1938: Education

It is now quite clear that, if the years of the depression will have left no marks of actual advance in education, they represent a period of intense thinking on every phase of education from the lowest level to the highest. In this the latest depression has not differed from most of the depressions which preceded it in the United States during the last hundred years; for, as Professor Edgar W. Knight and others have shown, every depression in this country has been followed by a major educational advance. The effects on education of the early years of the depression have stimulated a stocktaking, on the one hand, and, on the other, a survey of the needs that must be met in the immediate future. Attention has been directed to the importance of the education of the preschool child at one end and to the necessity of reorganizing higher education and extending the scope and variety of adult education at the other. Throughout the whole range there is a demand that education should be adapted to changing needs produced by the economic, social, and political changes which have taken place during the last generation. This has been the preoccupation of the Advisory Committee on Education, appointed by President Roosevelt in 1936; of the Educational Policies Commission, set up by the National Education Association, in 1935; of the investigators appointed in 1935 to conduct a survey of education in New York State; of surveys conducted in several state and local systems of education, and of numerous organizations and individuals concerned with education throughout the country. Finally, and dominant in all discussions, is the concern for the future of democratic ideals which are challenged by the antagonistic ideologies of totalitarian states.

Educational Statistics.

The latest statistics for the first six years of the present decade (1930 to 1936) were published during the past year by the United States Office of Education. The total number of pupils enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools was as follows: 25,678,015 in 1930; 26,275,441 in 1932; 26,434,193 in 1934; and 26,367,098 in 1936. The latest figures, while they represent an increase of 2.7 per cent over 1930, show the beginning of a decline as compared with 1934 which, though slight, may be expected to continue. In addition to the 26,367,098 pupils enrolled in public schools, 2,638,775 pupils were in 1936 enrolled in private and parochial schools, giving a total of 20,095,873 pupils, not including those in schools for exceptional children, or in observation and practice schools, or in preparatory departments of colleges and universities.

Of the total enrollment of 26,367,098 pupils, 20,392,561, or 4.2 per cent fewer than in 1930, were enrolled in public elementary grades; and 5,974,537, or 32.5 per cent more than in 1930, were enrolled in public high schools. The proportion of the total elementary and high school enrollment has grown from 3.3 per cent in 1900, to 10.2 per cent in 1920, to 22.7 per cent in 1936. With the falling birth-rate the proportion is likely to increase before a normal situation is reached.

The total number of teachers for this vast army of pupils was 870,963, of whom 691,890, or 79.4 per cent, were women; and 179,073, or 20.6 per cent, were men, the highest proportion since 1920. The pupil-teacher ratio has reached almost the same figure, 25.6, in 1936 and 25.2 in 1930. The average annual salary of teachers, principals, and supervisors in 1936 was $1,283 or 9.6 per cent less than that of 1930; the range, however, was from $504 in Arkansas to $2,414 in New York.

The total current expenses for public elementary and secondary schools, not including interest and capital outlay, was $1,656,798,938 in 1936 — 10.1 per cent less than in 1930 but 9.3 per cent more than in 1934, an upward trend which has probably been maintained in the last biennium. Capital outlay in 1936 was $171,321,674, still less than 50 per cent of that in 1930 but showing a large increase over 1934 ($59.276.258). On the basis of current expenses plus interest and capital outlay, the cost per pupil for 1936 was $87.94 as compared with $76.22 in 1934, $97.15 in 1932, and $108.49 in 1930. The total value of school buildings and sites in 1936 was $5,592,173,412; and of equipment, including furniture, laboratory apparatus, libraries, etc., $560,880,675; the total value of property used for school purposes was $6,731,324,741.

The statistical data presented herewith do not of themselves suggest the serious problems that confront American education. There are serious differences in all items mentioned as between states; there are equally serious differences between urban and rural areas. While urban children had in 1936 an average length of school term of 181.6 days, rural children had only 163.9 days; the average salary of urban teachers was $1,818, that of rural teachers only $827; the current expense per pupil in average daily attendance in urban areas was $90.61 as compared with $57.22 in rural; and the total value of property per pupil enrolled was $154 in the latter and $355 in the former.

It is estimated that there are about 1,350,000 students enrolled in colleges and universities. The last year for which actual figures are available is 1935-36, when the college enrollment of students in regular session was 1,208,227 (709,672 men and 498,555 women). The proportion of men to women is rising slowly (57.8 per cent men in 1931-32, 58.3 per cent in 1933-34, and 58.7 per cent in 1935-36). In addition to students in regular session 370,026 students (135.572 men and 234,274 women) attended summer session. College students are almost equally divided between public and private institutions. The total number of faculty members in 1935-36 was 110,225 (78,316 men and 31,909 women). In 1936 bachelor's degrees were awarded to 143,125 students (86,067 men and 57,058 women), master's degrees to 18,302 (11,503 men and 6,799 women), and doctor's degrees to 2,770 students (2,370 men and 400 women). The total receipts of 1,541 institutions reporting amounted to $491,105,551; in addition $106,479,162 were received for auxiliary enterprises and activities, and $47,038,548 for increase of permanent funds. More than $183,000,000 came from Federal, state, and local funds; $158,000,000 from student fees; and $37,000,000 from gifts from churches, educational foundations, and individuals. The total expenditures amounted to $688,760,506, and the total property and funds to $3.982,523,489. The annual cost of attending various types of colleges and universities showed a range from $260 to $979 (Negro colleges $260; state and city teachers colleges $314; state-controlled institutions $453; Protestant institutions $480; Roman Catholic institutions $653; and private institutions $979).

At the beginning of the academic year 1938-39 the replies to a questionnaire sent out to 87 institutions by The New York Times showed an increased enrollment over the previous year of 4.8 per cent (5.2 per cent in Eastern institutions, 4.3 per cent in Western, and 5.7 per cent in Southern). The total enrollment was 394,478 students as compared with 376,278 in 1937. A later report prepared by President Raymond Walters and published in School and Society, Dec. 17, 1938, shows an even greater increase. Reports received from 577 approved institutions showed an enrollment of 822,891 full-time students or an increase of 6.6 per cent over 1937 and a grand total of 1,250,973, including full-time, part-time, and summer session students or an increase of 6.8 per cent.

The Federal Government and Education.

The year 1938 saw the publication of a series of reports prepared by the Advisory Committee on Education appointed by President Roosevelt in 1936 to study the program of Federal aid for vocational education and requested in 1937 to consider the whole subject of Federal relationship to state and local control of education. A comprehensive report, transmitted to the President and by him to Congress in February 1938, attracted widespread attention. The Committee in its general conclusions drew attention to the great need of improvement in the public school system of the country and to the glaring inequalities that characterize educational opportunities throughout the nation. In many localities education is below the minimum needed to preserve democratic institutions. The only way by which the difficulties can be adequately corrected is by Federal aid.

After a statistical presentation of the kind given earlier in this article the Committee dealt with the serious defects of the educational system. The least satisfactory schools are found in rural areas, with unfortunate results for the children from the low expenditures, poor and inexperienced teachers, and inadequate facilities of every kind. This situation is caused by the existence of 127,000 separate and almost independent school districts expensive to run and yet too poor to be effective. Of the handicapped children, not more than one-eighth receive the attention necessary to make their education a success. Schools for Negro children are only about half as well supported as the white schools, which are themselves below the national average in those states where separate schools are maintained.

The outstanding impression from the study is one of very uneven educational development in the country. In elementary education financial support is needed to improve the preparation of teachers, the supervision of instruction, and the organization of school districts. In secondary education the striking development of the public high school has raised many special problems of adapting studies to the needs and abilities of the pupils to prepare them for useful, self-sustaining adult life.

Unequal opportunities in education are due to the use of property as a tax base and the consequent difference in wealth available per child. Not only are there inequalities within each state which may be lessened through vigorous government action; they are more glaring as between states, where the relative ability to support schools varies directly in proportion to the funds they are able to raise through taxation per child of school age. With the best efforts some states cannot support education at a satisfactory level. The Advisory Committee accordingly concluded that 'unless the Federal Government participates in the financial support of the schools and related services in the less able areas, several millions of the children in the United States will continue to be largely denied the educational opportunities that should be regarded as their birthright.'

The Committee recommended general Federal aid to the states for elementary and secondary schools beginning on July 1, 1930, with $40,000,000 and rising in 1944-45 to $140,000,000. The largest amount would be less than 7 per cent of state and local expenditures for public schools and less than 2 per cent of the present annual Federal budget. Special supplementary grants were recommended for the improved preparation of teachers, for district reorganization and the improved housing of schools, and for the improved administration of state departments of education. In the field of vocational education the Committee recommended revision of the statutes providing Federal aid to end interference with local school administration and to make other desirable changes. To stimulate the states to provide the many needed services for adults, regular Federal grants were recommended, starting with $5,000,000 for 1939-40 and rising to $15,000,000 a year during the years 1941-45. Federal aid was also recommended for rural library service, and for research, planning, and demonstrations. The total amount of the proposed new Federal grants for educational purposes are $72,000,000 for 1939-40 rising in six years to $202,000,000 in 1944-45. The six-year period was recommended for experimentation before permanently committing the Federal Government to a large program of Federal aid. On the question of control, the Committee insisted on the retention of local controls in government, and especially in education. The American people would rightly object to any attempt to use Federal aid as a means of controlling the content or processes of education in the schools. Accordingly the Committee urged that such control and the determination of the best use of the Federal funds for the various purposes should be reserved to each state.

In addition to its Report and a summary pamphlet, the Advisory Committee published a series of 10 studies on every aspect of national education which will constitute not merely a survey of educational conditions during the period of investigation but the basis of planning for the future.

Civilian Conservation Corps.

In 1937-38 approximately 260,000 young men between 17 and 23 were enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Of these 3 per cent could neither read nor write when they enrolled, 38 per cent were on the elementary school level, 48 per cent on the high school level, and 11 per cent on the college level. More intensive participation was shown in the educational program which was taken by 84.9 per cent of the enrollees. Funds have been made available for the provision in each camp of an education office, a library and reading room, five or more classrooms, and vocational shops. Slightly more than 15 teachers on the average were available in each camp, giving a total of 23,000 teachers in the Corps. Additional educational facilities were provided by local high schools and colleges, and by correspondence tuition. Vocational training was given to 54 per cent of the enrollees, and prevocational and vocational subjects were offered for leisure time. In July 1938, field service classifications under Civil Service regulations were given to all the educational personnel in the camps. Training was made more valuable during 1937-38 by the improvement of physical facilities, the strengthening of educational methods, and the extended co-operation of all the services, military and technical, as well as outside educational organizations.

National Youth Administration.

In addition to providing for unemployed youth in the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Federal Government by Executive Order of President Roosevelt established in 1935 the National Youth Administration to take over activities previously carried on for youth under the Federal Emergeney Relief Administration. The objectives of the National Youth Administration, as an autonomous division of the Works Progress Administration, are to provide funds for the part-time employment of needy students 19 to 24 years of age in order to enable them to continue their education in schools, colleges, and graduate schools, and for the part-time employment of youth from relief families on work projects offering work experience and benefiting the communities where they live. In addition to the student aid and the works projects programs, the NYA has also conducted programs of junior guidance and placement service, apprentice-training, and educational camps for unemployed women.

Through the works projects program, the pressure on the labor market and competition for jobs among adult workers has been reduced, while youth have received guidance, experience, and training against the time when they will join the ranks of adult applicants for employment. The total number of youth certified as on relief and employed on work projects under the NYA in the month of October 1937 was 220,159 (123,284 men and 96,875 women); the total earnings of this group was $4,021,259 for a total number of 7,459,631 hours worked, or an average of $18.27 per month.

Under the student program, 180,990 college and graduate students in 1936-37 received NYA aid to the amount of $16,225,994; institutional aid amounting to $38,432,786 was given in the same year to 331,775 students; the total aid was thus $54,658,780. For October 1938, the total amount of the earnings of a total of 312,893 students was $3,856,686. The student program is generally regarded as an important experiment in combining work and schooling and emphasizing the inadequacies of the conventional curriculum and guidance policies at both the high school and college levels. The experiment has also directed attention to two problems — the need of national leadership in meeting the problems of youth in the new social and economic situation, and the importance of adequate schemes of vocational guidance. Finally, it has demonstrated what can be done by coordinating interested agencies, public and private, and by a system of decentralized control which has had a significant bearing on the relationship between Federal and state governments in educational matters.

The Problem of Youth.

The depression years have focused attention on the problem of youth as at no other period in the history of education in the United States. The contribution of the Federal Government has been mentioned. In 1935 the American Council on Education formed a Youth Commission, for whose work a grant of $500,000 has been received. The Commission has undertaken three tasks: (1) to consider the needs of youth and appraise the facilities and resources for serving these needs; (2) to recommend procedures and programs which seem to be most effective in solving the problems of youth; and (3) to popularize and promote desirable plans of action through conferences, publications, and demonstrations.

The Commission has conducted sampling surveys; the attitudes of youth have been secured in such matters as education, employment, recreation, war, wages, voting, relief, religion, and the like; 330 national, non-governing agencies working with young people have been studied; the literature of youth problems has been investigated; and 186 surveys of youth conducted in all parts of the country have been reviewed. These investigations have been published under the titles, Youth Tell Their Story, Youth-Serving Organizations, American Youth, and Surveys of Youth: Finding the Facts. Monographs have been prepared on secondary education, occupational adjustment, implications of population trends for national support of education, and education for family living. Investigations have been made of vocational and technical education, and programs in labor service camps in European countries. Experiments are being conducted in guidance, placement, and occupational adjustment of young workers; in a few cities and rural centers schools, industry, and social welfare groups are participating in local experiments. Through its monthly Bulletin the Commission carries news of studies and other information to libraries, schools, social agencies, and individuals.

Pennsylvania Study.

One of the important publications in 1938 was The Student and His Knowledge, issued by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as the report of its survey of education in Pennsylvania. The survey was undertaken at the request of the Joint Commission of the Association of Pennsylvania College Presidents and the Pennsylvania State Department of Education. The survey directed by William S. Learned, of the Carnegie Foundation, and Ben D. Wood, of Columbia University, was continued over a period of ten years, thoroughly tested 55,000 students and 3,000 students more than once by new-type objective tests. The investigation sought to make an inventory of the baccalaureate mind, on the theory that the student's 'growth in knowledge and wisdom is at the core of the educational process.' The results of the tests revealed variability among those who took the tests, variability among the institutions, and variability within the institutions. It was found that 28.4 per cent of college seniors did less well than the average college sophomore and nearly 10 per cent less well than the average high school senior. Of the high school seniors, 22 per cent surpassed the average college sophomore level and 10 per cent the college senior level. The average of prospective teachers was below the average total score for the entire group and below all other group averages except those of the business, art, agriculture, and secretarial candidates. Seven per cent of the prospective teachers made lower scores than 36 per cent of the high school pupils.

The report showed that college students do not acquire enduring and usable knowledge and that the defect is to be ascribed to the quantitative system of dividing education up into points, units, and credits instead of the college helping each student to approximate a pattern of the educated man according to his capacity and ability. In other words, students should be treated as individuals who should command exclusive attention. 'What they are, what they know, what they can and will learn, are separate individual problems.'

New York State Inquiry.

In 1934 the Regents of the State of New York determined that the time had come for an Inquiry into the Character and Cost of Public Education in the state. With the financial aid of the General Education Board and under a special committee of the Regents with Owen D. Young as chairman, the Inquiry was begun in 1935 by a body of specialists with Luther H. Gulick as Director and Samuel P. Capen as Associate Director. The Reports of the Inquiry were published in 1938 in twelve volumes of which the General Report — Education for American Life, A Program for the State of New York — is of more than local interest. The most important question with which the Inquiry was concerned was whether the educational system of New York State, with 2,250,000 pupils taught by 80,000 teachers in 11,400 schools at a cost to the taxpayer of $1,700,000 a school day, was able to keep up with the world in which we live.

The Inquiry concluded that changes were ignored, old routine retained, and inadequate preparation given for helpful participation in the life of the state as citizens or as members of the community, family, and economic life. The reasons for this conclusion are that the schools are not yet adjusted to the new demands created by the increased enrollment of pupils with new and different needs, that inadequate attention is given to the difficulties of citizenship and the place of science and scientific method in the modern world, that new conditions of life which have removed the influence of many agencies for social and educational training are not being met, and that there is no clear objective for education. More than 20 per cent of the population of New York State are attending school — 96 per cent of the children between 6 and 13 are in elementary schools; 78 per cent between 14 and 17 in secondary schools; 17 per cent between 18 and 20 beyond the secondary schools (in colleges, universities, and professional schools) — only California having 2 per cent more students than New York. The period of rapid growth is ended; no new school buildings or teachers are needed except for replacements or new communities.

The new task is to provide education to fit all variety of needs and not to prepare a minority planning to go to college. The school must meet the common needs essential to society, the needs of the individual for growth, and the needs for the enrichment of both individual and society. Besides imparting knowledge, understanding, standards, and a sense of civic responsibilities and developing intellectual growth of the individual, schools must today consider the whole question of changing employment and vocational guidance; but vocational education must be given in the form of marketable skill on top of general education. General education, however, requires a new orientation adapted to the new citizenship with the new responsibilities of voters in a new political era, for world independence, and for guardianship of democracy. Further adaptations are needed on account of the vast accumulation of knowledge; more important than the acquisition of knowledge are a curious mind, balance and understanding, the habit of scientific approach, and skill in associative thinking.

So far as New York State is concerned, the Inquiry concluded that the district system had failed; many of the nearly 8,000 districts had remained unchanged since 1812; the few experiments with central schools were more satisfactory and showed that larger school districts have advantages for all concerned — the children, teachers, communities, taxpayers, and the central Education Department. The new education program recommended by the Inquiry will involve about $36,500,000 of current expenditures. Against this sum is a recommended saving of more than $40,000,000. 'True economy in education,' says the Report, 'as in everything else is found not through scrutinizing the price tag alone, but through finding and testing quality as well.' The recommendations of the Inquiry follow this principle; for, 'though the new costs of the New Program are substantial, they do not reach beyond the total outlay for education to which the State of New York is now committed, provided the schools of New York will actually achieve the economies which are within their grasp.'

Purposes of Education in American Democracy.

The Educational Policies Commission of the National Education Association and the American Association of School Administrators published as one result of its studies a report on The Purposes of Education in American Democracy. American education must be imbued with the ideals of democracy as its social policy; this involves concern for general welfare, civil liberty, consent of the governed, appeal to reason, and the pursuit of happiness, all of which imply regard for the individual as a human being. The four major purposes of education, as discussed in this Report, were summarized as follows in School and Society (Nov. 12, 1938, p. 620).

The first of these major purposes has to do with personal growth of the individual. Command of the fundamental tools of learning, an inquiring mind, desirable health habits, and suitable leisure time interests are results of the educative process which society desires for every one. These are designated as the objectives of self-realization.

A second major purpose concerns the problem of getting along with other people. The ability to work and play with others, to enjoy a varied social life both within and outside the home, to appreciate and observe the ideals of family life, are important goals of education. These are described as the objectives of human relationship.

The third major purpose relates to the earning and spending of an income. Information as to the requirements and opportunities in various types of work, knowledge of the satisfaction of good workmanship and of success in a chosen occupation, and understanding of methods of safeguarding the buyer's interests, are all matters properly within the scope of the school program. These are classified as the objectives of economic efficiency.

The fourth major purpose is centered around participation in civic affairs. The development of respect for differences of opinion, understanding of the processes of a democratic society, regard for proper use of the nation's resources, and appreciation of the disparities of human circumstances as well as of methods for contributing to the general welfare are responsibilities which the system of public education cannot ignore. These are the objectives of civic responsibility.

This important volume devotes eight chapters to detailed discussions of these four major objectives, to a consideration of The Nature and Sources of Educational Objectives. The Democratic Process. A General Review of the Objectives of Education, and to an analysis of Critical Factors in the Attainment of Educational Purposes.