History of Adult/Community Education: 1930’s
Kyndra Haggard
Ball State University
EDAC 631 Adult and Community Education
February 8, 2015
I commented on Abby, Mari and Ray's and Kristan Aarons's research papers.
History of Adult/Community Education in the 1930’s
Introduction
The 1930’s were a trying time for society. World War I ended and The Great Depression began. The unemployment rate among workers had risen to 24.9% (McElvaine, 1993). Adolph Hitler was transforming Germany. Franklin Roosevelt took office (History.com, 2010). This was also a decade when Americans looked towards the Marxist movements and theologies. Many believed that a more “humane society” could be found in the Soviet Union. This was a decade of cultural confusion, in which American writers, artists, and intellectuals experimented with new, more socially oriented forms of literature, painting, theatre, music, and mass entertainment (Gale, 2005). Stubberfield (1988) gave definition to this era by observing post World War I as a time when organizations broadened adult education to in include activities and social purposes. Stubberfield became interested in how these “formative thinkers shaped their views on adult education” (Walton, 2010 p.85). These events along with many others shaped adult education for the 1930’s. This paper will go into detail on how these events, along with others changed adult education for this era.
Some of the key social items of the 1930’s are as follows:
-1930’s Great Depression begins and there were 15 million unemployed (History.com, 2010).
-1930’s The Antigonish Movement in Nova Scotia.
-1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt gains political power with The New Deal, “use power of the federal government to make Americans lives better” (History.com, 2010).
-1933 Nazism in Germany, Adolph Hitler becomes Chancellor.
-1933 National Industrial Recovery Act regulated inflation in prices to help the economy come back (National Labor Relations Board).
-1933 Lyman Bryson became an educator at Columbia University Adult Education (Thompson, 2010).
-1934 Lyman Bryson published Adult Education. New York: American Book Co. (Thompson, 2010).
-1934 Progressive Education Association began gathering data to convince colleges to modernize curricula (Baughman, Bondi, Layman, McConnell, Tompkins, 2001).
-1935 National Labor Relations Act or the “Wagner Act” provided collective bargaining and for businesses to bargain in good faith. (National Labor Relations Board).
-1936 A black Alabama native gains and education at Ohio State University (Ganzel, 2003).
-1937 William Hastie is the first black federal judge as Roosevelt begins appointing black to high offices (Ganzel, 2003).
-1937 In Germany, the Nazie Regime gave people the choice of studying Religious Instructions or not (History Learning Site, 2014)
Highlights
During the 1930’s adult education shifted to leisure education (Scott, 2011). Prior to this education was put in place to Americanize immigrants. A major factor that influenced this shift was the Great Depression. Work weeks were shortened and free time was at an all-time high. Scholars and public officials were concerned with that leisure was “too commercialized” and would contribute to the decline of the American culture. There was also a fear that all this free time would lead to more crime. In response to this, the government put in place The Federal Emergency Relief Administration to help fund the construction of recreation facilities (Jones & Bartlett, 2014, 87-88).
Influential Factors
In 1932, Myles Horton established the Highlander education program in the mountains of Tennessee (Lewis, 1990). Horton pedagogy was to challenge people to take risks. Highlander brought in the “experts” of the fields in order to help others learn. Highlander states, “the best teachers of poor and working people are the people” (Lewis, 1990). In later decades many other educators learned this same methodology independently. This method of learning beginning in the 1930’s and going forward began to help people expand their minds and challenge themselves to reach goals they deemed unreachable.
The Great Depression caused many to lose faith in democracy and capitalism. Many wanted to find peace and international solidarity (Hake, 2010). Leaders that supported authoritarian rule emerged. Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. The first concentration camps in Germany were designed to re-socialize the unruly through hard labor in 1933 (Hake, 2010). Many of the refugees from these camps took their reformist education to other countries and used this for other adult education systems (Hake, 2010).
The 1930’s also saw a shift in the type of education being taught; it began in the 1900’s as a way of Americanizing of immigrants to “leisure education” (Scott, 2011). By 1933, there were two hundred thousand unemployed teachers (Baughman, et al., 2001). Radio became mass media. It was free. There were lots of comedy shows like Amos and Andy. The public enjoyed this because it cleared their mind and made them forget about reality. Leisure education offered art and craft programs for adults. This was also the first time art education was offered for adults by the public school system on a large scale (Scott, 2011). Even though money was short people took an interest in and even still paid to see comedy shows to keep their mind off how bad things really were. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which was put in place in 1933 (Jones & Bartlett, 2014, 87-88), financed construction of recreation facilities. In 1936, a book was published entirely on this change called, Enriched Community Living: An Approach through Art and Music in Adult Education (State Department of Public Institution in Delaware). This industrialization depression gave rise to adults having ample leisure time to participate in activities. The goal of these extra-curricular activities was to be fulfilling and satisfying (Scott, 2011). The state of Delaware suffered the least in the Depression so they became a model of art education for adults. Many of these programs focused on females. “Economics and industrial history, attract more men than women, while literature, music and art attract more women than men” (Senturia, 1931, p.89). For instance in 1934, 292 adults participated and only 10 were men (Scott, 2011). The education centers were also segregated and there was less access for African Americans. By 1939, budget cuts were made and art became a frill of life rather than a necessity.
Consumer Education also took president during this era. The need for consumer education came shortly after vocational education. The increase in technology brought on this need for consumer education. There was a lot of government malpractice in the early 1930’s (Kempfer, 1955). Consumers wanted an increase in satisfaction because they were using more goods and services provided by the local economy. This resulted in a revision of the 1906 Food and Drugs Act in 1933 (FDA, 2014). This consumer education helped the public gain knowledge that helped when the National Industrial Recovery Act and the National Labor Relation Act were implemented and bargaining among consumers and business were put into place. This was to make sure bargaining was happening in good faith.
Another important influential factor was the interest community members took in the Antigonish cooperative movement in Nova Scotia. Moses Coady became the Director of the Extension Department formed through this movement. Today the Antigonish movement “incorporates several elements or traditions -- Christian ethics, the social gospel, scientism, and democratic action or co-operative theory” (Mackenzie,Irving 2014). In the 1930’s an Extension Department was formed and given a starting budget of $10,000 (Mackenzie, et.al 2014). The purpose of the Extension Department was to improve the social, economic, educational and religious conditions of the people. They envisioned short courses, both cultural and vocational, leadership training courses, study clubs, correspondence courses, radio courses and industrial and folk schools The plan was that information would be dispersed through letters, circulating libraries, local debates and public speaking competitions. They wanted to grow and reach a large audience in order to gain the support of social organizations. Many study clubs were formed. Some examples are credit unions, cooperative methods, home economics, and farming and fishing techniques (Mackenzie, et.al, 2014).
Implications
The 1930’s can teach us a lot about education. We saw a transition from “Americanization” learning and studious education to a more relaxed and social education. Times were very brutal for many during this decade and the implementation of art education and leisure education gave us the notion that learning does not always have to have scholarly influences. We can learn about music, arts, crafts and comedy and still be educating ourselves. We also had the establishment of Highlander’s education program; which continues today. It has created lots of social change and challenged many educators that have taught us what we know today. Myles Horton (1990) taught us “the best educators are the people.”
Table 1. Summary of Adult/Community Education in the 1930’s
Areas
|
Summary
|
Social Background
|
Great Depression
Lots of free time and filling it with social activities
Nazism
|
Highlights
|
Leisure Education
Change in work schedules
|
Influential factors
|
Myles Horton – Highlander education program
Adolph Hitler – Chancellor of Germany
Leisure education
Consumer education
Antigonish Movement
|
Implications
|
Ability to have leisure education and being formative
Education that spurred more creativity
Myles Horton stretched our minds and challenged us
|
References
Bauman, J. (2001). The 1930s: Education: Overview. American Decades, 4. Retrieved
January 31, 2015, from
Brookfield, S. (1983). Community education: A conceptual analysis. Adult Education
Quarterly, 33(3), 154-160.
Edelson, P. (2000, January 1). Issues and Trends. Retrieved February 1, 2015, from
http://www.die frankfurt.de/espri
Ganzel, B. (2003, January 1). Farming in the 1930's. Retrieved January 31, 2015, from
Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945 Labor unions during the great depression
and new deal. (2014, January 1). Retrieved January 30, 2015, from
Hake, B, 2010, Rewriting the history of adult education: the search for narrative structures. Adult
Learning and Education, 313. 14-19.
Horton, M., & Lewis, H. (1990). Introduction. In the long haul (pp. Xix-xxi). New York:
Doubleday.
Jones & Bartlett. (2014). Early history of recreation and leisure. Recreation and Leisure in
Modern Society, 87-88. Retrieved February 4, 2015, from
National Labor Relations Board. (2009, January 1). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from
Saint Francis Xavier University. (2014, January 1). The Coady school across Canada and around the world. Retrieved February 1, 2014, from
Scott, K. (2011). The history of adult education in 1930's Delaware: an examination of
participation and accessibility. Visual Arts Research, 37(1), 54-66. Retrieved January 30,
2015, from JSTOR.
The 1930's. (2010, January 1). Retrieved February 2, 2015, from
1930's Milestones. (2014, December 19). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from
Walton, M. (2010). Histories of adult education: constructing the cast. In K. C (Ed.)
Kyndra,
ReplyDeleteThis is a well written paper! I like how you described the adult education activities in the historical context in 1930s. It’s interesting to see how certain types of adult education were provided to meet the social needs.
Your Implication needs to be improved. I think the most important message gained from this paper is that adult education activities were provided due to the needs of people under certain context. Adult education activities in 1930s were the products of the social changes.
Revise your APA and read my other comments.
Please post your paper here.
Bo