Politics and Public Education in the Great Depression: Detroit, 1929-1940 (Urban Schools; Michigan).

The Great Depression profoundly influenced the history and politics of public education in Detroit. Specifically, the Depression affected the alignments in educational politics due to battles about retrenchment and revenue, the civil liberties of teachers, the function of high schools, and the high school curriculum. In the budget controversies, conservatives and business leaders called for severe retrenchment, while liberals and organized labor fought to hold the line on cutbacks. School leaders initially resisted budget reductions but finally were forced by the city's bankers to reduce expenses. Teachers' salaries were slashed but no teachers were fired. No programs were cut in spite of conservative and business agitation for elimination of "fads and frills." School leaders removed the traditional restraints on political activity by teachers in order to get their help in the retrenchment controversies. By 1934 teachers were involved in every phase of educational politics. Conservatives and business leaders opposed such activities, particularly when teachers and administrators worked for new tax levies to increase state support for public education. Some teachers further outraged the conservative community by campaigning to unseat several school board members. The Board of Education took no reprisals against those teachers and throughout the decade, remained committed to civil liberties. Despite agitation about radical teachers from such groups as the American Legion, and accusations of Communist subversion in the Detroit schools by witnesses before the Dies Committee, the board took no action against politically active teachers. A staunchly left-wing teachers union grew during these years and played an active role in educational politics. Finally, Detroit's young people were particularly hard hit by the Depression as employment prospects for them almost disappeared. High school enrollments soared. Detroit's school leaders "watered-down" high school curricula because they believed these young people were less able than previous waves of students. Competition between the National Youth Administration and educators' belief that the high school should be the primary agency for dealing with youth also influenced the curriculum revisions. The 1930's hastened the shift of the high school from a vocational to a custodial institution.PhDEducation historyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160388/1/8502895.pd