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OUR E N G L I S H C O L U M N The Refugee Intellectual Our life is full of paradoxes; soon becoming fam iliar, they cease to surprise us. Yet there t-is som ething deeply ironic in these facts of existence which tw ist and contradict the expec tations of hum an wisdom. Im m igration presents many problems even to the m igrants themselves, as well as to the re cipient country. One would ex pect, however, th a t those having the m ost to offer would be the ones m ost readily accepted, easi er adjustable, and also m ost successful. Contrary to expec tations, however, the talented im m igrant, possessing special abilities, faces problems more serious and more difficult to overcome than the ones faced by an unskilled worker. The b arri ers of language, custom, p reju dice are much greater for the intellectual. The m any known successes cover up m any un known failu res; and the personal costs, of some m easure of suc cess, are high indeed. International m igration in volves w astage of hum an abili tie s ; valuable hum an resources rem ain un-utilized; great cultur al assets are allowed to disinteg rate. W hat is more, this happens a t a tim e when special skills and talents are badly needed. In th e early 1950’s a study was made by Donald P. K ent of th e intellectuals among the im m igrants of the years 1933- 1941. There were m any out standing personalities in this group: a few Nobel prize win ners, literati w ith world-wide reputation, academicians and scientists of international fame. This was the im m igration th a t brought to America A lbert E in stein and Thomas Mann. D. P. Kent was prim arily in terested in the economic and so cial adjustm ent of these people, in their ability to become an in tegral p art of American culture. He found th a t 72% were able to follow the same professions, de spite the language barriers, and despite the difficulties in attain ing the relatively high stand ard of the professional class, while startin g life anew, up from th e lower steps of the social lad der. Physicians and teachers led all other professions in th eir a t tainm ent of financial security. Journalists and lawyers were the least successful. During their tw enty year stay in America these professional people have not yet attained a complete in tegration w ith the Am erican cul ture. But complete integration is not to be expected in the course of a single generation. Studies such as K ent’s are particularly valuable, as they focus the attention of the Am er ican public upon those special groups of im m igrants who not only present certain specific problems, but who also are cap able of great contributions to America. Recent im m igration from Europe, the Displaced P er sons, the escapees from Com munism, include also a large percentage of professionally trained persons, of intellectuals of a high caliber. Among the Ukrainian im m igration alone the num ber of professionals is very high. One only need count the membership of such Ukrainian- American institutions as the U krainian Academy of A rts and Sciences, the Shevchenko Scien tific Society, the American-Uk- rainian Medical Soc’y, the Soci ety of U krainian Engineers, the Association of Ukrainian A rt ists, the Ukrainian W riters’ As sociation “Slovo,” the Society of U krainian Journalists, th e alli ance of Am erican-Ukrainian Ve- terniary Surgeons, as well as large num bers of lawyers, col lege teachers, musicians, actors. An affirm ative program for the maximum use of the special talents and abilities of these people would be of g reat benefit to our country. Particularly in the case of w riters, lawyers, journalists where professional adjustm ent is difficult, and th e language barriers seem unsur- mountable, such a positive pro gram m ight prevent th e w astage of valuable hum an resources. In our life-struggle w ith Russian Communism, we frequently em phasize our need for highly trained individuals. We are deep ly concerned w ith our sh o rtag es; we are enraged by our lack of technicians; of foreign language specialists; of culture experts. Under these circumstances, th e w astage of so m any talents a t hand seems to be a tragic para dox. Once th e skills of these peo ple are allowed to disintegrate, they m ay be difficult to replace. Marty CORRECTION In the so im portant story — The Virgin Lands Revolting — in our July issue we beg the indul gence of our readers in the p ara graph beginning — ‘‘E xperts ex plained . . Correctly the dis turbed sentence in it rea d s: “Be i ng covered w i th a tall, strong grass, the V i rgin Lands formerly protected the neighbor ing lands. However, now being cultivated, and deprived of the grass cover — the wind, blowing with great fury, lifted the earth layer, and carried it far away.” 1 6 НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ВЕРЕСЕНЬ, 1960 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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