PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

 

isolated woman in Downton had more people watching her than did the
group in Upton. She therefore had to proceed more slowly and cautiously.

All the women have mentioned a factor, other than the general environment,
as conditioning their activities. They claim that if the alumnae group had
been larger they might have had more incentive to do things. Unfortunately,
when the School had recognized the handicaps which workers met in Down-
ton, recruiting from the city had been discontinued. Therefore, the alumnae
group, numbering only five, has had neither the numerical strength to initiate
any program of its own nor the psychological strength necessary to support
certain types of individual activity. The women now have indicated that
they would like to return to the School, that the unemployment situation has
set them thinking and new opportunities in community organizations are
arising. What they could do upon their return, however, is still a matter of
conjecture.

FLUXTON: A COMMUNITY WITH CHANGING PATTERNS

The 1930 census placed Fluxton in the population category 500,000-1,000,-
000. About four-fifths of the population belong to the laboring class; the
Negro and the foreign groups are well represented, and in certain sections of
the city little English is spoken. Public opinion and social attitudes ate ex-
tremely conservative. New organizations have been denounced severely when
they have offended prevailing custom; other groups have found it difficult to
use public buildings; and organized labor has had to overcome suppression by
the heavy industries dominating the city. In addition, lack of racial, national
or religious homogeneity has made the workers comparatively inert.

Yet the size and resources of the city make it more like Upton than Down-
ton. Certain agencies, including the public school system, the libraries, the
Y.W.C.A., the Y.M.C.A. and settlements, have carried on programs for work-
ers over a period of years, although forced to curtail their activities from time
to time. Recently new groups—including religious and political organiza-
tions, civil liberties associations, and other local and national agencies—have
become interested in community and civic welfare and in social legislation.
Some are organized to promote member interests primarily and some to pro-
mote community or civic welfare. Several have sponsored discussion and
forums; others have exerted pressure at the polls. Increasing government
expenditures in the community have promoted similar interests.

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