The Recruit Educational Center was a program started by the US War Department in May 1919 at

Camp Upton Camp Upton was a port of embarkation of the United States Army during World War I. During World War II, it was used as an Army induction center, an internment camp for enemy aliens, and a hospital. It was located in Yaphank, New York, in Suffo ...

. It provided language instruction and

military training Military education and training is a process which intends to establish and improve the capabilities of military personnel in their respective roles. Military training may be voluntary or compulsory duty. It begins with recruit training, proceed ...

for non-English-speaking and

illiterate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

military inductees. The Recruit Educational Center claimed a widened social role for the

U.S. Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

during

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

time. It also intervened in the era's virulent debates over

eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

, and the place of

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

in American society. While English-language fluency had been a prerequisite for enlistment in the US Armed Forces since the late nineteenth century, Congress suspended this restriction during the emergency of the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

, the Recruit Educational Center increased the number of citizens eligible for military service. Furthermore, it stipulated that alien soldiers who graduated and committed three years to the Army could become naturalized citizens. The program quickly attracted over 100,000 enlistees and in 1920 Congress appropriated funds for five additional branches. In practice, the Recruit Educational Center served as an "

Americanization Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of the American culture and economy on other countries outside the United States, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, technology ...

" program aimed at immigrants from

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

and

Southern Europe Southern Europe is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, C ...

and their second-generation relatives. While the Great War is often characterized as a watershed event that promoted more inclusive notions of multi-culturalism, these immigrants continued to be perceived by many native-born Americans as racially foreign to or inassimilable with the American body politic. In addition to lessons in English grammar, vocabulary, and writing, the Recruit Educational Center also provided instruction in

military protocol A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

U.S. history The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

, and

political economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...

. Among the lessons reportedly learned by the recruits were the shortcomings of labor unionism and the superiority of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

Bolshevism Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined p ...

. The whole experience was designed to "influenc a foreigner’s environment, military duty, education, amusements, athletics, and religious observances that all combined may favorably react upon his character". In 1919, a cadre of recent graduates, representing fourteen different national backgrounds, was sent on a publicity tour to promote the Recruit Educational Center. During the tour, the group performed public demonstrations of "The Cadence System of Close Order Drill", a particularly grueling routine that demonstrated their remarkable efficiency and discipline. Various prominent social commentators considered the Army's Recruit Educational Center a compelling solution to an urgent social problem. The ''

Literary Digest ''The Literary Digest'' was an American general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, ''Public Opinion'' and '' Current Opinion''. ...

'' approvingly identified Camp Upton as, "Where the melting-pot is boiling the hottest". The ''Outlook'' printed letters written by formerly illiterate recruits who described, in perfect English, their newfound identity as patriotic Americans willing to fight for their adopted country. A writer at the ''

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (''NAR'') was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale (journalist), Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which i ...

'' observed, "These men are being endowed with American minds, and taught to think American thoughts, and to look at things from an American point of view."

References

{{Reflist United States Army education United States Army schools