Our Bewildered Body Politic
"[T]he most recent results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, otherwise known as the Nation’s Report Card, revealed that 40% of eighth graders tested below average in the basics of U.S. history in 2022... Students are unable to recite what an event was, when it happened or why it even mattered... The same assessment report showed more than 70% of adult Americans fail a basic civic literacy quiz on topics like the three branches of government, the number of Supreme Court justices and other basic functions of America’s democracy."
--"What happened in US history? Scores show kids’ knowledge below average," The Hill, June 6, 2024.
"Let us keep clearly in mind the fact that the greatest enemy of democratic government is civic ignorance."
--John W. Studebaker, FDR's Commissioner of Education, in his book Plain Talk, 1936.
20 ways the New Deal made us smarter
1. More educational buildings, LOTS more
Above: A map showing the locations of educational buildings financed by the New Deal's Public Works Administration. Image from Public Works Administration, America Builds: The Record of PWA, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939.
Above: A map showing WPA educational building projects, by volume, for each state. One solid block represents 100 new constructions (a completely new building or a new addition). A clear block represents 100 improvements to existing structures. Image from Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Report on Progress of the WPA Program, June 30, 1941.
Above: The WPA-constructed K-12 "Circleville School," in Pendleton County, West Virginia. The school was built in 1937-1938 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the tens of thousands of New Deal projects to build or improve K-12 schools, trade schools, schools for the deaf and blind, colleges, etc., all across the nation. Photo by Brent McKee, 2014.
Above: A vocational school constructed by the New Deal's Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA). Dr. Geoff Burrows notes that "By March 1938, the PRRA had built 285 cement-based public schools in 189 towns or cities across all regions of the island," and "New Deal financing also enlarged the University of Puerto Rico. Between 1935 and 1938, the PRRA completed eight new buildings for UPR..." (The Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration: New Deal Public Works, Modernization, and Colonial Reform, Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 2024, pp. 108-110). Photo from Harold Ickes and Miles Fairbanks, Rehabilitation in Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR: Imprenta Venezuela, 1939.
2. Adult Education
Above: New Deal leaders understood that many adults had been given less-than-adequate education during their younger years, so they offered many free opportunities for adult education, and on many topics. WPA poster, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
3. Workers Education
Above: The New Deal thought it important that workers be familiar with labor and economic issues. The description for this photo reads, "One of the most active and interesting classes in Workers Education of the Works Progress Administration Education Program of the California Department of Education in San Francisco is the one composed of members of the Fur Workers Union. Labor problems and economic conditions are actively discussed in this class and possible solutions outlined." Encyclopedia.com has an interesting and brief description of the Workers Education Project, and also see the Living New Deal's biography of Hilda Worthington Smith, the New Dealer in charge of the project. Photo from the National Archives.
4. Distance Learning
Above: The WPA offered low-cost distance learning courses (also called "home study" or "correspondence courses"). In this article excerpt, we see WPA distance learning in conjunction with the University of Oklahoma. WPA courses included bookkeeping, business arithmetic, grammar, poetry, French language, history, Diesel engineering, blacksmithing, various agricultural topics, and many more ("Many Enroll For WPA Correspondence Courses of Study," The Duncan Eagle (Duncan, Oklahoma), April 12, 1939, p. 7). Image from the Mangum Daily Star (Mangum, Oklahoma), July 2, 1937, p. 1, and newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
5. Multi-Cultural Education
Above: The New Deal promoted an understanding of other races and cultures.This was obviously a tough sell in 1930s apartheid America, but many New Dealers--such as Aubrey Williams, Mary McLeod Bethune, Harold Ickes, and many writers and administrators in the WPA's Federal Writers' Project--saw a better future through respect and understanding. WPA poster, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Above: One of several Japanese events described in Festivals in San Francisco, by the Federal Writers' Project, 1939. Other groups covered in the book include Serbian, Scotch, Jewish, Irish, Peruvian, Italian, Chinese, and German. Image scanned from a private collection.
Above: A WPA book, created with the University of New Mexico, the State Superintendant of Public Instruction of New Mexico, and A.S. Barnes and Company publishers. Image scanned from a private collection.
Above: Another WPA book. Image courtesy of Google, University of California, Albert Whitman and Company, and Hathitrust.
6. Braille and Talking Books
Above: The cover a WPA brochure, circa 1937, dicussing various projects carried out for the benefit of the blind, including: recreation; reading and writing in Braille; transferring textbooks and classics into Braille; creative writing classes; talking machines (an early form of audio book); the creation of Braille maps; a Braille garden in Indiana; and job training. Image above from Northwestern University and Hathitrust.
7. Educational Radio Programs
Above: One of the most popular educational radio programs of the 1930s / 40s was The World Is Yours by the Smithsonian Insititution. WPA actors were used to dramatize topics such as germs, the history of photography, geology, botany, and musical instruments. You can read more about this radio program here, and you can even listen to some brief audio excerpts. The image above, scanned from a private collection, comes from supplemental materials to The World Is Yours. The materials, in the form of booklets, were mailed to interested readers to enhance their knowledge of topics covered on the radio programs.
Above: From the March 1937 supplemental materials for The World Is Yours. Image scanned from a private collection.
Above: From the March 1937 supplemental materials for The World Is Yours. Image scanned from a private collection.
8. Literacy Courses
Above: The description for this photo, taken in Gilmer County, West Virginia, March 1937, reads: "Walter Donaldson. This man was acclaimed as the one-millionth pupil who was taught to read and write thru WPA educational classes." Photo from the National Archives.
Above: Graduation Day for African Americans who completed a WPA literacy course in St. Joseph, Lousiana, ca. 1938. Photo from the National Archives.
9. Citizenship Courses
Above: The caption for this photograph reads, "Literacy & Citizenship Class. Shot shows literacy class for Spanish-American group in Greely, Colorado." Photo from the National Archives.
Above: The description for this photograph reads, "Sons and daughters of sunny Italy hard at work in an Americanization and citizenship class of the WPA Education program of the California Department of Education in San Francisco. Through the program San Francisco's foreign born Italian population is rapidly becoming naturalized." Photo from the National Archives.
10. Public Forums
Above: FDR's chief of education, John Studebaker, created the Federal Forum Project (an expansion of the public forums he created in Des Moines, Iowa) so that Americans could come together and discuss important issues. Studebaker felt that such public discussion was important to the maintenance of democracy: "In democracy we need to plant centers of public discussion in every rural and urban community. We need a free platform where public issues may be debated as a wind-break against the gusts of emotionalized propaganda... The very process of group discussion develops a capacity for critical thinking, tolerance, power of analysis, and independence... When the masses of power-sharing citizens fail actually to participate in public discussion, the people tend to form themselves into rooting sections, applauding or booing those who do discourse or write about public issues" (John Studebaker, Plain Talk, Washington, DC: National Home Library Foundation, 1936). To learn more about the Federal Forum Project, see the Living New Deal's summary here. Image above from The Des Moines Register (Des Moines, Iowa), April 3, 1936, p. 8, and newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
11. Museum Services
Above: The WPA built and improved museums, helped staff museums, created exhibits, cataloged collectons, and created models that could be loaned to schools. The above model, "Gothic Knight 1188 A.D." was created by the WPA's Museum Extension Service in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo from the National Archives.
12. Library and Book Services
Above: The New Deal built or improved hundreds of libraries, staffed libraries, repaired tens of millions of books, operated bookmobiles, delivered books by horseback, conducted story hours, and more. Above is the public library in Rochester, Minnesota, built by the Public Works Administation in 1936-1937. Photo from the National Archives.
13. National Youth Administration Student Aid Program
Above: Over 2 million young men and women received education assistance through the New Deal's National Youth Administration (NYA). The NYA's student aid program provided modestly-paid jobs that helped many Americans finish high school, college, and graduate school. See the description card for this photo in the next image. Photo from the National Archives.
Above: The description card for the previous photo, courtesy of the National Archives.
14. The NYA's Negro Graduate Aid Fund
Above: The NYA set up a special fund for African American graduate students who had "no graduate study facilities" in their home states. The article notes that the special Graduate Aid Fund was "in addition to the 6,000 Negro college and graduate students who are receiving aid from the regular NYA student-aid allotments... and the 30,000 Negro high school students who hold NYA part-time jobs." This article excerpt is from the Baton Rouge Post (Louisiana), January 22, 1938, and newspapers.com. Used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
15. Replacing Indian Boarding Schools with Day Schools
Above: The New Deal began a transition away from the terrible Indian boarding schools that had tried to separate Indian children from their cultural traditions. This reform effort was spearheaded by Indian Commissioner John Collier. Due to resistance from business leaders (who had a stake in the boarding school system) and some in Congress, Collier could not end the boarding school system completely, but he did begin the reform process. He, along with many of his colleagues, felt that American Indians could learn modern skills while still maintaining their own cultural traditions. This Associated Press article excerpt is from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas), July 22, 1933, and newspapers.com. Used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: From Indians at Work, a publication of the U.S. Office [now "Bureau"] of Indian Affairs, March 1, 1935 edition. Image scanned from a private collection.
16. Early Childhood Education
Above: The WPA operated nursery schools all across the nation, for families of modest means. The director of the program, Grace Langdon said the "Works Progress Administration nursery schools assist in the mental development of the pre-school child as well as safeguarding his physical development." See this United Nations' note on the importance of early childhood care and education. Photo from the National Archives.
17. Home Economics
Above: The description for this photo, taken in Lima, Ohio, June 1936, reads: "A scene from the Community Center Workshop where these same women are taught how to upholster and recover their old furniture. This is part of a better home program." Photo from the National Archives.
Above: In this WPA-supported class, at the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Seattle, Washington, women learned how to draft patterns, in order to make their own clothing. These type of thrift courses helped people conserve their money during the challenging times of the 1930s. Photo from the National Archives.
Above: In WPA handicraft and recreation courses, people could learn new skills, such as those highlighted in this article excerpt: piano, tennis, "quilting, knitting and other yarn working arts." They could put these skills to use in their homes, or to make some extra money for their families, or simply to enhance their liesure time. In chapter 4 of her book, A New Deal for Quilts, Dr. Janneken Smucker discusses the role and value of home economics during the New Deal era. Image from the McCook Daily Gazette, October 20, 1936, and newspapers.com. Used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
18. The Education Program of the Civilian Conservation Corps
Above: The education program of the CCC was a very well-developed part of the Corps. Literacy, radio, first aid, forestry, heavy equipment operation, and the trades were some of the key components of the program, but there were many other opportunities too, as the description for this photo highlights: "Stony Creek CCC Camp, Ross County [Ohio]. CCC boys are shown grouped together with an Emergency School teacher who is giving them lessons in advanced algebra. These fellows are taking this course with the expectation that it will assist them in later jobs that they may get." Photo from the National Archives.
19. Art, Music, Theatre, and Writing
Above: The WPA's Federal Art Project brought the common man and woman into the art world; its Living Newspaper theatre program dramatized current events; its Federal Writers' Project informed citizens about their state & local history; and its Federal Music Project gave thousands of performances across the country. To some, the educational value of the arts might not be readily apparent. But consider the words of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences: "arts education can lead to socially empowered and civically engaged youths and adults. Equipped with the knowledge, habits, values, and skills provided through arts education, students are well-prepared to promote democratic values and contribute to the health of our economy and culture." WPA poster image courtesy of the Library of Congress.
20. Fireside Chats
Above: FDR during his Fireside Chat of September 6, 1936. During his chats, FDR educated Americans about public policy... and he didn't dumb things down the way our political discourse is dumbed-down today. He spoke clearly, and with details. For example, during the Fireside Chat pictured above, FDR explained: "I want to make it clear that no simple panacea can be applied to the drought problem in the whole of the drought area. Plans must depend on local conditions, for these vary with annual rainfall, soil characteristics, altitude and topography... The maintenance of a fair equilibrium between farm prices and the prices of industrial products is an aim which we must keep ever before us, just as we must give constant thought to the sufficiency of the food supply of the Nation even in bad years. Our modern civilization can and should devise a more successful means by which the excess supplies of bumper years can be conserved for use in lean years." Harris & Ewing photo, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Modern Decay
The New Deal placed great emphasis on learning and education, and many New Dealers felt that education was essential to democracy, i.e., that it was not just a means to a job, but also (and more fundamentally) the key to developing good citizens.
Today, I see an education system that has minimized critical thinking, history, social responsibility, ethics, and the like. More and more Americans see education primarily, if not exclusively, as job preparation. And when it comes to current events, many do not examine with critical thinking skills (because they haven't been taught such skills), but instead let blowhards and crackpots on radio, TV, and the Internet form their opinions for them.
We need a New Deal for education. God help us if we don't get one.
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