Miss Nixon

Miss Nixon was the American teacher who stood at the threshold of Mary Antin's new life, the first representative of the American public school system to receive the Antin children when their father brought them to school in Chelsea. She was the teacher of the primer class, the baby class, into which the immigrant children were placed upon their arrival. Her significance lies not in any dramatic action but in her quiet, skillful, and patient instruction, which transformed a group of "green" foreign children into eager students of English and set Mary on her rapid path through the American educational system. She is the human face of the institution that Mary credits with her Americanization, the agent through whom the promise of free public education was fulfilled for one immigrant family.

Identity and Introduction

Miss Nixon is introduced at the climactic moment of the Antin family's arrival at the Chelsea school, when the four children stood around her desk and their father, in his "impossible English," gave them over into her charge. Mary notes that her father regarded the teacher of the primer class with reverence, and she ventures that Miss Nixon was struck by something uncommon in the group she received. The teacher's exact appearance is not described in detail, but Mary recalls that she was pretty and that her smile of approval was a source of great pleasure to her young pupil. Miss Nixon's role is defined by her position as the primer class teacher, the first point of contact for the youngest and most unprepared students in the American school system.

The Method of Teaching

Miss Nixon's teaching method was simple and effective, designed for a special class of about half a dozen beginners in English, ranging in age from six to fifteen. She aided them in their endeavors to "see-a-cat," "hear-a-dog-bark," and "look-at-the-hen," turning over page after page of a reading primer. The teacher knew just when to let the students help each other out with a word in their own tongue, a strategy that proved remarkably effective since all the students in the special class happened to be Jews. Working together, they actually covered more ground in a lesson than the native classes composed entirely of little tots. The one point of difficulty was the definite article, which caused the class to stick fast and sometimes resolve the lesson into a species of lingual gymnastics, with the students looking as if they meant to bite their tongues off. Miss Nixon's patience and perseverance in struggling with them over that "thick little word" remained memorable to Mary even after fifteen years.

The Catalyst for Rapid Progress

Miss Nixon's instruction was the immediate cause of Mary's rapid advancement through the school grades. Within a week after Miss Nixon took her in hand, Mary was advanced from the baby class to the second grade, as soon as she could understand what the teacher said in class. Mary is careful to divide the credit for this progress, giving Miss Nixon only half and claiming the other half on behalf of her race and her family. She was "Jew enough" to have an aptitude for language and to bend her mind earnestly to her task, and "Antin enough" to read each lesson with her heart. Yet it was Miss Nixon who provided the skillful and earnest aid that allowed these qualities to flourish. The teacher's method was so simple that Mary wished holiness could be taught in the same way, a striking tribute to the pedagogical power she witnessed in that Chelsea classroom.

The Symbol of American Opportunity

Miss Nixon's significance extends beyond her individual teaching to her role as a symbol of the American educational system that welcomed immigrants. Mary's father brought his children to school "as if it were an act of consecration," and Miss Nixon was the recipient of this offering. Mary believes that Miss Nixon guessed what her father's best English could not convey, divining that by the simple act of delivering their school certificates to her, he was entrusting his children to the American promise. The teacher's acceptance of this trust, her patience with the "green" pupils, and her skill in teaching them English all represent the welcoming hand of America itself. Miss Nixon stands in contrast to the Old World teachers who taught with the rod, as remembered by Mary's brother, and her gentle methods embody the new world of opportunity that the Antin children had entered. She is the first in a chain of teachers who passed the young immigrant "from hand to hand" through the public schools, a chain that would eventually lead Mary to the Latin School and then to Barnard College.