The Humble and the Heroic: Wartime Italian Americans (Hardcover) ...

Chapter 1:  Italian Americana 1920s–1930s
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The war had strengthened the idea of conformity. Americanization meant the casting off of everything that was “alien,” especially the language and culture of national origin. Yet the amazing paradox lay in the fact that it was perfectly all right for the Italo-American boy to study Latin or French, German or Spanish.17

There was something ironic in the educational package offered to Italian American youngsters during the inter-war years. While commendable efforts were taken to provide education for immigrant children, thereby enabling them not only to become better educated, but also prepared for better jobs, the system also discouraged formal study of the rich Italian heritage. Remigio Pane, a young Italian immigrant in the 1930s, who later established one of the nation’s foremost graduate Italian language programs at Rutgers University, recalled with dismay the disinterest in studying Italian.

The reluctance to study Italian on the part of the first generation was indeed due to a sense of discrimination. I remember when I was first hired as an instructor that during the freshmen registration many students would freeze when they saw “Italian” and move towards Spanish, French and other languages. The chairman of the department, who was anxious to develop the Italian course, would see students with Italian names and express his surprise at the way they would avoid taking the language.18

As Luciano Iorizzo and Salvatore Mondello explain, “Most educators tried to teach Italian-American children American traditions while overlooking their Italian heritage. A great educational opportunity to integrate both cultures was lost in the years of mass immigration.”19 The hard reality was that there seemed to be a lack of appreciation for Italian culture on the part of the educational establishment.