The 1930s Education: Topics in the News

PAYING FOR SCHOOL

The Depression had a huge impact on education, as it did in other areas of American life. The country's public school system had expanded dramatically during the 1920s. In Detroit, Michigan, the number of children in school more than doubled, from 122,690 in 1920 to 250,994 in 1930. The numbers were still rising in 1931, when more American children had access to education than ever before. But school districts had borrowed money to fund expansion, and business leaders wanted their money back as the economy slipped into depression.

School districts were soon struggling with debt. Nationwide, schools owed a total of $93 million in 1930. By 1934, that figure had risen to $137 million. At the same time, revenues had fallen. As the economic situation grew worse, schools closed down, teachers' salaries were cut, fewer subjects were taught, and plans for expansion and reform were shelved. Georgia closed down 1,318 schools in the early 1930s. In Dayton, Ohio, schools opened only three days each week. The art, music, home economics, and physical education classes that had been introduced during the 1920s could no longer be funded. By 1934, the resources spent on each student and the narrow list of subjects offered in the public school system was no better than it had been before World War I.

As funding from businesses and local sources dried up, schools and colleges relied heavily on money from state and federal governments. Although this meant that many school budgets had to be cut, it also made funding fairer. State "foundation grants" ensured that a minimum level of schooling was available to more children. State support for schools doubled between 1930 and 1940 to an average of around 30 percent of the total cost. But state funding could never provide minimum standards across the country because poor states, such as South Carolina, could not afford to spend as much as richer states, such as Delaware.

Federal funding could have helped reduce or remove inequalities, but efforts to finance education from Washington met with opposition. Many lawmakers thought it would destroy the tradition of local control of schools, while southerners thought federal funding would lead to desegregation. Others thought the cost of education would bankrupt the government. It would be another decade before federal funding would have a noticeable effect on the national education system.

Although the Depression put an end to many of the educational advances of the 1920s, it also inspired change and reform. As budgets were cut, schools were given more control over how their money could be spent. The curriculum was reformed, and textbooks and testing were standardized. School districts merged, worked together, and organized themselves to save money. They offered a more consistent and efficient service. Although a well-organized and properly surveyed education system had long been the aim of reformers, it took the hardships of the Depression to make it happen. At the beginning of the 1930s, American schools were in turmoil. By the end of the decade, the entire education system was more modern, more professional, and much fairer.

Teacher Salaries

As the teachers became more militant they began to complain more about pay. In 1934, the educational journal Social Frontier published a list of the annual incomes of well-known people in business and entertainment. Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951) earned half a million dollars that year, while movie actress Mae West (1893–1980) grossed $339,479. Tobacco millionaire George Hill (1884–1946) earned $187,126. In the same year, the average salary for a teacher was just more than $1,200. College instructors earned around $1,500.

THE NEW DEAL AND EDUCATION

Because it was such a dangerous political issue, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) left control of schools and colleges to local school boards and governing bodies. New Dealers tried hard not to give the impression that they were trying to move power to Washington. Roosevelt even went so far as to stay away from the National Education Association (NEA) convention in 1934. As a result the relationship between educators and the Roosevelt administration was tense. Federal assistance for schools was disappointing, while the U.S. Office of Education was scaled back. The reasons were mostly political. By funding schools for African Americans, the New Deal would have antagonized southerners. Similarly, public school assistance would upset the Catholic school lobby in big business. The New Deal stayed out of education to protect political allegiances that were important for the rest of the program.

Another reason why educators and New Dealers were at odds was a simple difference in their approach. Before the Depression, most teachers were middle class, conservative, and Protestant, with links to business. They saw their role as being to "elevate" children to their own set of tastes and values. The New Dealers were different. They were interested in mass education, not just for the gifted. They focused on skills, education through experience, and the arts. Where professional educators tended to favor classroom learning, New Dealers exposed students to theater, film, art exhibitions, and writing workshops.

Roosevelt distrusted his education commissioner, John Studebaker (1887–1989). When he and Studebaker disagreed on what to do, New Deal educational programs were pushed through other agencies such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the National Youth Administration (NYA). Rather than going through Studebaker's department, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), run by Harry Hopkins (1890–1946), was used to pay $14 million in teachers' salaries to keep rural schools open. Between 1933 and 1939, 70 percent of new school construction was paid for by the federal government. Thousands of schools were decorated and repaired by the WPA. But Roosevelt avoided financing schools in a direct way. The money always went through New Deal agencies, funding youth and adult education programs in subjects from the liberal arts to agriculture. The aim was to give people "a decent break" by teaching them to read and write, and giving them a chance to go further. Although they annoyed professional educators, New Deal programs proved that learning did not have to be—and indeed, should not be—accessible to the white middle class only.

MORE WORK FOR LESS PAY

When school boards apportioned their new, smaller budgets, teachers' salaries were hit hardest. Between 1929 and 1934, average teachers' pay fell from $1,420 to $1,227 annually, a drop of more than 13 percent. School boards expected teachers to accept the cuts while taking on more work. Knowing that any job was better than no job, most teachers did exactly as they were told. Married women teachers had the most to fear. They often lost their jobs in order to keep men in work. Job losses and low pay made the teachers militant. They formed unions and demonstrated in the streets for better pay and work conditions.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) tended to distance themselves from the labor unions. But as salaries fell and school closures accelerated, tension grew

between the teachers and administrators. The teachers' associations became more militant as the decade went on. In 1933, twenty thousand teachers, students, and parents went on a march to protest against Chicago's school board and its link with big business. They demonstrated against banks that refused teachers credit, and male teachers fought with the police. The result was that the Chicago school board voted to fire 1,400 teachers. The tangled connection between business and education was especially bad in Chicago, but similar problems existed elsewhere. The AFT and NEA campaigned for a more open, better-managed system of education financing. They were successful at keeping some schools open and protecting teachers' jobs. But as things improved, teachers lost their radical edge. Left-wing AFT president Jerome Davis (1891–1979) was replaced by the anticommunist George Counts (1889–1974) in 1939. Demonstrations and strikes gave way to negotiations for better pensions, pay, and smaller classes.

The economic hardships of the Depression had forced both teachers and schools to be more organized and efficient. Teachers gained more control over their work through unions and new laws aimed at standardizing education. Teachers had to be better qualified, and their performance was monitored, but laws were brought in to give them "tenure," protecting them from dismissal. Professional associations, such as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), saw a rise in membership despite a drop in the number of teachers.

CHANGING THE WAY AMERICANS ARE TAUGHT

Progressive education was based on the idea that children learn more by experience and observation than they do memorizing facts by heart. Progressivism had become popular in previous decades, but it had very little impact on the schools' curriculum until the early 1930s. University of Chicago philosopher John Dewey (1859–1952) pioneered progressivism at his "laboratory school." In one famous experiment, Dewey had the children build a log cabin. Not only did they learn principles of geometry, but they also found out about homesteading and the history of western expansion and picked up practical skills, as well. Since one traditional method of teaching reading at the time was Bible recitation, Dewey's ideas were shocking to many educators. Dewey believed that schools were at the center of democratic society. When the Depression appeared to threaten democracy, Dewey and his followers looked to the schools to save the American democratic project.

Progressive education gradually began to take hold on the school curriculum. Classes became more "child centered" and vocational. Traditional schooling involved a teacher giving instruction from the front of a classroom.

A new type of school created during the Depression broke with this teacher-centered style. These "folk" schools based lessons on discussion and shared learning, rather than instruction and memorizing. Based on a Danish model, folk schools were communities in themselves. They were often integrated, with teachers and students living together and sharing duties such as cleaning, fundraising, and the running of the school. Folk schools offered courses in political reform, labor organizing, and civil rights. They also helped collect folk music and ran oral history projects. As their name suggests, folk schools put local communities and the experiences of "ordinary" people at the heart of their curriculum. Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee, is the most famous of the folk schools. It ran official courses for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Like other folk schools, Highlander was attacked by conservatives, who saw such activities as communistic and dangerous.

But in the aftermath of the Depression, many progressive educators took an even more radical approach. Known as "social reconstructionism," this approach involved using education to inform students about the failures of capitalism. In part, social reconstructionism grew out of frustration with conservatives on school boards and in business. Social reconstructionists saw schools as the only area of life that could change society without violence and demonstration. They aimed to change school and college curricula to reflect their views. George S. Counts (1889–1974), one of the movement's leading activists, accused progressivism's conservative opponents of being responsible for the Depression.

Social reconstructionism was opposed by many progressive educators, as well as by conservatives. Both groups believed schools should be run like businesses, and that the Depression was an opportunity to make schools more efficient. Social reconstructionists were described as "romantic" and "sentimental" for believing that child-centered learning could change society. Even Dewey himself sometimes criticized social reconstructionists. He did not believe, as they did, that children would teach themselves, and he did not think that children should be told about only one political point of view. The whole point of progressive education, Dewey thought, was to expose children to many different views and ideas. By the end of the 1930s, social reconstructionism had gone out of favor, but progressive education, although its name disappeared, had brought profound changes to the character of American education.

TRAINING ADULTS

Labor colleges were set up and supported by labor unions to train union activists, lawyers, and journalists. Labor colleges also offered a traditional education for people who had missed out on schooling when they were children. Industrial workers, farmers, and the unemployed all benefited from a labor college education. Although most labor colleges had been set up in the 1920s or earlier, during the Depression they became an important feature of the American education system. They taught unusual economic theories, encouraged community life, and published pamphlets on union organizing and politics. Faculty and students often worked on behalf of the unions. They promoted union causes and handed out leaflets at meetings. So-called "agitprop" theater came out of the labor colleges. "Agitprop" is a combination of the words "agitating" and "propaganda." It was a form of theater that tried to inform its audience of important political issues and "agitate" them into action. Because of their left-wing politics, labor colleges came in for attack from conservatives, who accused them of supporting communist values.

Many labor college graduates went on to become prominent union leaders. One of the most notable labor college graduates was Walter Reuther (1907–1970). Reuther attended Brookwood Labor College in Duluth, Minnesota (founded 1903). He was one of the organizers of the 1936 sit-down strike at General Motors. Despite their success, labor colleges gradually ran out of money or fell into dispute with the unions. Brookwood closed in 1937, Commonwealth College in 1940, and Work People's College in 1941.

Thrift and Schoolchildren

In the 1920s, the banks ran schemes to encourage children to save money. The idea was that they would become loyal bank customers in the future and learn the value of being careful and putting money aside. By 1930, almost 4.5 million children had savings in the plans, and deposits stood at around $29 million. But after the stock market crash, banks began to close. Just like their parents, children lost all their savings. Sometimes teachers made up the shortfall from their own pay. Unfortunately, the lesson most children learned from the experience was that the banks could not be trusted.

Women also benefited from new educational opportunities. Bennington College was set up in 1932 to provide college education especially for women. It drew on several financial sources, including the town of Bennington, Vermont, where it was situated. Bennington encouraged individualism in its students. What made Bennington different from traditional college was its "learning by doing" approach. In the twenty-first century, most colleges have artists, writers, and musicians on the faculty. But when Bennington opened, this was a new idea, and it was soon emulated in other schools. Choreographer Martha Graham (1894–1991) was among the first of many artists to teach at Bennington. Black Mountain College, in North Carolina, also attracted some of the most creative people of the period as teachers. Architect Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) taught there, as did artist Willem de Kooning (1904–1997) and social critic Paul Goodman (1911–1972). Other small colleges offering experimental education included Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia. While not all of them survived long in their original form, these small colleges succeeded in changing the way schools, colleges, and universities delivered their programs.

ACADEMIC FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK

The principle of academic freedom allows teachers to do their job without interference from politicians or other powerful interest groups. It enables them to teach important subjects or points of view even when they might be unpopular with those in power. When educators began to campaign for better pay and conditions in schools, conservative politicians and citizen groups went on the attack. Pressure groups such as the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) accused teachers of being communists. When the Democrats won their second term in Congress in 1936, strengthening political support for progressive education, conservatives focused their efforts on trying to reverse the trend in individual schools. Conservatives feared that public schools were filling children's minds with communist ideals, and they tried to prevent teachers from discussing progressive ideas.

Conservatives were anxious about progressive education, which valued discussion and argument in the classroom over learning lists of facts. They believed communists were trying to take over schools. Anyone who didn't agree with them was labeled a "red." As early as 1928, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) accused the National Education Association (NEA) of being "sympathetic to communist ideals." With the Depression came even more attacks, especially when teachers campaigned against cutbacks. Elizabeth Dilling's book The Red Network (1936) is a "who's who" of people she suspected of being communists. The people listed range from schoolteachers to President Roosevelt himself.

"Red baiting," as it was called, was also used to sell newspapers. The Hearst Press ran a campaign against "reds" on the front pages of its newspapers. The owner of the press, William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951), allowed papers to publish editorials and articles that denounced teachers. The school boards even attacked their own employees, dismissing their complaints about salary cuts as a communist plot. Red baiting was common throughout the education system. The New York State Economic Council declared that the history textbooks of Harold Rugg (1886–1960) promoted "unrest." Rugg's respected and popular books were used in more than 4,200 school systems at the time. In Illinois, in 1935, Charles Walgreen (1873–1939), the drugstore chain owner, persuaded the state legislature to investigate communism at the University of Chicago. No evidence of subversive activity was found.

Not all attacks on academic freedom came from conservatives. Many high-ranking officials in the teacher unions were communists. They campaigned for equality for black students and were dedicated to modernizing the American school system. But the Communist Party also wanted to take over the teacher unions and promote the cause of the Soviet Union. Communist takeover bids upset noncommunists within the organizations. During the 1930s, teachers came under pressure from the school boards, the press, the bankers, and communist members of their own unions.

Academic freedom was also challenged by the need for teachers to swear loyalty oaths. Beginning in the 1920s, some states required teachers to swear not to mention "subversive" ideas in the classroom. The term "subversive" covered a wide range of things, from Marxism to sexual liberation and civil rights. The penalty for refusing to sign a loyalty oath was dismissal. By 1936, twenty-one states had loyalty oaths. Many states also made children say the pledge of allegiance at the start of the school day. This was declared unconstitutional in the 1940s. The oath that caused most controversy was the "red rider." This rider to a congressional appropriation bill forced teachers in Washington, D.C., to sign a statement saying they would not teach communism. Teachers pointed out that they were being required to sign away their constitutional right to freedom of expression. Under pressure from teachers, the rider was dropped in 1937.

AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATION

Nationally, more than one-quarter of the students in the 1930s were black. Yet they received only about one-tenth of the total education revenues. Many Americans believed that African Americans were simply not capable of excelling in school. Georgia education officials argued that blacks were "a thousand years" behind whites in the development of their brains. In the South, where segregation was the law, African Americans attended poorly funded schools with fewer teachers and books than white schools. Education officials often used these students' poor scores to "prove" the inferiority of the black intellect. Yet very few students of any race could learn and excel academically under such conditions.

In the North, although it was not legally enforced, segregation was the norm. African Americans lived in different areas from whites; rarely did they attend the same public schools. In the North, the schools attended by black students were not as well funded as those attended by whites because black communities were not as wealthy as white ones. Funding for schools in the South was also unequal, but southern school boards further perpetuated the inequities by refusing to repair, improve, or build new schools for black children, even though they were simultaneously pouring funds into white schools.

African Americans could rely only on their own communities to change their children's educational opportunities. In the 1920s and early 1930s, they began to organize self-help groups to build and repair schools. The whole community was involved. Elderly sharecroppers, many born into slavery, donated their life savings to see their grandchildren educated. Communal farms donated profits to school projects. Even people with no children donated money, sometimes mortgaging their homes to raise cash. Those without money gave their time and skills. Carpenters and builders spent their free time building schools, while women prepared food for the builders and ran fundraising events. Sometimes wealthy white families gave money. Julius Rosenwald (1862–1932), chairman of Sears, Roebuck, and Company, was one prominent contributor. On average, self-help projects raised around 90 percent of the capital they needed from within black communities. By 1932, self-help groups had built 3,464 schools in counties across the South.

Testing Intelligence

Because public school students didn't study the same subjects as those in private schools, they often had problems passing college entrance exams. To give everyone a chance, intelligence tests (IQ tests) were introduced. Unfortunately, black children did far worse than whites at intelligence tests. This led some educators to believe that African Americans were not suited to education, and it gave them an excuse to cut back on black schools. Then, in July 1939, Martin D. Jenkins of Howard University proved that IQ tests could be misleading. He discovered that success in IQ tests often depended on where a student lived or attended school. The IQ tests were written by and for people with certain background knowledge and experiences gained through life in a middle-class white community. African Americans' difficulties in IQ tests were explained by the fact that they usually came from disadvantaged areas.

Although the self-help school building program had many successes, it was not enough. Only one-quarter of black children had access to a school in the early 1930s, and most of those were elementary schools. Only 19 percent of African Americans aged fourteen to nineteen were in high school. There were almost no high schools for them in rural areas, and no transportation to take them there if they lived too far away to walk. In contrast, almost all whites in rural areas had access to high schools, whether they chose to attend or not.

Instead of a broad liberal education, covering mathematics, literature, and history, African Americans were offered "industrial education." This was really just training for low-paying industrial jobs. Industrial high schools taught carpentry, auto mechanics, bricklaying, sewing, cooking,

and metalworking. These are all useful skills, but they didn't give black students the opportunity to break out of low-paid jobs or to reach their full potential. African Americans wanted traditional education and the chance to go to college. But by 1939 there was such a severe shortage of traditional high schools for African Americans that few could attend college.

The Depression put an end to most self-help projects, and white-run school boards had even less money to spend on black schools. Although volunteers in Louisiana donated labor worth $2,947 to school projects in 1933, teacher salaries, books, and transportation had to be paid for with cash. Teachers wrote letters begging for donations, but they rarely resulted in much financial assistance. Yet not everything in education was so bad for African Americans. Black colleges—for the students who could attend them—did well in the 1930s, supported mostly by well-off white benefactors. New Deal agencies, such as the National Youth Administration, gave instruction in academic subjects as well as industrial arts and domestic service.

The 1930s marked the beginning of desegregation in American education. In northern cities, desegregation was achieved by several methods. The Educational Equality League of Philadelphia campaigned publicly for desegregation, for more black teachers, and for an African American member of the city's school board. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) went to court to challenge segregation. The NAACP knew a direct challenge was unlikely to succeed, so it fought individual cases. In 1936 the NAACP fought for Donald Murray's right to be admitted to the law school at the University of Maryland. The court ruled that the university should admit Murray, or build a separate law school for him. Murray was admitted. Despite such cases, it would take more than twenty more years of struggle before African Americans in the South could claim a legal right to the same education as whites, and it would be years beyond that before school districts stopped actively circumventing the law to prevent them from exercising their education rights.