Public opinion and the teaching of history in the United States

by Bessie Louise Pierce

THE CURRICULUM

When the Fathers of New England adopted the famous laws of 1642 and 1647, they acted on the belief that by the school the character of the nation can be moulded. Throughout nearly three centuries of development the confidence of the American people in the regenerating power of the public school has grown. They have come to hold high faith in education as an effective tool for the conservation and promotion of national well-being. In each epoch, the school has attempted to accommodate its offerings to the demands of the time, thereby reflecting the needs of a people whose point of view is constantly changing. First conceived as a force in the religious life of the people, the school soon became an instrument for the development of “morality, virtue and good behavior.” The latter eighteenth century captured the vision of a people fired with patriotism and service to the state, and then by a citizenry trained to “preserve and perfect a republican constitution.” The occasion of a diverse and scattered electorate caused by the democratic awakening of the Jacksonian era compelled acceptance of the theory that it was a duty of the state to provide education for all. After the Civil War, a renewed faith in nationality and a realization of the economic and social demands of the time left their imprint upon the public school curriculum.

The opening of the twentieth century witnessed the expansion of the “citizenship aim” to include training for efficient participation in a complex social and industrial life. Since then, many traditional subjects of the previous period have been superseded by those tending to give point to the new aims in education; and of the traditional subjects retained many have been refashioned to fit a new and present-day point of view.

This wider horizon has tended to encourage to a greater degree than hitherto the introduction of many social studies, including economics, sociology and foreign history. Although encumbered with survivals, the history curriculum of the twentieth century has sought independence of purely political and military events and has striven for a scientific presentation of historical truths which should fit for “complete living.” This new viewpoint was well exemplified in the report of a committee of the National Education Association in 1916, which proposed a six year course in the social studies from the seventh to the twelfth grades, stressing the teaching of practical and present-day problems.[228]

Shortly thereafter the United States entered the World War. America at once faced not only the necessity of mobilizing the economic and military resources of a country unprepared for war, but also that still more difficult problem—the consolidation of public opinion. Various agencies were created for the express purpose of coördinating the spiritual resources of the country. Such was the design of the Committee on Public Information. Speakers and writers gave freely of their talents, and “hyphenism” and pacifism were driven to cover. The Espionage Law betrayed the apprehension of the federal government regarding unbridled speech and writing, and sedition laws in different commonwealths served to arrest an open opposition to the War.

Following the War the fear of radicalism and disloyalty to the established institutions of the country continued to express itself in drastic legislation. In the public schools, the desire to develop an unalloyed patriotism proved the motive for the passage of statutes to promote a dynamic loyalty. In general, these laws relate to the teaching of patriotism through instruction in the history and government of the United States, open affirmations of loyalty by the teaching personnel, the exclusion of alien teachers from the public schools, flag legislation and observance days, enactments regarding textbooks, and the Americanization of foreigners. Practically all legislation since 1917 dealing with the curriculum contains provisions pertaining to the social studies, and the greater amount reflects the wartime glow of patriotic enthusiasm.[229]

In 1917 three states passed regulatory provisions respecting the curriculum. Vermont’s legislation dealt with four-year high schools and required the teaching of the political and social sciences.[230] On February 17, Montana approved a law which called for instruction in United States history, the history of Montana, and state and federal civics among other required subjects for the elementary school, and three days later Arkansas approved a similar law.[231] New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Texas continued laws enacted at a previous time,[232] and Delaware, through legislation in 1919 gained the unique distinction of prescribing “community civics” besides the history of the nation and of the state.[233] Alabama and Georgia under laws designed primarily to prescribe a uniform series of textbooks included in the list of studies for which textbooks were mentioned, the history of the state embracing the constitution of the state, and the history of the United States with the constitution.[234] In Tennessee, to the requirement of United States history for the elementary schools, was added in 1917 the study of the federal constitution in the secondary school curriculum.[235] Texas placed distinct emphasis upon the teaching of state history through a regulation insisting that this “history be taught in the history course in all public schools” and “in this course only.”[236] The popularity of civil government, state history, and United States history is further proved by South Dakota’s prescription in 1919.[237]

Laws for dynamic patriotism were initiated by a statute of California in 1917. One of the mildest of the laws of this type, its chief purpose was training in the duties of citizenship through the study of United States history, with special reference to the history of the Constitution and the reasons for the adoption of each constitutional provision. Instruction in local civil government was provided for as well, with a specific statement regarding instruction in the duties of citizenship.[238]

In 1918, South Dakota, Texas and New York placed upon their statute books laws that were likewise a direct outgrowth of the war spirit. In the first two states, patriotism, the laws declared, should spring from lessons of “intelligent patriotism” inculcated by special exercises. The South Dakota law specified an hour a week in the aggregate, to be devoted in both public and private institutions “to the teaching of patriotism, the singing of patriotic songs, the reading of patriotic addresses and a study of the lives and history of American patriots.” Should an instructor, school officer or superintendent fail to enforce obedience to the law the statute provided for a fine of not less than five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail from five to thirty days, or both. In the case of the malfeasance of a teacher, the superintendent of public instruction had the power to revoke his certificate.[239]

In Texas, the law declared that “the daily program of every public school should be so formulated that it includes at least ten minutes for the teaching of lessons of intelligent patriotism, including the needs of the State and Federal Governments, the duty of the citizens to the State, and the obligation of the State to the citizen.”[240] The statute concluded with this statement: “The fact that this nation is now at war with a foreign foe, and that the strength of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people must necessarily come of its citizenship, creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended and that this act shall be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.”[241]