The 1940s Education: Overview

American education was transformed in the 1940s. At all levels it became better organized, better funded, and more standardized across the country. Universities were modernized. In subjects such as literature, history, and the arts, the college curriculum was made more professional and was more carefully thought out. The sciences took a higher profile than before. These changes in higher education soon filtered down to the public schools.

The main reason for these changes was World War II (1939–45). The war exposed many problems within American education. In total, the army rejected five million recruits, some because of poor health, but many because they could not read and write. The process of drafting army recruits showed that a person's ability to read, write, and do math depended on where in the country he or she grew up. College graduates also turned out to be of variable quality, and there were shortages of foreign-language and science specialists. Educators realized that something had to be done.

The war threw education into full-scale crisis. Soldiers going off to war left shortages of skilled workers at home. This triggered a huge demand for training, especially in technical subjects. Community colleges increased their two-year degree programs and grew into trade schools. Schools and colleges were put under further strain when teachers decided to leave the profession for better-paying work elsewhere. It is estimated that between 1939 and 1944 more than one hundred thousand teachers took jobs in the defense industries or in the military. In 1946, seventy-five thousand American children went without schooling because of teacher shortages. Desperate education committees hired poor-quality teachers to fill the gaps.

The universities gained more from the war than did the public schools. The federal government funded specialized war-related research, which boosted university revenues. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), for example, received $117 million for radar research. The success of such projects convinced educators like Vannevar Bush that the federal government and the nation's universities also should work together after the war. More challenging for higher education was the Servicemen's Read-justment Act, passed by Congress on June 22, 1944. Known as the GI Bill, the act paid college fees for soldiers reentering civilian life after the war. In all, 7.8 million veterans packed college classrooms. The enrollment surge put a huge strain on colleges, but it meant that millions of Americans received a college education. Many of these students were the first members of their families to graduate from college.

After the war, American educators were divided into two groups. Conservatives argued for religious education in schools, for separate facilities for black and white students, and for local funding for schools. Progressives wanted a national, standardized school system. They argued that the war had shown the need for education in politics and economics. Progressives were also often, though not always, in favor of mixed-race schools. Conservative educators lost support during the 1940s. A Supreme Court decision, McCollum v. Board of Education, ruled that religious instruction in public schools was unconstitutional. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) won a series of small legal victories during the decade that would lead to mixed-race schooling in the 1950s. Many people agreed with progressive educators that the United States needed a national education system.

Besides rebuilding education at home, American educators were also working hard abroad. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was established to improve understanding between nations, to fund libraries and museums, and to encourage research. By 1945, universities such as Columbia, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale had opened schools of international relations. New institutes were set up to study the cultures of other countries such as Russia, Germany, and France. American colleges were opened in Florence, Italy; Biarritz, France; and Shrivenham, England. American educators also helped rebuild the German and Japanese education systems. By the end of the 1940s, American educators had considerable cultural influence around the world.