Education

Schools were quickly organized in the concentration camps, but they suffered from crude facilities and lack of teaching materials. Instruction was given for nursery through high school, and adult education was offered. Trained teachers were in short supply, however, and uncertified Japanese Americans with college degrees often filled in. The War Relocation Authority (WRA) deliberately emphasized Americanization in the education program. Some found it painfully ironic to watch incarcerated youth recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

World War II (239)
Concentration camps (1640)
Education (1513)

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1513 items

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-12)

Excerpt: "I'm very sorry you worried about my silence. If I could I'd have somebody write for me or else I'd be sure to have leisure to write myself." Sent from Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-12/

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-92)

Excerpt: "I'm under the dryer again, but this time it's in a beauty shop owned by a couple of girls who graduated from Hunt H.S. I like it much better."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-92/

doc Student essay: "Thoughts when 'War' is mentioned" (ddr-densho-171-174)

Excerpt: "War! War! The terrible reality on one peaceful Sunday."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-174/

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-66)

Excerpt: "Mr. Harke finally got around to breaking the log jam and also seemed to realize that he was working at cross purposes to my job." Sent from Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-66/

doc Student essay (ddr-densho-171-171)

Excerpt: "What is war? I can not fear or hate war, since I don't know anything about it."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-171/

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-23)

Excerpt: "I'm in town tonight -- had to pick up my laundry and saw 'Murder He Says'..." Sent from Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-23/

doc Student essay (ddr-densho-171-108)

Excerpt: "All the children in the class sing lustily and joyously, unconsciously showing their love of country in their well fed healthy bodies and alert minds."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-108/

doc Student essay (ddr-densho-171-122)

Excerpt: "World War II has meant to me unjust evacuation of citizens of the United States to assembly centers very poorly and hastily constructed."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-122/

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-6)

Excerpt: "Last weekend we had a wonderful trip -- I think I wrote you about it. Monday night was choir." Sent from Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-6/

doc Student essay (ddr-densho-171-175)

Excerpt: "The dismal wail on the train whislle and the constant roar of the rusty wheels underneath kept me from sleeping."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-175/

doc Student essay: "The Stepping Stones of Our Life" (ddr-densho-171-95)

Excerpt: "Many of us are dissatisifed with our life in this community, but we shouldn't be very dismayed."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-95/

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-74)

Excerpt: "I hope your vacation is proving as restful and congenial as mine. I'm indulging all my repressed tastes!" Sent from Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-74/

doc Student essay: "To the Honored Dead" (ddr-densho-171-112)

Excerpt: "This is to the honored dead! This is to the unselfish ones who laid aside the flourishing pen and substituted for it a civilization with the hammer and saw..."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-112/

doc Student essay: "My Reactions About the War" (ddr-densho-171-101)

Excerpt: "I don't see why they keep referring to us American citizens as Japs while Germans and Italians are called Americans."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-101/

doc Student essay (ddr-densho-171-143)

Excerpt: "As I was walking down the main street of Seattle, I saw a large crowd gathered on the corner."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-143/

doc Student essay: "Foreword" (ddr-densho-171-97)

Excerpt: "In this paragraph I put myself in the shoes of a loyal American Youth of Tomorrow."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-97/

doc Student essay: "War" (ddr-densho-171-166)

Excerpt: "Perhaps many of us partially realize what this simple noun 'War' actually means."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-166/

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-52)

Excerpt: "Monday was calm enough -- Bob Coombs returned from Sacamento in fine shape and we got up to date on news." Sent from Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-52/

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-40)

Excerpt: "Tonight I'm sitting in the shadow of my social life dashing this off while I wait for the Chinese checker game to begin." Sent from Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-40/

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-7)

Excerpt: "I put my room to permanent rights at little more. Assembled my voluminous notes and bibliographies from Stanford into notebook covers purchased yesterday." Sent from Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-7/

doc Student paper: "A Radio Skit" (ddr-densho-171-130)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-130/

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-13)

Excerpt: "The latter refers to working with my four wild Indiands and seeing them growing into class leaders." Sent from Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-13/

doc Letter from a camp teacher to her family (ddr-densho-171-50)

Excerpt: "Since then it has been a series of slow days that would have been leisurely if they hadn't been haunted by uncertainty and insidious developments." Sent from Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-50/

doc Student essay (ddr-densho-171-144)

Excerpt: "'I helped to win that World War II!'" No, I wasn't in the Army Air Corps, or the Navy, or even the Army; I stayed in the home front and did my part there."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-144/

doc Student essay: "The Future" (ddr-densho-171-116)

Excerpt: "I dream often of being a man married with a important job in a big concern."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-171-116/