“With its large German immigrant population, Ohio was the first of several states to permit teaching in German alongside English.

By 1900 some 4% of elementary-school pupils in America were taught at least partly in German.

After the first world war anti-German sentiment led to the end of those programmes and, in Ohio and Indiana, even to a ban on teaching German as a foreign language to young children.

Ms Fouka compared German-American populations in border counties of Ohio and Indiana with their neighbours in adjacent states (who experienced no language ban).

She found that those affected by the ban were more likely to marry another German and give their children German names, and less likely to enlist during the second world war.” (The Economist, 2019, p.82).

Reference

The Economist. (2019) Mother Tongues. The Economist. 25 May 2019, pp.82.