The Northwest Times

Foreign Language School Act of '43
In Hawaii Ruled Unconstitutional

HONOLULU. Nov. 11-The Territory of Hawaii's Foreign Language School Act of 1943 has been declared unconstitutional by a panel of three judges hearing a petition to enjoin territorial officials from interfering in any manner with the resumption of operation of such schools.

The ruling was handed down recently by Judge William Denman of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco, and District Judges Paul J. McCormick of Los Angeles and Delbert E. Metzger of Honolulu.

They held that the act passed by territorial legislature prohibiting operation of such schools was in violation of the due-process clause of the Fifth Amendment.

The petitioners in the case were three Chinese language schools and three individuals of Chinese ancestry. In their petition to the court they pointed out that all foreign language schools in Hawaii were closed from the date of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and had remained closed. The petition added that there were about one hundred such schools affected by the act. Eight of these are Chinese and the remainder are conducted in the Japanese language.

The act specifically barred children up to the fourth grade from attending such schools, as well as children up to the seventh grade unless they could pass examinations in English and composition. It also required teachers at such schools to meet requirements specified by the territorial department of public instruction.

In testimony during the hearing territorial officials, including Dr. W. Harold Loper, superintendent of schools, stated their belief that the language schools had an adverse effect on education here.

Miss Helen Gay Pratt director of child study and remedial work, told the court that "Hawaii's school children have a language of their own when they first come to school."

The decision written by Judge Denman said:

"Parents' right to have their offspring taught a foreign language is one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the due process clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. In today's world of united nations there has been added an equally profound international need for understanding between peoples of the world of different tongues."