MEYER vs NEBRASKA (1923)

Argument of both sides

FOR

AGAINST

• Purpose:
• "foster a homogeneous people... they could learn English and acquire American ideals."
• U.S.Saftey
• When children grow up in foreign based communities “the children are thereby hindered from becoming citizens of the most useful type, and the public safety is imperiled”.
• states job: “improve the quality of its citizens, physically, mentally and morally”
• Educate:
• they will "always think in that language, and, as a consequence, naturally inculcate in them the ideas and sentiments foreign to the best interests of this country.”

Sec. 2. Languages, other than the English language, may be taught as languages only after a pupil shall have attained and successfully passed the eighth grade as evidenced by a certificate of graduation issued by the county superintendent of the county in which the child resides.

Sec. 3. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25), nor more than one hundred dollars ($100) or be confined in the county jail for any period not exceeding thirty days for each offense.”

• Purpose:
• "protect the child's health by limiting his mental activities.... experience shows that this is not injurious to the health, morals or understanding of the ordinary child..."

• The American people have always regarded education and acquisition of knowledge as matters of supreme importance

• Rights:
• “The problem for our determination is whether the statute, as construed and applied, unreasonably infringes the liberty guaranteed to the plaintiff in error by the Fourteenth Amendment. "No State shall . . . deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."”

• It is the, "natural duty of the parent to give his children education suitable to their station in life, and nearly all the States, including Nebraska, enforce this obligation by compulsory laws."

• Language:
• "Mere knowledge of the German language cannot reasonably be regarded as harmful. Heretofore it has been commonly looked upon as helpful and desirable."
• pointed out that mere abuse incident to an occupation ordinarily useful is not enough to justify its abolition, although regulation may be entirely proper.

• On April 9, 1919, Nebraska enacted a statute called "An act relating to the teaching of foreign languages in the state of Nebraska. This was called the Siman Act.
• Section 1. No person, individually or as a teacher, shall, in any private, denominational, parochial or public school, teach any subject to any person in any language other than the English language.

SIMAN ACT

WHY?

• WWI - other language = support other country
• worried about spies
• non-english -"unpatriotic"

Meyer vs Nebraska

Background

Jeopardy!

Effect on Bilingual Education

http://www.superteachertools.net/jeopardyx/jeopardy-review-game.php?gamefile=1393431598

Why do we think about it now?

"This case is also is often cited in matters involving the movement for bilingualism in the schools and courts, given the vast numbers of Spanish-speaking immigrants now living in the United States" (Legal Legacy).

This case opened up more opportunities in Nebraska.

Meyer V Nebraska was an eye opener.

• an instructor in Zion Parochial School, Robert T. Meyer, was caught reading in German to a 4th grade student
• State Arrested, Convicted, & Fined Meyer$25
• Appealed to US Supreme Court
• Looked at 14th Amendment
• Due process clause, protected the right of parents and teachers to determine what they would teach their children
• 7 to 4 voted that Siman Law violated constitution and that speaking a foreign language is constitutional

"The Supreme Court Decides Meyer v Nebraska." Legal Legacy. N.p., 2 Aug. 2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

Justice James C. McReynolds

http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu

Environment & Society

Change in Education

ELLS AND THE LAW: Statutes, Precedents. (2009). Education Week, 28(17), 8-9.

Immigration Rises

• Literacy Requirement in 1917: English language attainment is required in order to obtain citizenship

After World War I

• push for monolingualism
• extensive campaign against all things German
• In Education: some banned foreign language instruction, others banned only German

April 9, 1919

Siman Act

• No person individually or as a teacher shall, in any private, denominational, parochial or public school, teach any subject to any person in any language other than the English language
• No foreign language may be taught (with the exception of "dead" languages) before the student has passed the eighth grade.
• English should be the mother tongue of all children reared in Nebraska so that they may become citizens of "the most useful type" and so that public safety is not imperiled.

"While this Court has not attempted to define with exactness the liberty thus guaranteed, the term has received much consideration and some of the included things have been definitely stated. Without doubt, it denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint, but also the right of the individual to contract, to engage in any of the common occupations of life, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and generally to enjoy those privileges long recognized at common law as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.”

Justice James C. McReynolds

MEYER vs NEBRASKA (1923)