Working Paper: NBER ID: w18302
Authors: Adriana Lleras-Muney; Allison Shertzer
Abstract: In the early twentieth century, education legislation was often passed based on arguments that new laws were needed to force immigrants to learn English and "Americanize." We provide the first estimates of the effect of statutes requiring English as the language of instruction and compulsory schooling laws on the school enrollment, work, literacy and English fluency of immigrant children from 1910 to 1930. English schooling statutes did increase the literacy of foreign-born children, though only modestly. Compulsory schooling and continuation school laws raised immigrants' enrollment and the effects were much larger for children born abroad than for native-born children.
Keywords: Americanization movement; English-only laws; Compulsory schooling laws; Immigrant education
JEL Codes: I28; K30; N32
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| English-only schooling statutes (I28) | literacy of foreign-born children (I21) |
| Compulsory schooling laws (I21) | enrollment rates among immigrant populations (K37) |
| Compulsory schooling laws (I21) | educational attainment among immigrants (K37) |
| Compulsory schooling laws (I21) | earnings among immigrants (K37) |
| English-only laws (K37) | improved outcomes in adulthood (I12) |
| Compulsory schooling laws (I21) | English fluency (G53) |