CHAPTER I

The Development of Workers’ Education

 

The history of the United States affords no more dramatic and significant
spectacle than the growth of its educational system. It is a story of the deter-
mined struggle of a free people to advance their standards through the im-
proved education of succeeding generations. American education is a phe-
nomenon of American democracy; and the present strengths and weaknesses of
American democracy are in large part the result of the strengths and weak-
nesses of the educational system.*

oe they believe that education furthers democracy, the American
people have encouraged public instruction throughout the United States. Gov-
ernment funds have financed the building of elementary schools and to a lesser
but increasing extent that of secondary institutions and colleges. As a result,
adults as well as children may study a variety of subjects in free classes. Edu-
cational opportunities, however, have not expanded uniformly across the
country. Some communities expend little or no money, although they know
that available resources are inadequate. Curricula, pedagogical methods, and
teaching personnel vary from one community to another. Some school boards
favor instruction in controversial subjects and endorse training and educa-
tional research to equip teachers for the process. Other boards restrict subject
matter and use teachers’ oaths to exclude certain individuals from the schools.”
In addition, economic necessity prevents numerous people from taking advan-
tage of facilities at hand.

Such conditions have led many groups, among them the friends and repre-

sentatives of workers, to attempt to expand and perfect educational resources.

1 The Advisory Committee on Education, Report of the Committee, United States Gov-
ernment Printing Office, Washington, D. G! 1938, p.

* For an analysis of this issue, consult W. i. Kilpatrick (ed.), The Educational Fron-
tier, New York, The paseo, Company: 1933, Zalmen Slesinger, Education and the
Class Struggle, New York wici-Friede, 1937, and Robert Ulich, “Indoctrination,”
Journal of Adult Education, Vol. 8 (January, 1936), pp. 10-17.

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