New York’s statute, known as the Lusk Law, is the most conspicuous of all of the laws of this period because of its drastic character and its later applications. This law became effective September 1, 1918. The phase of the law relating to instruction had two parts: one prescribing courses of instruction in patriotism and citizenship, the other specifying rules for inspection, supervision, and enforcement of the law.
“In order to promote a spirit of patriotic and civic service and obligation and to foster in the children of the state moral and intellectual qualities which are essential in preparing to meet the obligations of citizenship in peace or in war,” the law declared, “the regents of the university of the state of New York shall prescribe courses of instruction in patriotism and citizenship to be maintained and followed in the schools of the state. The boards of education and trustees of the several cities and school districts of the state shall require instruction to be given in such courses, by the teachers employed in the schools therein. All pupils attending such schools, over the age of eight years, shall attend upon such instruction.”
The statute further prescribed similar courses of instruction for private schools, and was required of all pupils over eight years of age. In case such courses were not maintained in the private school, attendance upon instruction in such school was not deemed equivalent to instruction given to pupils of like age in the public schools.
The law empowered the regents of the University of the State of New York to determine the subjects to be included in courses in patriotism and citizenship, and to arrange such other matters as were required for carrying into effect the objects and purposes of the law. The commissioner of education was made responsible for its enforcement, and to him fell the supervision and inspection of instruction. He was given authority at his discretion to withhold, from a school district or city, school money, if the authorities neglected such courses or failed to compel attendance upon such instruction.[242]
In 1918, Massachusetts subscribed to training in the duties of citizenship, including United States history, civil government, and thrift in her public schools; and two years later, in a statute relating to all elementary and secondary schools, she prescribed “courses in American history and civics for the purpose of promoting civic service and a greater knowledge of American history and of fitting the pupils, morally and intellectually, for the duties of citizenship.”[243]
In 1919, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas and Washington passed laws of like character. Although each embodies certain distinctive features, yet all assert a belief in the study of American history and government as a preparation for a patriotic citizenship.
The New Jersey law contains concrete requirements. In each high school, courses of study in “Community Civics” and in “Problems in American Democracy” were prescribed through the agency of the Commissioner of Education, with the approval of the State Board of Education. The law required that “Community Civics” be completed not later than the end of the second year, and the course in “Problems of American Democracy” be commenced not later than the beginning of the third year. Sixty full periods of not less than forty minutes each were specified for the teaching of these subjects. For the elementary grades, the geography, history and civics of New Jersey were prescribed. These courses of study, the law provided, “shall be given together with instruction as to the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship as they relate to community and national welfare with the object of producing the highest type of patriotic citizenship.”[244]
In Pennsylvania, too, it has become a duty of the state superintendent of public instruction to prescribe “a course of study conducive to the spirit of loyalty and devotion to the state and national governments,” and for all elementary public schools instruction in the history of the state and nation, including the elements of civil government.[245] For the seventh and eighth grades Ohio prescribed civil government and United States history; and Iowa, as a prerequisite to graduation from any high school, required a course in United States history and civil government for one year, as well as the offering of a semester of social problems and economics in a four-year high school. In Kansas, where the course in civil government and United States history was designed for the elementary grades, provision was made, in the case of noncompliance with the law, for the closing of the school by the action of the county attorney or the attorney-general. It was in a like spirit with other commonwealths that Washington declared the “study of American history and American government” to be “indispensable to good citizenship and an accurate appreciation of national ideals.”[246] A similar provision, with the aim of promoting “Americanism” and in training in the “ideals and principles underlying the government of the United States,” met defeat in Maryland in 1920 by the veto of the governor.[247]
The year 1921 was particularly prolific in legislation of a wartime character. A variety of expression but a unity of purpose continued to be in evidence. Laws were enacted in Maine, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and California.
The Maine statute prescribed the teaching of American history and civil government in all elementary and high school grades, both private and public, and made these subjects a requirement for graduation from all grammar schools.[248] The law of her neighbor, New Hampshire, required the reading of the constitution of the United States and of New Hampshire “at least once a year in the last grade below the high school.”[249]