|
Back
to Children in Internment Camps
A
description of schools in internment camps follows.
With
no exceptions, schools at the centers opened in unpartitioned
barracks meant for other purposes and generally bare of furniture.
Sometimes the teacher had a desk and chair; more often she had
only a chair. In the first few weeks many of the children had
no desks or chairs and for the most part were obliged to sit
on the floor or stand up all day. Linoleum laying and additional
wall insulation were accomplished in these makeshift schoolrooms
some time after the opening of school. At some centers cold
waves struck before winterization could be started.
By
the end of 1942 . . . it was no longer necessary for many pupils
to sit on the floor, but seating was frequently of a rudimentary
character. Text books and other supplies were gradually arriving.
Laboratory and shop equipment and facilities, however, were
still lacking. No center had been able to obtain its fill quota
of teachers.
War
Relocation Authority report on internment camp schools quoted
in Personal Justice Denied, 170.
|
