"Factory Facts from Ford," 1915

This is a photograph of a diploma awarded by the Ford English School. The school was established by the company in 1914 in order to address the problem of non-English speaking workers and the safety hazards they posed. Immigrants could use a Ford English School diploma to meet many of the requirements prior to the final citizenship exam.

Ford workers disliked the new assembly line methods so much that by late 1913, labor turnover was 380 percent. The company's announcement to pay five dollars for an eight-hour day compared to the previous rate of $2.34 for a nine-hour day made many workers willing to submit to the relentless discipline of the line in return for such high wages.

Ford workers disliked the new assembly line methods so much that by late 1913, labor turnover was 380 percent. The company's announcement to pay five dollars for an eight-hour day compared to the previous rate of $2.34 for a nine-hour day made many workers willing to submit to the relentless discipline of the line in return for such high wages.

Founded in 1914 to address the language needs for Ford's ever-expanding immigrant labor force, the Ford English School used this method of language training to quickly give students a basic and functional vocabulary of English words to help them integrate into American society. In addition to English, the school also taught students, many attending classes before or after their regular shifts, the requirements needed to pass citizenship tests including American geography as seen on the blackboard in the background.