The Light on the Hudson

by Dana Ferry

published by Ithaca Press

Education in the 1930s

In a red-brick, 1930s school building, items in a classroom included maps, a blackboard, the alphabet, a picture of George Washington and the American flag. Today’s classrooms are comprised of these same learning tools, in addition to dry-erase boards, calculators, computers and SMARTboards. The public school was an emblem of the American commonwealth long before 1930. Schools and education were significantly affected by the Great Depression, the accessible literature of the time, classroom management and the lack of programs for special needs.

Remnants of the Great Depression weakened educational progress that had begun in the 1920s. The depression allowed numerous school programs to be dismissed. Parents were powerless to prepare their children with clothes and necessary school supplies. Certainly, the Great Depression hastened the modernization of schools in the United States and the formation of standard curriculums.

In contrast to today’s educational world were behavior management and classroom opportunities and activities. In the 1930s, disobedient behavior was managed by a swift physical consequence. Teachers used rulers to deliver a smack on the palms of the hands of a misbehaved student. Extreme incidents required the use of a hickory switch on the student’s bottom. Special education accommodations for children with learning disabilities such as speech and language, mental retardation and emotional disturbance were non-existent. In the 1930s there were no field trips or class pets.

One similarity that meets the criteria for today’s classrooms was the main goal of education in the 1930s, which was to teach a child how to read. The familiar Dick and Jane Curriculum Foundations books were published in 1931. This curriculum taught millions of children to read. It became the standard school primer for teaching reading and continued to be used in classrooms through the 1960s. That same decade, Dr. Seuss’ first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was published, while girls excitedly delved into the Nancy Drew Mysteries that emerged in the decade as well.

Lack of programs, the Great Depression and innovative literature effected education both adversely and progressively, through the 1930s. Because an educator’s chief objective at the time was to teach literacy, the effect was positive. The depression brought about alterations in education as standard curriculums were put into place commencing the modernization of public schools. Presently, special needs children are identified so they may receive an education adapted to their specific requirements. Today, classroom behavior is managed through communication and reinforcement. Education in the twenty-first century has evolved from a past that clearly taught the learned educators of today.

For more information on schools and education in the 1930s, visit www.DanaFerry.com.