Patterns of workers' education : the story of the Bryn Mawr Summer School

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Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

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issertation to the Faculty of Bryn Mawr College

INTRODUCTION

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

The Story of the Bryn Mawr Summer School




American Council On Public Affairs

Dedicated to the belief that the extensive diffusion of infor-
mation is a profound responsibility of American democracy, the
American Council on Public Affairs is designed to promote the
spread of authoritative facts and significant opinions concerning
contemporary social and economic problems.

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publication of books, studies and pamphlets, encouragement of
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and opinions in any other way. Those associated with the
Council necessarily represent different viewpoints on public
questions.

The members of the Council’s National Board are Harry
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Prof. Arthur Burns, Paul Kellogg, Prof. Clyde Miller, Lowell
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head, Prof. Edwin E. Witte, Willard Uphaus, Dr. Stephen P.
Duggan, Elizabeth Christman, Dr. Frank P. Graham, John B.
Andrews, Prof. Max Lerner, W. Jett Lauck, Dr. Bruce Melvin,
Prof. Paul T. Homan, Prof. William Yandell Elliott, Dr. Ernest
Griffith, Dr. Clark Foreman, Delbert Clark, Abraham Epstein,
E. C. Lindeman, Clarence Pickett, Dr. Floyd W. Reeves, Clark M.
Eichelberger, Dr. Frederick L. Redefer, Carl Milam, E. J. Coil,
Dr. Frank Kingdon, Rev. Guy Shipler, Prof. Mark May, Dean
Charles W. Pipkin, Prof. Frederic A. Ogg, and Dr. Esther C.
Brunauer. M. B. Schnapper is Executive Secretary and Editor
of Publications.








PATTERNS OF
WORKERS’ EDUCATION

The Story of the Bryn Mawr
Summer School

FLORENCE HEMLEY SCHNEIDER, Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION

HILDA W. SMITH

Presented as a Dissertation to the Faculty of Bryn Mawr College
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy



American Council on Public Affairs

WASHINGTON, D. C.






COPYRIGHT, 1941, BY BRYN MAWR COLLEGE

SS
_ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to express my thanks to the Board of Directors of the
Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry for
the opportunity to carry on this study. I am deeply indebted to
Dr. Mildred Fairchild, Director of the Carola Woerishoffer Depart-
ment of Social Economy at Bryn Mawr College, for her unflagging
interest and for her constructive criticism in the preparation of the
manuscript. I also wish to express my appreciation to Dr. Susan
M. Kingsbury for her sincere interest and her assistance in the
survey. Her experience in assisting M. Carey Thomas, late presi-
dent of Bryn Mawr College, in formulating the plans for the
School, in directing the institution in its first year and serving as a
member of the Board of Directors for seven years has made her an
invaluable critic of the subject. I am indebted to Miss Hilda W.
Smith, Director of the Workers’ Service Program, Work Projects
Administration; to Miss Jean Carter, Director of the Bryn Mawr
Summer School; and to Miss Eleanor G. Coit, Director of the
American Labor Education Service, for their assistance and sug-
gestions. Miss Marguerite Gilmore, co-director of the School for
1938, was most helpful. I could not have conducted my research
without the cooperation of the many friends of workers’ education
who sent me information from all over the country. Finally, I am
deeply indebted to my husband for his untiring assistance and
valuable suggestions,

FLORENCE HEMLEY SCHNEIDER
TO MY FATHER




Introduction



iL HIS scholarly study will be useful far beyond academic circles. For
although it covers a specialized topic, the development of a pioneer school for
women workers in relationship to workers’ education in general, the scope
and quality of its analysis make it basic source material for any person inter-
ested in workers’ education. It is especially timely just now, when all types of
education are being made to relate teaching more closely to every day living.

Mrs. Schneider has told the story well, having regard for the minute accu-
racies of scholarship, but at the same time describing in broad general terms
the development of workers’ education and of the Bryn Mawr School as one
outstanding experiment. Her style is clear and readable, a fact which will
make this study of far greater usefulness than many scholarly studies. It is
anticipated that many workers’ groups, building up their own libraries, and
many teachers and leaders in workers’ education will welcome this material;
a familiar story, but never, perhaps, so completely and carefully told in terms
that all may read.

To those unfamiliar with the rapid development of workers’ education in
the United States in the past twenty years, the significance of the Bryn Mawr
Summer School for Women Workers may not be apparent. Others, who have
watched recent turns of events in this young and vigorous educational move-
ment, look back to the establishment of this particular school in 1921 as a
milestone on a new road.

For the first time in the history of the United States, a woman's college
opened its doors for a new and very different group of students, women factory
workers—many of them deprived through economic circumstances of any
schooling beyond the most elementary grades. For the first time, a group of
women leaders in the labor movement, themselves industrial workers, sat

1


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

down for long sessions on educational policies with representatives of college
trustees, faculty, and alumnae. The actual results in the unique school bore
the stamp of this joint planning, for the school followed no rigid academic
pattern. To the experience of college teachers, expert in their own fields, was
added the practical knowledge of women workers and their consciousness of
what they needed in education if they were to understand the complicated
economic forces which controlled their industries, their jobs, and their leisure.
In proposing the plans for a workers’ school to a startled but sympathetic col-
lege community, President M. Carey Thomas went far beyond educational
events of the past and gave impetus to a dynamic experiment which has had
far-reaching results.

No one would dispute the fact that the students and faculty of the Bryn
Mawr School did much to stimulate new workers’ education activities through-
out the United States, contributing directly or indirectly to the establishment
of other resident summer schools, new workers’ education committees, a net-
work of local classes, and the organization of a new coordinating agency, now
known as the American Labor Education Service. Industrial workers from all
parts of the United States, stirred by what seemed to many of them a unique
and exhilarating experience on the Bryn Mawr campus, were very effective in
persuading other groups that more workers’ summer schools were desirable.
With the impetus given by these workers—together with that given by inde-
pendent committees, trade unions and community agencies—schools for work-
ers were established in Wisconsin, in North Carolina, in New York City, on
the Pacific Coast, and on the Hudson River. A resident summer school for
office workers, taking root in the Middle West, offered, in addition, evidence
that a new group of workers had begun to realize what a school of their own
might mean to their lives. ;

The most recent development, opening new possibilities to workers’ educa-
tion, may also be traced directly back to the Bryn Mawr Summer School. As
a result of the national organization of local workers’ education committees
and of the facilities offered by workers’ schools and coordinating agencies in
the most acute period of the depression, the Federal Government decided,
through the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, to use funds for the
employment of unemployed teachers in workers’ education classes. This de-
cision was unexpected and novel in all its implications. It has meant that
since 1933 a program of workers’ education has been operating in a majority

2


INTRODUCTION



of states on Federal funds, supplemented by resources from state and local
governments. This government program, still not on any permanent basis,
is closely integrated with the activities of existing workers’ schools and classes
under private auspices. The body of teaching experience built up at Bryn
Mawr and in other workers’ schools has been used over and over again as a
pattern for new state projects, in training centers for government teachers,
and in many local classes where teachers are meeting intricate problems.

On the educational road opened by the Bryn Mawr Summer School in 1921,
many milestones have been set, many guide posts planted. The women
workers who each year come to the school, speak feelingly of their experi-
ences and of what they hope to do among their fellow workers in factories,
trade unions, industrial clubs. The other half of the story is not so easily told;
the story of a demonstration center where faculty and students, working in a
self-governing community, have hammered out curriculum and teaching meth-
ods, and have tested educational theories on the forge of practical experience.

Mrs. Schneider has shown unusual discrimination in choosing from the
mass of source material she has studied those facts which best illustrate the
inner growth of the School. Her analysis of students’ activities in three dif-
ferent types of communities also shows discernment and understanding. The
value of the training of a typical student cannot be gauged without knowing
just what factors in her own community have made her way easy or hard,
have opened the door to real achievement, or have kept her permanently
discouraged from doing anything after her return from the School. Mrs.
Schneider's analysis of the relation of the student's desire to be of use to the
conditions in the community itself is an important and revealing contribution
to the study of workers’ education. The stories in the chapters on “Upton,
Downton and Fluxton” point to the fact that one individual’s efforts must be
necessarily limited, unless the community itself fosters group responsibility.

So it is with a feeling of appreciation of Mrs. Schneider's contribution that
those in workers’ education welcome this study. It should point the way to
a series of similar studies of other workers’ schools, of state workers’ education
programs, and of educational ventures in trade unions. Too little material is
available at present about the many phases of workers’ education. This partic-
ular study sets a high standard for others to follow.

HILDA W. SMITH
Director, Workers’ Service Program
WPA, Washington, D.C.

CONTENTS

Tathodnction 2... 3.2. ie aan eaten d clea recap eee eter te 1

I The Development of Workers’ Education...........++...0200% 7
Pe Historical ‘Trends: |.).3 scieiscin ee anita hee cme eae een ia 15
Ti Within the Trade Union Movement, iii, sisineices cote he esien nm 27
IV ‘Outside the Trade Union Movement. (isi. 2/0: 4. hia te aes 39
V Coordinating Agencies and Resident Schools.................. on

THE BRYN MAWR SCHOOL FOR WOMEN WORKERS IN

INDUSTRY
VI From Bryn Mawr to the Hudson Shore. ...........0-.0eeeee0s 67
VIL The Selection of the Student Body. . 2. f2)62.)).0 20/2 veel veya ns 81
VIIL The Summer Program of Studies and Activities................ 93

THE PARTICIPATION OF SUMMER SCHOOL STUDENTS
WITHIN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES

IX The Activities of Students in Upton, Downton, and Fluxton...... 107
X Further Activities of Summer School Students................. 123

XI Evaluating the Past in Terms of the Future.................0.. 141
A Selected Bibliopraphy:s 045-4 o.nalies wage ae bee se seta 149

Drie ios il nce w c's Gordini gate irct are ore aoe ace aay a pene em nenecer anne 155



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.

7
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

Since public instruction began, labor organizations have urged that equal
opportunities be afforded the children of different occupational groups. That
the desired results may be obtained, organized labor has demanded representa-
tion on school boards, liberal teachers having the right to speak without
restriction, and textbooks presenting objectively and reporting freely the facts
about workers and their problems. Workers hope that under their watchful-
ness boards of education may respond to the needs of their children,” but they
maintain the belief that the public school system, as now in operation, has not
provided adequately for their adults. Consequently, specific labor organiza-
tions have developed special programs of adult education, convinced that the
independent efforts will comprise a demonstration for a future public pro-
gram.

A variety of reasons has promoted the separate education of adult workers.
Psychologists have shown that workers are unlike other groups of adults
in reading and speaking ability, comprehension of simple facts, and power
of concentration. Their uncompleted elementary schooling, their physical
and mental fatigue, have been listed among the responsible factors. Edu-
cators and sociologists have shown that workers have distinct interests:
they wish to know what their wages will buy or why they are unemployed;
whether or not they should join a trade union; what their political affilia-
tions should be. They wish to read and think critically about their situation
and the world in which they live.

Therefore workers’ education has encouraged workers to study contempo-
rary economic and social problems continuously and intelligently, to plan
their sound solution, and to carry out their design together and with others.
The background education of the workers, their work-history, community life,
and group experiences influence curriculum. Accordingly, a particular class
or unit may have a political, socio-economic, or cultural focus. The basic
method is freedom of discussion and of teaching within a group primarily
designed for workers, either in their own communities or in resident centers
elsewhere.‘

"Philip R. V. Curoe, Educational Attitudes and Policies of Organized Labor in th
United States, New York, Teachers College, Columbia University, 41926, hibie. oe

“Hilda W. Smith, ‘Workers’ Education as Determining Social Control,” Annals of
saat Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 181-182 (November, 1935),
p. 83.

8
THE DEVELOPMENT OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



Workers’ education has not developed without opposition. Certain indi-
viduals believe that standard educational facilities enable all, including work-
ers, to study effectively. They maintain that psychological reasons for separate
instruction are being weakened, as more people than formerly are receiving
similar rudimentary education. Others claim that workers’ education is propa-
ganda based upon a class philosophy which threatens our democracy. A third
group of opponents fears that even an objective, critical survey of social
events will lead to revolutionary activities.

Proponents of workers’ education have many counter-arguments. They
are convinced that current public instruction cannot give adult workers neces-
sary social perspective. They state that objective education for workers is not
propaganda; solidarity among workers should not be feared since modern
society has many interest and pressure groups which at times cooperate with
each other. In addition, advocates show at what specific points instruction
aids the laboring class. They claim that through instruction, workers may
know the experience of their group, in the past and in the present. Through
history they may understand the mistakes of their predecessors; psychology
teaches them how to cooperate with fellow workers and employers; economics
promotes an understanding of the employers’ business upon which rests their
livelihood; through politics they glimpse their place as citizens and workers.
Public speaking and written composition tend to make them articulate and
community organization to encourage effective activity. Finally, sociology
and social ethics may show workers how to integrate both theory and practice
in living with their fellow men.

THE ROLE OF THE RESIDENT SCHOOL

Several techniqués have been devised to fulfill the purpose of workers’ edu-
cation.” Local facilities have been developed so that individuals may study
in their own communities by attending classes or study groups after work, or
by serving on functional committees. Other programs including resident
schools and institutes have been established to afford workers the opportunity
of more continuous instruction.

Protagonists of workers’ education are divided as to the relative value of
resident and community programs. Many believe that the former are limited
in what they are able to accomplish since they can accommodate adequately

° For a detailed discussion of the points outlined in this section see infra, Chapter III.

9


PATTERNS OF WORKERS EDUCATION
PRP PLL LLL LL LLL LLL LAAN

only a small student body, and consequently must make careful selection
among the applicants. The wrong type of worker may wish to attend merely
because he is able to pay, or has few responsibilities to keep him near his
home. These opponents of resident programs believe that irrespective of the
calibre of the students, the course is limited in its scope. By necessarily absent-
ing himself from his home community for a limited period, the student, with-
drawn from his everyday activities, loses valuable contacts, and eventually
must expend special effort to readjust himself to his own community.

Community programs, on the other hand, are said to provide for all who
wish to study. Participation does not depend upon the ability of an individual
to leave his job, absent himself from his responsibilities, or meet traveling
expenses. Local projects are said to enable workers to join organizations and
study while continuing at work. Education therefore may be continuous and
coordinated with daily living, instead of being an isolated experience.

Many people believe that both extra-local and local workers’ education have
value. However, they state that when economy necessitates a choice, the lat-
ter for the most part must be selected. They point out that resident schools
must maintain buildings, pay traveling expenses for some students, salaries to
teachers, and provide facilities as well as room and board for an entire
school. Since students rarely are able to contribute financially, scholarships
must be raised. In comparison, groups which develop local workers’ education
have few expenses aside from the cost of instruction and materials. Classes
may be held in offices or in public buildings and students do not have exten-
sive traveling costs.

Analysts of the situation claim that when expenses are low, labor support
and control are more likely, and that the major contributors to resident schools
have been liberal sympathizers and certain community groups, as well as, per-
haps to a lesser degree, foundations and national labor organizations. For
these reasons, it is feared that the program will be weighted by the non-
labor contributors. Accordingly, trade unions fear that their needs will not
be met, and at the same time settlement houses and other organizations con-
cerned with unorganized workers wonder about the advantages for their
groups.

Because of these criticisms, resident schools are surveying their activities
and instituting some changes. They desire that organized labor be repre-
sented upon Boards of Directors and Advisory Committees; they have sought

10



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im me a

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



to widen their financial backing and at the same time to curtail expenses.
They have changed curriculum in order to reach more groups and to relate
study to community activity, and they have retained and strengthened those

parts of their programs which they believe are more vital than workers’ edu-
cation in the community.

THE BRYN MAWR SUMMER SCHOOL FOR WOMEN WORKERS IN INDUSTRY

The Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry was
founded at Bryn Mawr in 1921 as an experiment in workers’ education. Since
the institution was the first resident summer school, its development has been
by a trial and error method. The Wisconsin School for Workers, the Pacific
Coast School for Workers, the Southern Summer School for Workers, and the
Summer School for Office Workers were started later and naturally have
been guided to a great degree by the findings of the pioneer.

Since the Bryn Mawr Summer School has been in the field so long, a descrip-
tion of its development may help to illustrate the forces which have affected
the other institutions. Moreover, an analysis of the School's program may
reveal whether particular criticisms of resident programs are justified. Two
studies in 1929 described how the Bryn Mawr Summer School had developed
from its beginning in 1921 through the year 1927.° In 1938 the Board of
Directors of the School asked the Carola Woerishoffer Graduate Department
of Social Economy and Social Research of Bryn Mawr College to bring the
former research up to date. The analysis of the Bryn Mawr Summer School
in this volume is the result of the writer’s participation in the survey.’

In the winter of 1938, plans were made to move the Bryn Mawr Summer
School for Women Workers in Industry from the college campus to a new
home. A location on the Hudson River was chosen and the name of the
School changed to the Hudson Shore Labor School. The present study is
designed to describe the development of the Bryn Mawr program up to this
point and to indicate whether its original aims have been fulfilled in relation-
ship to the movement of which it has been a part.

* Hilda W. Smith, Women Workers at the Bryn Mawr Summer School, and Helen D.
Hill, The Effect of the Bryn Mawr Summer School as Measured in the Activities of Its
Students, New York, American Association of Adult Education, 1929.

7 Mildred Fairchild and Florence Hemley, The Bryn Mawr Summer School for
Women Workers in Industry and the Workers’ Education Movement. A Survey of the
Years 1928-1938. (A Confidential Report to the Board of Directors of the Bryn Mawr
Summer School.)

11




59454554,

PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



SCOPE AND METHOD OF INVESTIGATION

The aim of the writer is threefold: to describe how workers’ education has
developed in the United States and what are its patterns within various organ-
izations; to relate the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in
Industry to the broader movement; and to study what the alumnae of the
School are accomplishing in their communities, with special attention to their
background, opportunities, and problems. Emphasis is focused upon the past
decade but for the sake of continuity earlier developments are sometimes indi-
cated.

Data relevant to the purpose of the research were gathered from primary
as well as secondary sources.” Sociological and economic books furnished gen-
eral background data. Specific literature dealing with workers’ education
provided, of course, a mine of information. Reports and staff bulletins of
various organizations were analyzed. Finally, in order to ascertain recent
trends, 119 letters were sent to 11 types of agencies conducting educational
programs for workers. Eighty-five answers were received.

The detailed picture of the Bryn Mawr Summer School was attained not
only from descriptive literature, but also from minutes, reports, correspond-
ence, publicity, and scrapbooks filed in the office of the School. In order to
ascertain how money has been raised for the institution, the writer sent letters
to summer school district committees. Information pertaining to the students
and the communities in which they live was gathered from books and articles,
reports and correspondence in the summer school office and inquiries sent to
community organizations, requesting information about summer school
alumnae, Special effort was expended to encourage reports about inactive as
well as active individuals. To discover whether returns were accurate and rep-
resentative, a selected few communities were visited and personal interviews
conducted with alumnae, committee members and individuals in varied pro-
grams. Finally, still another check was provided by questionnaires sent to a
group of alumnae about whom little information was at hand and who lived
in cities which could not be visited easily; inactive members as well as those
who were active were again urged to respond. As a result of all inquiries,
information is on hand for almost one-half of the women who attended the



* Detailed charts, copies of letters and questionnaires ate in the origi ipt |
Segh Bate Colle. q e in the original manuscript at

iz


THE DEVELOPMENT OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



School from 1928 through 1937, that is for 417 out of 975 women, and reveals
the success of some and the problems of others who could attain little.

For purposes of analysis, the communities in which alumnae live are classi-
fied into those conducive to activity; those discouraging to activity; and those
in which social change is the primary characteristic. The terms here used
“conducive” and “discouraging” are relative so that lines of demarcation
between categories are not always necessarily distinct. Also individuals do
react differently to like stimuli. Within each type, a particular community
may be large or small, urban or rural, or in any section of the country. Under
the word “activity,” functions apparently motivated by social in addition to
individual interests are emphasized and classified in terms of leadership and
membership. The former refers to what reports indicate as “outstanding”
participation. Three selected cities, that have been visited, are analyzed in
detail. Their identity has been concealed by designating them as Upton,
Downton, and Fluxton, indicating that they illustrate respectively a community
which encourages activity, one which discourages activity, and one which is
changing.

13









CHAPTER IL

Historical Trends



PP sicnncr reads in watnce ocean ee
history of the movement is viewed. The backward glance is simplified by the
excellent record of developments to be found in the proceedings of confer-
ences initiated at Brookwood Labor College in 1924 and held annually since
that time. The brief historical summary which follows has been culled from
the conference notes as well as from literature in the field.”

The labor movement has conditioned the development of workers’ educa-
tion. Events impinging upon American workers at different times have deter-
mined whether their friends and representatives encouraged them to build
organizational, legislative, or educational programs. Consequently, workers
themselves have not always believed in workers’ education.

Groups outside of the labor movement became convinced in the nineteenth
century that adult workers needed more than elementary public instruction.
Middle-class organizations, attempting to advance American democracy or to
regenerate the laboring class socially, sponsored adult education for workers.
Lyceums, mechanics’ institutes, and reading rooms were instituted to prepare
workers for effective use of the franchise, for heightening vocational pro-
ficiency or for solution of a variety of personal problems.

Primary attention to economic action, with only sporadic interest in inde-
pendent politics, kept trade unions occupied with matter-of-fact business prin-
ciples. Since, from this point of view, understanding of larger national issues

*For a discussion of ay een eee gee tite ee
sane, World Woher Ednoess ‘ovements, New York, Columbia University

, 1931; Margaret Hodgen, Workers’ Education in England and the United States,
nn K. Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., Led., 1925; Alice §. Cheyney, “Workers’

Education in the United States,” International Labour Review; and other sources cited
in the appended bibliography on workers’ education.



15
i as

PATTERNS OF WORKERS EDUCATION



seemed unnecessary, organized labor on the whole did not press for other than
rudimentary education. A few local groups, however, including the New
York and Philadelphia trade unions, became interested in workers’ education
in the early 1800's. They wanted to develop independently the resources
which educators, philanthropists and business men were offering. Further, the.
unions felt that they might use to advantage an educational process which
could acquaint the public with their problems and simultaneously train their
own members and leaders. Finally, influenced by an increasing number of
local resolutions, the American Federation of Labor in the early twentieth
century encouraged local classes for workers.

Women workers were a potent force for workers’ education within the
young labor movement. Grudgingly admitted into organizations by the men
members, they had to prove they could be good trade unionists. To accom-
plish their goal they needed political and educational as well as economic
opportunities. And as industry expanded and employment of women in-
creased, trade unionism became of more vital importance to them. Assisted
by middle-class women interested in the general advancement of their sex,
they first sponsored a cultural program of education. In 1903, however, they
formed the National Women’s Trade Union League and began to emphasize
industrial information and instruction in methods of labor organization.

The influx of immigrants into the economy of the United States and their
absorption by trade unions also influenced the official labor movement to sup-
port workers’ education. As the newcomers with Socialistic inclinations and
certain cultural traditions demanded instruction, workers’ schools were estab-
lished and political programs of education endorsed. For example, the Work-
ers’ School, which became the Workers’ Educational League, was founded in
1899; two years later the non-partisan Jewish Workers’ School began opera-
tion; and in 1906 the Socialist Rand School for Social Science was started.
Although trade unions did not direct the programs, they recognized that the
schools could help assimilate foreign workers and develop a truly American
labor movement.

Rapid social change, mobilization of economic resources, and progress
made by organized labor during and after the World War broadened the sup-
port of workers’ education. Through a variety of projects, workers themselves
offered general adult instruction, supplemented by specific training for union
activities. By the close of the war, a number of large trade unions, including

16






HISTORICAL TRENDS



the International Ladies’ Garment Workers, the American Federation of
Hosiery Workers, and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers had established
educational programs. At its convention in 1916, the National Women's
Trade Union League passed a resolution asking women’s colleges to make
some provision for women industrial workers. The American Federation of
Labor gave increased attention to adult education in the national conventions
of 1918 and 1919.

Interest developed rapidly and in 1921 several significant experiments
were initiated. Brookwood Labor College, a full-term residential school for
workers, and the Workers’ Education Bureau, a national agency designed to
promote and coordinate activities, were organized “by representatives of or-
ganized labor and by students of American economy interested in the forms
and methods of organized labor.”* In addition, trade unions, cooperating
among themselves and with educators, founded trade union colleges in differ-
ent parts of the country. Also in 1921 academic colleges began to be active
in the field. Ambherst College had continued an experiment begun in 1920,
by which teachers went to the central labor unions of Springfield and Holyoke,
Massachusetts, to instruct union members in economics, practical English, and
mathematics. In 1921 the University of California organized workers’ educa-
tion classes as part of its regular extension work. And in the same year Bryn
Mawr College welcomed to the campus a summer school for women workers
in industry.

Shortly thereafter several experiments—Commonwealth College and the
Communist Workers School—were undertaken, but the field ceased for a
time to expand. The contraction, like the previous development, reflected
changes within the labor movement. Business principles again dominated
the trade unions. An open-shop drive had followed upon the acceptance of
unionization during the war; organized labor as well as the general public
feared radicalism. Neither wished to sponsor educational programs which
might foster discussion of controversial issues. The few organizations which
did not fear frank analysis and were willing to offer their membership a more
advanced curriculum needed most of their money for more urgent activities.

As trade unions became stronger, interest in education was renewed. Estab-
lished academic institutions continued to cooperate with organized labor in



* Charles A. Beard, “An American Adventure in Workers’ Education,” Workers’
Education, Vol. XIII No. 4 (October, 1936), pp. 16-17.

17
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



educational programs throughout the country. New labor colleges and schools,
conferences or institutes, and independent classes were started. In 1926, the
Affiliated Schools for Workers* developed from the original Bryn Mawr
experiment as a coordinating agency and aided expansion and consolidation
in the field. One year later, the agency could point to three residential sum-
mer schools as member institutions in addition to the Bryn Mawr Summer
School, namely the Summer School for Workers of the University of Wis-
consin, the Southern Summer School, and the Barnard School. A winter resi-
dential school, the Vineyard Shore School, was started in 1929 as an inde-
pendent venture for the purpose of offering more advanced study to industrial
workers who had attended one of the summer schools.

Cultural opportunities began to be offered to workers through the Art
- Workshop founded in 1929. In the same year, after the American Federation
of Labor labelled Brookwood Labor College as Communistic and the Workers’
Education Bureau had nullified the membership of the institution, education
began to develop under the control of the large A. F. of L. unions.
Highlander Folk School, entering the field in 1932, began to train labor
leaders, union organizers, and teachers, as Commonwealth and Brookwood
Labor Colleges already were doing. Other enterprises instituted classes for
the children of workers and a large number of trade unions, collegiate institu-
tions, and other organizations vitally interested in workers were sponsoring
workers’ education.

As may be seen, in the period 1926-1932 groups other than organized
labor initiated most of the new ventures; partly responsible was the emascula-
tion of the Workers’ Education Bureau after the 1929 controversy. Yet the
many experiments were a sign of growth and development, even if workers’
education had not become part of a unified labor movement‘



Gere referred to as the American Labor Education Service, the name

“Both the personnel and the organizations reporting to the Workers’ Education Con-
ference at Brookwood Labor College in 1931 reveal the growth of the movement in ten
years. The personnel of the conference represented the following organizations: Affiliated
Schools for Workers, American Association for Old Age Security, Barnard Summer School
for Workers, Brookwood Labor College, Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Work-
ers in Industry, Commonwealth College, Denver Labor College, Manumit School for
Children, Philadelphia Labor College, Pioneer Youth, Southern Summer School for
Workers, Vineyard Shore School and Young Women’s Christian Association. Repre-
sentatives from these organizations came from different cities and countries. Reports

18


HISTORICAL TRENDS



A confused world, in the last few years, again has called upon organization,
legislation and education to help solve the problems of workers. Workers’
education in particular has answered the challenge vigorously and enthusias-
tically, as in the comparable experimental period occurring immediately after
the war. New trade union groups, both national and local, have entered the
field; other organizations, including independent resident schools, Young
Women’s Christian Associations, settlements, workers’ housing enterprises,
political parties, and consumers’ organizations have added support. The
American Labor Education Service offers assistance not only to resident mem-
ber schools but to many other interested groups. The outstanding victory of
the period has been the recognition by the federal government, since 1933, of
the need for adult education for workers. This has been evidenced by the allo-
cation of relief funds for the employment of unemployed teachers in workers’
classes, first under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and later
under the Work Projects Administration. The closing of Brookwood Labor
College in 1937, primarily because of lack of funds, has been the most signifi-
cant defeat.’

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

Workers’ education has developed singleness of purpose slowly. The
statement was made at the 1924 Brookwood conference that “workers’ educa-
tion in the United States has not a definite philosophy; it is not unified in its
aims, nor has it agreed upon its ultimate purpose.”° At that time, cultural,
welfare, political and trade union organizations sponsored workers’ education
for different reasons. Cultural groups emphasized that workers mainly needed
to learn how to use language proficiently and to develop leisure-time activities.
Welfare organizations desired primarily to give workers diverse means of
social renaissance. The equipment of the laboring class with socialistic or



were sent to the conference from the following organizations: Amalgamated Clothing
Workers’ Union, American Federation of Teachers, Columbia Conserve Company,
Cooperative League, Duluth Works Peoples College, International Ladies’ Garment
Workers’ Union, New Workers’ School, Rand School of Social Science, Southern Indus-
trial League, Wisconsin School for Workers, Workers’ School, and from state federa-
tions and women’s auxiliaries of trade unions and labor colleges from different sections
of the country.

® Commonwealth College closed in 1940.
° Theresa Wolfson, “Materials, Textbooks, Syllabi,” Proceedings of the Conference of
Teachers in Workers’ Education, at Brookwood, February 23-24, 1924, p. 50.

19


Tr

PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



communistic tools was the chief objective of political groups. Trade unionists
supported educational preparation for service in their own organizations.

Conferences have revealed that as workers’ education has developed, the
different objectives have been levelled by a common focus upon the labor
movement; in other words, by the belief that workers must be educated be-
cause of and not in spite of their position in society. At present, there is gen-
eral consensus of opinion that, as expressed at a meeting in 1937, “the pur-
pose of workers’ education is to make workers more aware of their common
problems, to make them intelligent about them, and active in solving them.” os
It is still true, however, that diverse sponsors emphasize different problems and
their solution in programs of disparate activity. But the sphere of workers’
education in all instances has come to be the labor movement within the
encompassing community.

Pioneers in the field discussed earnestly whether they should try to reach
only a few workers or the masses. The needs of the labor movement have
decided the issue; both leaders and rank and file members must be educated.
Recent conferences have considered every worker a potential student or par-
ticipant in workers’ education. Men and women, workers in industry, busi-
ness, commerce, domestic service, and agriculture, organized or unorganized,
are to be stimulated to study their problems and to find ways of meeting them.
Experts must be developed within the labor movement to equal specialists in
business and government and to bridge the gap between workers and their
representatives.

A variety of recruiting devices has developed. Workers are brought
together through social rallies, musicales, games and sports. Thus individuals
may discover that others have similar interests and every worker may be able
to find satisfaction in either large or small units.

The environment in which workers live and labor has determined that their
education should be extensive, centering principally around the social sciences.
As early as 1924 the belief was expressed that although “the social sciences
constitute the basis of workers’ education” attention should be given to a “com-



* Francis J. Gorman, President of the United Textile Workers’ Union, Address to
Conference in Workers’ Education, New Bedford, Massachusetts, May 8-9, 1937 (mimeo-
graphed and issued by a committee of the Conference, 1937).

Hilda W. Smith, “Workers’ Education as Determining Social Control,” Annals of
en Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 181-182 (November, 1935),
p. 83.

20

al

al
“y
|




HISTORICAL TRENDS



prehensive culture covering the whole range of human interests.”’ Seven
years later the conviction was restated that “Whatever teachers and adminis-
trators may decide, the workers themselves are not willing to be confined to
any program less broad than life itself, their responsibility as workers inter-
preted in the widest sense of the word.” *

Accordingly, current economic and social problems have come to be em-
phasized. The background for their analysis is provided through economics,
history, sociology, social psychology, and physical science. English and public
speaking aid the workers to examine source material and to articulate their
thoughts. Study of the arts has enriched the life of the working class, as has
the development of new health and recreation standards.

METHODS AND INSTRUCTION

Techniques of presentation have differentiated workers’ education from
adult education and the principle that study must be factual and not dogmatic
or biased has been used to distinguish workers’ education from propaganda.
Workers must be able to think and express themselves logically and to view
their experiences rationally. Intelligent action is the goal.

Methods of workers’ education have developed consistently. Current funda-
mental techniques devised years ago are now described by different names.
For example, the “synthetic view” of yesterday is now called “the situation
approach.”** Through both methods, various aspects of a subject are studied.
Thus, if economic, historical, and psychological factors explain a particular
situation, a class must look to economics, history, and psychology for aid in
analysis. “Functional education” has always existed. In 1924 a class was
described as being “composed of executive board members who study the
problems of the industry and on the basis of the study put in wage demands
upon the employer.” Yet 13 years later many leaders hailed a new discovery

° A. W. Calhoun, “The Psychological Basis and Background of the Social Sciences,”
Proceedings of the Conference of Teachers in Workers’ Education, at Brookwood, Feb-
ruary 23-24, 1924, p. 7.

* Hilda W. Smith, “A Forward Look in Workers’ Education,” Proceedings of the
oo Annual Conference of Teachers in Workers’ Education, Ten Years of Workers’
Education, A Survey, at Brookwood, February 21-23, 1931, p. 101.

“A. J. Muste, “Discussion,” Proceedings of the Conference of Teachers in Workers’
Education, at Brookwood, February 23-24, 1924, p. 14.

Spencer Miller, Jr., “Adult Education and the Industrial Worker,” Journal of Adult
Education, Vol. 1 (October, 1929), p. 386.

8 A. J. Muste, op. cit., p. 16.

21

Boe ge | a ae
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



when they told of groups established to formulate trade union constitutions, to
write a trade agreement, or to plan a program of workers’ education for an
organization. Present meetings continue to emphasize the belief stated in
1924 that “Practice in the scientific method can often be much better obtained
in connection with some actual problem confronting a trade union group than
with an academic problem taken up as part of ‘school’ work.” “

Several devices have been clarified and defined with the passage of time.
Any activity in which there is wide participation and which binds workers
more closely to their organizations is now called “mass education.” In the
category are included social rallies, dances, and theatrical performances. By
bringing large numbers together, they foster a feeling of unity and a cooper-
ative spirit. “Classroom education” has come to designate a small, serious
group, meeting in a classroom atmosphere adapted to the needs of workers,
discussing freely and informally a series of topics over a designated span of
time. Various techniques insure the vital participation of all the students.
Lectures are supplemented by dramatic presentations, and workshop methods
and pamphlets and visual material simplify study for the workers. Cultural
and technological developments have been described in recent years as render-
ing the film and radio effective in workers’ education. A third approach now
is called “Training for Service.” A large or small group of workers come
together to learn how to lead other workers; business agents, shop chairmen,
and organizers, for example, are taught in conferences, committees and class-
rooms.”

Some of the early methodological problems still confront conference mem-
bers. They tell how traveling teachers and libraries and correspondence

_courses must be utilized to aid communities with few resources. They reveal
that some workers may become familiar with advanced techniques only
through attendance at institutes and resident schools away from home. Be-
cause such projects reach only small numbers, many workers never have
experienced contact with the progressive methods of today.

It always has been agreed that workers’ education must be brought to its
students by individuals who know and understand their life and work. Pio-
neers in the field felt that such sympathetic knowledge could be expected of

* Tbid., p. 45.

e For a discussion of the development of these phases of workers’ education in specific
organizations, see infra, Chapter III.

22


HISTORICAL TRENDS



only a few intellectuals, and they visualized workers themselves becoming
teachers. Training was to be obtained in advanced schools for workers, in
special classes, committees, and conferences, and while in service as teachers.
Current forces have changed the situation. At this time more than at any
other in American history, teachers in academic institutions and college trained
men and women are aware of the trade union and labor movement. As they
become oriented in the field, they offer their services to workers. On the other
hand, few instructors can be obtained from among the masses of new, young
members in the various labor organizations throughout the country.

FINANCE AND CONTROL

Three main factors have been recognized in securing financial support.
One has been the difficulty of awakening and retaining the interest of organ-
ized labor in educational activities. The second has centered about the effect
upon control when financial aid has been given by a specific organization.
The third has been the actual trend in contributions.

Many leaders have believed that an organization naturally becomes inter-
ested in any venture which it supports financially. This idea was expressed
at a conference in 1925 as follows:

We have found that to defray all expenses and assume all responsibilities
is not a logical idea; it is better if possible to have the local body assume both
a moral and a financial responsibility because they will then be more anxious
for the success of the affair. Things today given to the worker absolutely free
of work or charge are looked upon either with suspicion or as too cheap to be
of any value.”
Today many leaders still feel that if workers do not want workers’ education
enough to pay for it themselves, they had better not have it. Still others have
maintained that interest and ability to pay are not always coordinate. They
have urged that support be accepted from persons who are not workers and
from agencies that are outside their control. Yet foresight has emphasized
the need for at least partial labor support. As expressed by one teacher, it is
dangerous to accept money from certain sources if financial aid within the
labor movement thereby is neglected. Then workers’ education must rely

Paul Fuller, “Labor Chautauquas,” Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference of
Teachers in Workers’ Education, Mass Education for Workers, at Brookwood, February
20-22, 1925, pp. 23-24.

23
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



entirely upon outside support.” Therefore, at present organized labor is
solicited for contributions despite increasing government expenditures in the
field.

At the 1926 Brookwood Conference, a resolution was passed which read
as follows:

. . . the members of the American Federation of Teachers invited to attend
the conference on workers’ education in session at Brookwood, Feb. 22, 1926,
go on record as opposed to the acceptance by agencies for workers’ education
of money or other assistance from such institutions as the Carnegie Corporation,
the General Education Board, or other organizations fundamentally opposed
to the interests of the working class.”

This decision was motivated by several reasons. Primary was the fear that
workers’ education would be emasculated by financial backers who could not
understand its goals. Thus representatives of workers believed that complete
financial endorsement by labor organizations was necessary if workers’ educa-
tion were to be stable and in accord with the labor movement.

Practical experience has compromised the desire for complete labor con-
trol. Educational activities for workers have been developed by many organ-
izations, either subordinated to the trade unions, an autonomous, self-deter-
mining part of the total labor movement, or wholly independent of organized
labor.” In the period 1921 to 1938, four groups in addition to trade unions
have given money for workers’ education. These are the federal government,
state governments, liberal sympathizers, and foundations. The Federal Relief
Administration and the Work Projects Administration are the agencies
through which the federal government has contributed. University extension
programs and institutes held cooperatively with organized labor account in
large part for the money spent by the state governments. Liberal sympathizers
are individuals reached largely through fund-raising programs. The following

* Abraham Lefkowitz, “Discussion,” Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of
Teachers in Workers’ Education, The Promotion and Maintenance of Workers’ Education,
at Rrookwood, February 19-22, 1926, p. 60.

* Resolution at a Special Session, Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of
Teachers in Workers’ Education, The Promotion and Maintenance of Workers’ Educa-
tion, at Brookwood, February 19-22, 1926, p. 105.

wa. C. Lindeman, “The Relation of Workers’ Education to the Labor Movement,”
Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Conference of Teachers in Workers’ Education, The
risen of ae Education in the Labor Movement, at Brookwood, February 24-26,

» p. 65.

24
HISTORICAL TRENDS



list reveals estimated total donations to workers’ education from 1921 to

1938: *
Contributors Estimated Contribution™
Thade Uni0as aici e's no's ba ores ee ee ae $1,500,000
Federal government: s)0s5)s'ais's sivas atoiceau eee anc 1,000,000
Laheral sympathizers; 5.9 cla's's oncdti ene ous te rate 750,000
Fond thas | 6 :5'4)4.6)< die a telnias, « iete aoe cule stature pies ele 500,000
State SOVErMMeNts | 5/eio ois e-u\s v wcaleineiolesa vise nieeies 200,000

TOUR Sais sv,s.n/y eens en caylee iictere malnainis $3,950,000

Figures for the federal government are especially significant since this sum has
been contributed only since September, 1933. The $1,500,000 expenditures
of the trade unions are divided into two parts: $750,000 spent on their own
programs and $750,000 given to outside projects. The International Ladies
Garment Workers’ Union alone spent $350,000 of the $750,000 direct con-
tributions. Many people hope that donations from the trade unions will
increase. The feeling persists among some individuals that workers ought to
support their own program and that if educational activities cannot be placed
upon a paying basis after 17 years, something is fundamentally wrong. There-
fore, the movement is gratified that trade unions have spent larger percentages
year by year and that in 1937 they made a larger net and gross contribution
than in any other year.

Yet many who plan educational programs for workers still believe that
some help must be accepted from other sources than trade unions. They con-
tinue to seek government support and to back bills calling for increased fed-
eral grants, in line with recommendations made by the President's Advisory
Committee on Education. They reason that so long as the principles of
curriculum, scope, method, and related matters are fulfilled with integrity,
it is not important whether organized labor has complete control. In fact
unilateral direction is considered to be both impossible and undesirable when
the labor movement is not unified. However, most people active in the field
believe that federal and state contributions should be supplementary and not
in lieu of support by organized labor. Also labor representatives should be

™® Report by Spencer Miller, Jr. at Annual Conference of Teachers in Workers Educa-
tion, New York, February 1938.

*! Figures are only estimations based upon analysis of budgets, but are the fullest avail-
able in the field.

2 Op. cit.

25

Tr








PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION








active in any educational experiment for workers, so that independen
may have responsible contact with the labor movement.

Although new adherents to workers’ education have been f o
pioneers are still interested and active. The presence of experienc
viduals and groups has provided the movement with continuity and a {
of reference. In the present experimental period, therefore, princi pl
ing to purpose, scope, curriculum, methodology, and finance and con
evolving to meet the needs of the day while drawing on the =
past.

26


CHAPTER III

Within the Trade Union Movement



Te historical summary has revealed that a variety of organizations are
interested in workers’ education. In accordance with their particular func-
tional philosophies, trade unions, political parties, fraternal organizations,
cooperatives, and social and cultural groups have planned different educational
activities for workers, thus making the movement complex and amorphous.
A study of the patterns within the respective agencies, therefore, is necessary
for a complete picture of the subject.*

Young labor organizations, with stability as their goal, are utilizing educa-
tional techniques developed by three trade unions, which were pioneers in the
field, namely, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers, the American Fed-
eration of Hosiery Workers, and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers.’

The three groups were atypical of labor organizations of their time in that
they initiated instruction for workers soon after they were founded in 1900,
1913, and 1914, respectively." Their educational patterns, therefore, have
helped shape workers’ education throughout the entire trade union move-
ment. The following pages describe the techniques as developed by them.

*Two students, Sophie Cambria and Edythe Norwick, of the Carola Woerishoffer
Graduate Department of Social Economy and Social Research of Bryn Mawr College,
aided in collecting material for this section in 1937-38.

* Hereafter when these three organizations are referred to together, they will be desig-
nated the I.L.G.W.U,, the A.F.H.W., and the A.C.W.A.

* The Cleveland Convention of the I.L.G.W.U. in 1914 laid the foundation of the
present educational work. In that year trade union courses were arranged in the Rand
School of Social Science. After experimentation a the Waist and Dressmakers’ Local
in New York City in 1915, education was expanded on a national scale in the following
year, The A.F.H.W. made its first educational effort in its Paterson and Milwaukee locals
in 1917 and 1918 respectively. The A.C.W.A. began its program of education in 1917.
The expansion of this program has been more halting, however, than that of the
LL.G.W.U.

27


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

The educational ideologies of the 1L.G.W.U., the A.CW.A. and the
AF.H.W. have not changed greatly throughout the years. From the begin-
ning, social reconstruction as well as effective collective bargaining has been
the goal. The groups do not want merely to turn out “. . . educated men and
women in the ordinary sense, but to touch the hearts and minds of our mem-
bers and mould them into intelligent conscious union men and women.” *
Also they aim to train intelligent and conscious union men and women to
strive for the reconstruction of society.” Workers’ education, therefore, has
had to prepare workers to act in economic, political, and social spheres.

The trade unions under consideration have developed instruction for work-
ers along three lines: “mass education,” “classroom education,” and “training
for trade union service.” “Mass education” has been designed to overcome the
apathy and inertia of the majority of workers. Individuals otherwise uninter-
ested in “education” are taught subtly and indirectly to be loyal to organized
labor and its ideals. Many activities are included in the category: the opera
Aida performed before an audience of 20,000 union members; a radio talk
by a union leader; or labor movies shown at a local meeting. Specific local
units may appeal to the rank and file membership through picnics, dances,
conducted tours of museums, excursions, theater parties, libraries, and active
social rooms. It is believed that these gatherings and facilities make workers
more ready to pay their dues and back their organizations. Active support
of leisure activities possibly may be transformed into understanding and
positive aid when labor representatives meet with employers and government.

“Classroom education” reaches a smaller but more serious group than does
“mass education.” The technique is to bring individuals together for infor-
mal discussion of allied topics. Meetings are held consecutively for about six
weeks in a place designated by the union—perhaps at its own hall, a public
school, or a settlement. The program usually influences from five to eight
percent of a specific organization’s total membership. Instruction may be in

“tool” subjects, including English, public speaking, and parliamentary law.
The aim is to extend rudimentary education to trade union members or to
teach them fundamental organizational techniques. They may thereby learn
their A B C’s or how to conduct a trade union meeting, to draw up demands,

192 noe The Women’s Garment Workers, New York, B. W. Huebsch, Inc.,
Pp
Ibid.

28






WITHIN THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT



or to initiate bargaining with employers. On the other hand, study may be
more advanced. Content of courses may be similar to civics, economics, and
history as taught in the public schools. However, special methods are utilized
to make the worker more watchful and searching of the current social scene
than is the ordinary secondary school student.

The three trade unions under discussion have promoted “training for trade
union service” in varying degrees. Special classes are held for experienced and
inexperienced officers, shop chairmen, and business agents. The leaders
thereby learn “how to organize a new area” and “how to negotiate an agree-
ment.” They are trained by other organizers, or, on occasion, even the presi-
dent of the union himself. This sponsorship of service courses shows that
the groups realize how necessary well-trained leaders are to attain an effective
labor movement. As a result, they are anxious, as are the fields of medicine,
social work, government, and business, that their experts have both experience
on the job and theoretical study. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’
Union accordingly on May 15, 1937 decided to establish a labor college
wherein officers may obtain required educational qualifications.’

The LL.G.W.U., the A.F.H.W., and the A.C.W.A. have realized that rigid
lines do not divide the three educational programs; one type leads into another.
A large rally for newly organized members of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers, sponsored by Highlander Folk School, illustrates the process." Dur-
ing a slack period of five weeks, shirt workers in La Follette, Tennessee,
enjoyed many facilities. A library was arranged; classes were conducted; and
an inter-union conference was held. Recreational activities included folk-
dancing, picnics, athletics, movies, and a union-label fair. A shop paper con-
tinued to give the workers news about their union. Some members lived at
project headquarters, while others commuted from their homes. An evalua-
tion conference ended the rally. Participants agreed that such programs were
valuable for their morale and for strengthening their organization. They
planned a continuous follow-up program.

Organizational and educational activities also may be interchangeable.
Even labor conflicts may yield lessons for workers. During a strike which

* International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, The Twentieth Year Annual Report
of the Educational Department, June 1, 1936-May 31, 1937 (a reprint from Justice,
the organization’s newspaper, July 15, 1937).

Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Union, Carpetbaggers of the South, passim.

29
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



lasted 16 weeks in Norfolk, Virginia, organizers for the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers started classes. Although their chief concern was immediate
economic success, they wanted the experience to be educational. Workers,
meeting in free hours between picket duty and other strike activities, dis-
cussed questions related to their current situation. By studying the history
of picketing, injunctions and mediation, they joined education and organiza-
tion.®

Learning and other functions of trade unions are correlated. In some locals,
an English and journalism class publishes a mimeographed news sheet for
members of the local. In other trade union groups, legislative committees
have studied and then promulgated wages and hour legislation. Press com-
mittees have tackled publicity problems in order to build sympathetic and
informed public opinion. Thus the informal committee process has overcome
several limitations that ordinarily have characterized workers’ education.
Among them have been marked turnover in attendance, the many educational
levels among students, and shortage of teachers.

Because they believe in social reconstruction, the LL.G.W.U., the A-C.W.A.,
and the A.F.H.W. have endorsed, in addition, educational programs which
lead their members into community organizations. During unionization
drives, the Amalgamated bears community attitude in mind and endeavors to
interpret policies to different citizens. Literature, mass meetings, and other
devices serve the purpose. The organization firmly believes that “A union
that has community sentiment to fall back upon in time of need is doubly
strong.”* The American Federation of Hosiery Workers encourages educa-
tional committees to cooperate in civic enterprises, as illustrated by the anti-
syphilis campaign in Reading, Pennsylvania.” Thereby the trade union be-
comes more than an agency for collective bargaining; social improvement
becomes the goal of positive, constructive activity.

Centralized direction and local planning have brought educational programs
to young locals in small towns. Financial aid usually accompanies any
materials that are sent from the central office and traveling teachers help the

2 Griselda Kuhlman, “A Picket Line Class,” Teaching Economics in Workers’ Classes,
Affiliated Schools Scrapbook, Vol. 1, No. 2 (June, 1936), pp. 18-19.

° Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Union, “Just How This Was Done,” Bread and
Roses, the Story of the Rise of the Shirtworkers, 1933-1934, p. 43.

* American Federation of Hosiery Workers, Bulleti: Branch i
(Marts, 1598) oe ry e! ulletin for Branch Committees, No. 3

30


WITHIN THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT



less experienced local departments. In addition, conferences and institutes at
convenient points have brought together rank and file members and leaders
from various localities.

A Department of Cultural Activities aids scattered groups in the Amalgam-
ated Clothing Workers Union. For example, a correspondence course carried
on through The Advance, the official journal of the organization, reaches iso-
lated students. The paper contains mimeographed material and related ques-
tions dealing with four courses: Problems of Collective Bargaining, Labor in
American History, Economics of the Garment Industry, and the CLO. Enroll-
ment has been free for a certain number of applicants. Beyond the quota, an
entrance fee of 50 cents has been charged. The Department has encouraged
individuals to form study groups for the course and to choose discussion lead-
ers among themselves. Central headquarters, nevertheless, gives weekly, mid-
term, and final quizzes. Failure to answer the weekly questions within two
weeks results in expulsion from the course. Papers are marked by the national
office, confused papers being answered individually, and model answers and
additional information are published. A specific course may take from six
to 23 weeks.*

In summary, three types of program, “mass education,” “classroom educa-
tion,” and “training for trade union service,” constitute the educational pat-
tern of the LL.G.W.U., the A.C.\W.A., and the A.F.H.W. In practice, the
distinct forms merge into a cohesive whole. The primary purpose of the
educational work is to achieve a strong and effective labor movement. The
goal is to perfect collective bargaining by giving leaders and rank and file a
broad outlook. Workers’ education encourages impersonal and detached dis-
cussion and handling of problems within trade unions; cautious action so as
not to endanger the livelihood of thousands of workers; and realization that
no decision is infallible or irrevocable.

Class consciousness is inherent in the educational pattern, although not
apparent in all techniques. Yet the workers are taught to study all sides of a
question. They are urged to guard against “social animism” through which
“persons” are held to blame for this or that, “simplism” in which the “cause of”
anything and everything is “economic,” and an “antagonism complex” through



™ “Our Union University,” The Advance, Vol. XXIV, No. 4 (April, 1938), pp. 24-25.
31


Qt

PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

which all the other class does is under suspicion.” Great stress is laid on the
principle that “The greatest strength of organized labor lies in the fact that
its social objective can be shown to be coordinate with the ideal social objec-
tive for all men.” ”

THE EFFORTS OF NEW INDUSTRIAL UNIONS

To some extent industrial unions in the last decade have adopted the educa-
tional pattern of the organizations discussed above.” If they had not, the
labor movement would have collapsed. Without rapid instruction, large num-
bers of new members would have been unable to use collective bargaining
wisely or effectively.

The goal of assimilating raw recruits has made education in the new groups
almost entirely pragmatic. The central educational department of the United
Automobile Workers’ Union” has emphasized “training for trade union serv-
ice,” as a means of obtaining “a sufficient portion of the membership to man
the organization, take care of the interests of the men in the shops, and pro-
tect contractual relations with the employers.” *” The need for other instruc-
tion has been stated as follows:

Local chairmen had to be taught to conduct meetings, officers how to conduct
the union’s business efficiently and economically, stewards and committeemen
how to handle grievances under the existing contracts, organizers how to
negotiate agreements and apprehend the meaning of various types of recogni-
tion formulas and grievance machinery, rank and filers to understand the very
meaning of trade unionism itself.”

Since the central department could not train enough teachers to meet the
demand, sometimes only study outlines could be sent to locals. In fact, local

“H. A, Overstreet, “The Psychology of Mass Education,” Proceedings of the Second
Annual Conference of Teachers in Workers’ Education, Mass Education for Workers,
at Brookwood, February 20-22, 1925, pp. 51-53.

* Henry Linville, “The Scientific Method in Workers’ Education for Training and for
Use,” Proceedings of the Conference of Teachers in Workers’ Education, at Brookwood,
February 23-24, 1924, p. 36.

“In the following pages only special emphases will be discussed since the general
pattern is similar to that discussed in the preceding pages.

* The constitution of the organization provides for an educational fund in both locals
and central unit. The union accordingly has spent a full five percent of its annual
ad fe education.

illiam Munger, “Educational Program Built on ‘Know Union’ logan,” Axto-
9 “gaat aal November 13, 1937. = ~~ re

32






WITHIN THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT



units often have had to initiate and carry through educational programs almost
alone. Coordination of instruction with practical issues, however, has encour-
aged use of union members as teachers, whether trained by the international
or by the smaller groups.

The new textile organizations also have utilized “training for trade union
service.” The functional method of the American Federation of Hosiery
Workers has been the primary technique. Educational committees as well as
sub-committees have been formed to deal with legislation, publicity, or such
problems as work leads and occupational diseases. Thus members come to
participate in both trade union and community activities.

Concentration upon materials has been a major emphasis in the United
Rubber Workers’ Organization. As in the older unions, the central depart-
ment prepares bulletins for the locals. Support of specific labor and social
legislation is advised, book lists have been compiled, and local labor libraries
have been initiated.

Although practical demands have caused the new organizations to empha-
size only certain phases of established educational patterns, other techniques
have been utilized as in the older groups. Since many individuals have had to
be reached, “mass education” has been important. Recreation and sports have
drawn members into educational activities and built loyalty to and habitual
relations with a specific labor organization. “Classroom education” has been
developed in some places, but, on the whole, new members have not been inter-
ested in formal education nor have teachers been available in the required num-
bers. The immediate aim of enlarging and retaining trade union membership
has precluded as much emphasis upon social reconstruction as in the older
organizations. Signs of the broader point of view, however, are seen when
leaders recommend specific legislative activity.

Development from the pure and simple collective bargaining to social pur-
pose will come in time as shown in the activities of the women’s auxiliaries
of the United Automobile Workers’ Union.” Their educational program is as
broad as is that of the LL.G.W.U., the A.C.W.A., and the A.F.H.W., since
the women have not had to concentrate upon the same practical, immediate
issues as have the men. In all of the new industrial unions, the workers’ func-

“In August 1937, a central auxiliary organization was established. Nine months
after, the agency reported that 67 chartered auxiliaries were members and 40 units were
in the process of organization.

33




\

PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

tions and responsibilities as citizens in a democratic society is a concept
increasingly apparent in educational programs.

OTHER NEWLY ORGANIZED GROUPS

Workers’ education is helping the trade union movement to assimilate
workers in several other categories. The respective organizations of these
groups have devised educational techniques as contained in the patterns of
the LL.G.W.U., the A.C.W.A,, and the AF.H.W. Similar goals are to be
achieved: namely, advancement of trade union ideas and techniques and social
and political participation. White-collar workers, agricultural workers, un-
employed, and Negroes, therefore, are closer to the educational efforts of the
seasoned trade unions than to that of the new industrial organizations.

The newly organized workers are unlike the members of the older trade
unions, and, therefore, need different specific content and methods, within
the similar broad framework. White-collar workers do not need “tool”
courses, because standard facilities have given them rudimentary education,
but they must be taught the concepts of trade unionism, which they have
rarely understood. On the other hand, rural instruction has not adequately
equipped tenant farmers, share croppers, and other agricultural workers;
they, must learn both educational and trade union fundamentals. And among
the unemployed and the Negroes, diverse education and experience have to
be met.

Th educational program of the United Office and Professional Workers
of America illustrates the use of workers’ education by white-collar workers.”
Trade unionism has been listed as the first interest of instruction and inde-
pendent political activity as second. Forums, discussion groups, and bulletins
accordingly emphasize effective organization and promotion of social and
labor legislation. Formal classes are the exception rather than the rule, edu-
cational topics generally being introduced in regular business meetings.

The Federal Workers of America include vocational aims in their program.
Their school in Washington, D. C. affords government employees the oppor-
tunity to gain technical competence and thereby qualify for a better position.
A broad curriculum includes statistics, foreign languages, methods of trade
union organization, history, and current events.

* The organization has a national educational department and director.

34






WITHIN THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT



Two trade unions in particular—the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union and
the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America—
have realized the importance of promoting educational activities for farmers
and farm laborers. The latter organization has adopted educational resolu-
tions at its conventions, and the former has established a concrete program
similar to that of the older trade unions heretofore discussed.

The national educational director and local educational committees of the
S.T-F.U. first attempt to,stimulate interest in organization; they provide in-
formation about the Union to their own members and to the communities in
which they function. Secondly, they encourage study of current legislation
and social events. An integral part of the program is instruction in “the three
R’s,” since the inadequacies of rural education must be corrected. Recreational
activities naturally are included. The organization has had the cooperation
of both Highlander Folk School and Commonwealth College, which provide
a resident program and year ‘round extension work. Farm workers have an
opportunity to live among mill workers and local townspeople and to dis-
cover their common problems. Through field classes individuals, formerly
geographically isolated, may meet and converse with other people.”

Commonwealth College felt that “The deplorable conditions among
Southern agricultural and timber workers cannot be corrected until Negro
and white workers are organized together.”™ It therefore used every oppor-
tunity to bring racial groups together and to discuss with them the significance
of their mutual efforts, and has helped many Negro farm workers in separate
units to acquire an elementary education and to find their place in trade
unionism.

Three nation-wide organizations, the National Association for the Advance-
ment of the Colored People, the National Urban League, and the National
Negro Congress also aid Negroes to become effective workers and citizens.
Although none of the three arose primarily to defend their race as workers,
all within recent years have emphasized considerably the problems of Negro
industrial and farm workers. The National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People has set up councils of workers and farmers. In classes they



“ hepa a a detailed account of the programs of these Schools, see infra, Chapter
, Pp. 57-8, 62.

Bolder, Educational Program of Commonwealth College, Phases for Which Funds
Must Be Raised, 1937-1938, p. 1.

35
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



are taught the history and the role of the Negro in industry and how organized
labor may promote his interests. An attempt is made to form interracial
groups so that they may serve “as an opposition force to every manifesta-
tion and form of racial chauvinism in the labor movement.”* The National
Urban League has organized similar councils.” In some areas the groups
prepare Negroes for some particular vocation or trade, thus combining voca-
tional education with workers’ education.”

The Workers’ Alliance of America, representative of the unemployed, has
actively promoted Negro interests since the race constitutes a large part of
membership in some localities. Results vary from community to community,
since educational work for the entire constituency, Negro and white, is
developed on a local basis. Through workers’ education, those unemployed
or on work relief learn how organized action may improve their social and
economic status, Instruction is pragmatic, showing members how to exert
pressure upon local, state, and federal legislatures and thereby secure more
adequate social legislation.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

In 1930 John Kennedy stated that specific forces stimulated the beginning
of workers’ education. He described the process as follows:

Workers’ education in America was born at a time when the progressive
forces of the labor movement were in the ascendency. This, of course, was not
accidental. These who were interested in the organization of basic industries,
the amalgamation of craft unions, the building of a labor party, and the waging
of an aggressive struggle for a better life for Labor all along the line realized
the role that workers’ education could play in gathering data, developing
understanding, building the morale and creating a technique to carry on this
struggle.*

These influences seem to have shaped education in the trade unions today,
Three organizations atypical of the trade unionism of their time, the Inter-

“Emmett Dorsey, “The Negro and Social Planning,” Journal of Negro Education,
Vol. 5 (January, 1936), p. 109.

“Fools and Cowards Cut Their Own Throats (leaflet distributed by the Negro
Workers’ Councils of the National Urban League).

Workers’ Bureau of the National Urban League, The Workers’ Council Bulletin,
No, 20 (March 1, 1938), p. 2.

* “Next Steps in Workers’ Education,” Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Conference
of Teachers in Workers’ Education, What Next in Workers’ Education, at Brookwood,
February 21-23, 1930, p. 65.

36








WITHIN THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT



national Ladies’ Garment Workers, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, and
the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, set the example for current
newly formed groups. They formulated three programs, “mass education,”
“classroom education,” and “training for trade union service,’ which might
lead workers to new economic, political, and social horizons.

Young groups, including automobile, rubber, steel and textile workers, are
adapting old devices to their needs. Struggling to strengthen their economic,
business structure, they necessarily are emphasizing pragmatic instruction.
Interest in political and consumers’ problems, however, is dawning and por-
tends an educational movement which may expand as their trade unionism
broadens.

Still other categories of workers are borrowing educational ideas from the
older groups. Hitherto ostracized by the official trade union movement, white-
collar, agricultural and Negro workers and the unemployed are learning their
part in labor organization. Because of their youth, they are developing
workers’ education slowly, from community to community. Local needs,
therefore, determine the emphasis of specific programs, sometimes mainly
economic, and sometimes socially and politically motivated. They can well
utilize the means of the older immigrant trade unionists, who had to fight
for acceptance within the working class as well as within the life of the
nation.

Despite slight differences, the trade unions which endorse workers’ educa-
tion conform to one main pattern. Instruction is related functionally to col-
lective bargaining; the core is the experience of the workers. Many groups
outside of the labor movement have recognized this relationship and con-
sequently have raised opposition. Naturally, opposition stems from antag-
onism to organized labor as a whole. Hilda W. Smith, Director of the
Workers’ Service Program of the Work Projects Administration, has analyzed
the hostility as follows:

The major part of the criticism, however, is probably inevitable, given the
nature of this program, its emphasis on current economic questions of a con-
troversial nature, and its close relationship to the needs of the labor move-
ment. In spite of their legal status, the unions still have much to do before
their very right to exist is recognized by the American public. And the
struggle of workers’ education to establish itself as a sound teaching program

is bound up with the struggle of labor unions for recognition, and for the
tight of collective bargaining. Once these rights are taken for granted by

37


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

aii in

insite Bie. ie’ ie by the courts, it is safe to predict that fo
to these classes will gradually disappear.”

Recognition of trade unions doubtless will affect their educational pro-—
grams. As they become more unified among themselves and as governmental
aid and social legislation help to level their differences, a more distinct pattern’

of education may evolve. Present differences, namely structure of educational _
_ departments and degree of focus upon political and social issues, may become —
modified. A coordinated trade unionism may develop an integrated educa- —

© 4 Suiemiery of Workers! Bincation Under the W. P, A., a special rt 0 worker |
education, March 10, 1938, p. 14. ee






CHAPTER IV

Outside the Trade Union Movement



Shecs colonial times American labor has been struggling to be recognized
as a group but the labor movement in the United States still is immature.
The crux of the situation has been the failure of trade unions to draw and
hold as active members more than a small percentage of the workers. For
example, occupational and industrial penetration by organized labor has been
limited and Negroes and many women have been excluded from workers’
groups. Moreover, many in the laboring class have not had a working-class
philosophy and therefore have not found organization attractive. Thus, edu-
cational opportunities which other organizations have offered workers are
important. Schools, churches, Young Men's and Young Women’s Christian
Associations, community centers, settlements, organizations for the foreign
born, and political parties have initiated programs, or have cooperated with
trade unions and others who advocate schooling for workers. A survey of
their activities is necessary for a complete picture.

A number of the organizations to be considered sponsored workers’ educa-
tion before the interest of the trade unions was aroused. They have con-
tinued to do so, concerning themselves primarily with the unorganized
workers, often unemployed and on relief. The main effort has been to help
them find their place in society. In recent years, courses have been offered
them in which they may study their present situation and problems. Recre-
ational facilities, ranging from tap-dancing to creative writing and from
amateur theatricals to open forums, have also been provided.

THE ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES

Specific political groups, particularly the Socialists and Communists, have
attempted instruction for workers. Socialists started the Rand School of

39




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

Social Science in 1906, long before any trade union colleges or educational
departments within labor organizations were founded.’ Seventeen years
later, the Communists founded their Workers’ School in New York City.
Since that time, other instructional agencies have been formed by various
opposition units within the two groups. The purpose of instruction has been
to further social change. The final goal depends upon the specific philosophy
of the sponsor. Students are not necessarily party members who wish to be
taught definite techniques of action. Many are individuals who desire merely
to study different theories in order to determine for themselves an everyday
mode of thought and conduct. Therefore, the courses which make up the
major part of the curriculum contain a heterogeneous group of educated
liberals and radicals as well as uneducated workers. All meet to discuss
common problems.

Because they recognize trade unionism as an effective medium for social
change, however, political groups have furthered specific instruction in this
connection. For example, the Rand School has always had training courses
and classes for organized workers but in 1936 they were transformed into a
definite Trade Union Institute. The labor organizations which recruit for
the Institute and contribute financially have a political philosophy. They view
the labor movement as a broad process and accordingly recognize workers’
education in political schools as a necessary supplement to their own courses.
First, they wish their members to learn the concepts of trade unionism; sec-
ondly, they value political training for social action. They know that some
workers will proceed from the trade union institute classes to the more general
political courses.

The political groups, with similar expectations, first work within the pri-
mary interest of organized workers, that of collective bargaining. “How a
trade union works” and “what trade union officials need to know” are intro-
ductory topics. Students advance into classes “designed to show how a ttade
union functions in our economic and political society.”* The educational
directors of the specific institutions have stated that the political parties which
sponsor the work do not exercise close control. Although teaching is frankly

* Algernon Lee, “Socialist Activity in Workers’ Education,” Proceedings of the Fifth
Annual Conference of Teachers in Workers’ Education, The Place of Workers’ Educa-
tion in the Labor Movement, at Brookwood, February 24-26, 1928, p. 38.

18 oer School of Social Science, Bulletin: Trade Union Institute of the Rand School,

40

a a a a a tl el el le =

es




OUTSIDE THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT



predicated upon the class struggle, they maintain that complete and demo-
cratic expression of opposing views is allowed.

The classroom technique is used primarily, whether for the heterogeneous
groups or for the specific workers’ units. The Trade Union Institute plans
courses for members of a particular organization or from several groups.
Classes may be held at either the school or trade union headquarters. Courses
are varied. There are training units for organizers, classes teaching the appli-
cation of parliamentary law, and conferences which aim to promote social
and labor legislation.

A few functional and “mass education” techniques are utilized. Workers
are taken to meetings and conferences, held prior to state legislative sessions.
Student councils encourage extra-curricular activities, although with little
direction. And specifically, when a scholarship is granted the Rand School
states that “It is taken for granted that students who receive the benefit of this
arrangement will feel bound to reimburse the school by putting their training
to good use in the labor movement.” *

The political schools operate mainly in large cities. However, workers
from smaller urban and rural districts receive correspondence courses, study
outlines, and literature prepared for their group. They also may come to city
summer schools, organized on a short time basis.

YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION

The Young Women’s Christian Association, a pioneer in workers’ educa-
tion, has steadfastly maintained its faith in the movement.

Two Y.W.C.A. units, the Industrial Department and the Business and Pro-
fessional Girls’ Division, have been especially interested and active. The
former has had extensive experience in the past and in 1937 reported workers’
classes in all but two of 22 groups studied.* Many local departments are
cooperating with the W.P.A. Even more extensive and more carefully
planned educational programs are advised for the future. A recent “Industrial
Study” states that “an industrial program which leaves out workers’ education



* Rand School of Social Science, Special Bulletin.

*Young Women’s Christian Association, Laboratory Division, Tentative Conclusions
and Recommendations of the Committee for the National Industrial Study Relating to
the Local Industrial Program of the Y.W.C.A., June, 1937, p. 12.

41




Rae: : r TF re pe 7 Ta m

PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

is ‘only a shell,’ and even though it may be rich in cultural content lacks reality
for the industrial worker.” °

On the whole, unorganized working women have come to the Y.W.C.A.
The agency plans an educational program which may make meaningful their
varied community experiences. The emphasis evolves naturally from a gen-
eral program, stated by the Industrial Department to be as follows:

The Industrial Department offers to girls employed in factories, homes,
restaurants, and mercantile establishments, opportunities to make friends, to
have fun, to pursue special interests and skills, to develop leadership, and to
become more effective citizens. It offers them interest groups, discussions, and
forums on social and economic problems, and leadership experience. It also
offers social affairs, recreation and sports.°

At the same time an attempt is made to develop reciprocal understanding
and feeling between people who have had different social experiences. Accord-
ingly, employers and workers are drawn into a program which encourages
cooperation within their communities.

Informal education has been said to be the crux of the Y.W.C.A. industrial
program. As working women come together from many different groups,
they tend to discover and discuss common problems and to do something about
them. One club member cites examples of the process. In one community,
an orchestra had to be hired for a dance. Controversy arose as to whether the
musicians should be union or non-union workers. Involuntarily, discussion
evolved into a temporary but vitally interested class in labor problems. In
Rochester, New York, a trade party presented opportunities for a varied edu-
cational process. A labor mural which was painted involved study of work-
ers’ history, puppets were made to depict well-known characters, and a dance
group interpreted industrial speed-up. In Boston, Rochester, and Cleveland,
club members illustrate their interests in social studies workshops.



Many clubs have promoted more formal instructional programs. Women
are trained to be responsible leaders and active citizens, workers’ schools have
been established, or special classes have been arranged. It may be significant
that a, definite framework has been given activities where the Y.W.C.A.
cooperates with trade unions, among them clothing and textile groups.

® Ibid, p. 13.
°Y.W.C.A., Laboratory Division Report, Looking Back, New York, 1934.

42


OUTSIDE THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT



On the whole, local finances and direction determine a particular educa-
tional set-up. At the same time, however, nation-wide Y.W.C.A. activities
have an encouraging influence. Research and laboratory divisions provide
materials for local clubs. National Industrial and Business Councils and sum-
mer conferences and institutes offer short-time resident opportunities. The
National Industrial Council, in addition, sponsors projects which induce
study on a variety of topics: interracial problems, Fascism, household employ-
ment, volunteer leadership, trade unionism, the American Youth Congress.
Educational groups utilize the findings. Finally, the Y.W.C.A. has cooper-
ated with many W.P.A. community programs, by providing classrooms and
library facilities, sponsoring classes, and having staff members serve on advi-
sory committees.

SETTLEMENT HOUSES

The National Federation of Settlements recently appointed a special com- —

mittee to study social and workers’ education promoted by local community
houses. The investigating agency found diverse programs carried on by the
settlements themselves or with the Work Projects Administration.’ In some
instances settlements were using W.P.A. teachers to carry on projects so that
established programs would not be discontinued because of Jack of funds. In
1937 one New York City unit had 19 W.P.A. projects and another had 11.
Each of five other settlements housed one program."

Since trade unions increasingly provide social and recreational activities
for their members, community houses attract mainly unorganized workers.
Troubled by problems which they must face alone and desiring social relax-
ation, they find the settlements responsive to their needs. The agencies have
centered their social and workers’ educational program about the position of
workers in their communities. Classes and activities must discover spokes-
men who are products of local situations; instruction must be directed to con-
trol of the operative forces. In other words, the settlement must help people
to find their particular place in the social scheme; it must aid them to acquire
status in their own social group and to discover interests and tastes in common

7 Committee on Social and Workers’ Education, National Federation of Settlements,
Workers’ Education in the Settlements, Chicago, June, 1938, passim.

® Gaynell Hawkins, Educational Experiments in Social Settlements, New York, Ameri-
can Association for Adult Education, 1937, p. 76.

43



SSS

pense etn

i

aT, aie
eT eer

PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

with people not exactly like themselves; it must assist them to learn how to
work with others towards some common objective.’

In their educational work, settlements have had to meet adult indifference,
language difficulties, and neighborhood mobility. After studying their own
situation, particular centers have endorsed informal, functional workers’ edu-
cation; others a more formal, intellectual process. Some institutions have
sponsored both types. The Henry Street Settlement in New York City
illustrates how complete workers’ education can be within a community
agency, cooperating with the government. A center is operated in spring,
summer, and fall sessions. Prior to the midsummer of 1935 the center was
a city-wide W.P.A. project, known as the New York City School for Workers,
and was open mainly to trade unionists. The realization that organized
workers have their own classes turned the school into a neighborhood unit,
attracting mothers, fathers, and children of the section. A school bulletin
defines the purpose of study as follows:

Like the public night schools, the courses draw in many who have had little
or no formal schooling; like them they cover cultural subjects, but in these and
in the courses on current events, in economics and social problems, the distinc-
tion lies in relating classwork closely to their daily lives as workers and
citizens. It is a training center in clear thinking for young people who without
acquaintance with history or economics face the responsibilities and issues of
life and labor in a great industrial community. The school is not committed
to any dogma or theory, is modern in its emphasis on self-expression, and
conducts its teaching in the spirit of impartial inquiry and freedom for
discussion.”

Interests awakened through courses lead to informal educational activities,
centered around community reconstruction. For example, an East Side Forum
Unit has been formed. The group cooperates with the Federation of East
Side Clubs, the East Side Tenants’ Union, and the Civic Education Association,
in sponsoring rallies of social clubs, housing meetings, and political forums.
W.P.A. teachers, residents of the settlement, and volunteers guide the program.

Other settlements throughout the country prefer informal, functional edu-
cation to the formal type. Local consumer, labor, tenant, parent and political
groups thereby may define their problems and then proceed to cooperative,
legislative and other practical activity to remedy them. For example, Mothers’

® Gaynell Hawkins, op. cit., passim.
* Henry Street Settlement, Bulletin, New York City, August, 1935, p. 3.

44





animales i a tae ti tts malate nlnae a

siti il cl












OUTSIDE THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT



Clubs in Cleveland’s Playhouse Settlement and New York's University Settle-
ment have studied local food prices. As a result, the former drew up a “pre-
ferred” list of food dealers and the latter formed a Milk Consumers’ Protective
Committee. Senior Club boys at Detroit's Franklin Settlement discuss their
problems as stewards in automobile factories and weigh the merits and dis-
advantages of trade unionism. In Cleveland a group of women have called
upon city authorities to ask that lights be placed in playgrounds and that
duties and qualifications of doctors paid by the city be clarified. A class on
unemployment and a job-finders club are carried on together in Greenwich
House, New York. Voters in Neighborhood House, Louisville, have formed
a Public Action Committee. The Art Workshop developing from the former
College Settlement has recognized recreational needs of industrial workers
and is fostering leisure-time skills. All of the functional techniques in these
neighborhood houses are designed to help individuals and groups to work
and live more effectively within their communities.

Settlement programs are mainly local in scope. Specific functions, there-
fore, are determined by different controlling units. Where finances come
from liberal backers, where neighborhood committees direct, and where a
flexible tradition exists, educational and other activities are broad and ex-
tensive:

RELIGIOUS GROUPS

Various religious denominations have undertaken education for workers.
Since they have no clear-cut relationship with the official labor movement, the
Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, the Council for Social Action of the
National Council of Congregational Churches, and the interdenominational
National Religion and Labor Foundation have no clearly defined workers’
education program as such, Their activities, however, deserve mention be-
cause of certain contributions. Two ideas seem to be embodied in the religious
educational programs. The first is to use instruction to translate labor activity
into comprehensive social terms; in other words, to bring workers into the
church. The second is to help all church members to understand the labor
movement, thereby aiding the workers. The two goals are united in the
common purpose to promote a new order guided by Christian ideals.

The Catholic Worker, organ of the Catholic group, has expressed the hope
that workers will strive for the common good and by gaining the confidence

45


REFS

PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION






















and respect of their non-Catholic fellows raise the level of trade unionism
toa Christian plane. The Council of Social Action and the National Religion
f and Labor Foundation, on the other hand, emphasize the belief that the Church
a is socially obligated to study the problems of workers.

Members of the ALF. of L., the C.1.0., and independent labor organizations
comprise the constituency of the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists.
They are brought together to study labor problems in parish schools, as at
Fordham University. Registrants must be trade unionists if they wish to join
the classes offered in Labor History and Relations, Current Problems, Parlia-
mentary Law, and Public Speaking. Students are encouraged to proceed to
field work, distributing pamphlets and leaflets and sponsoring round table dis-
cussions. The Council for Social Action and the National Religion and Labor
Foundation have a more informal approach. The former sponsors conferences
which bring together workers, ministers, and church members. The three
groups together visit slums and housing exhibits and promote legislative
activity. The Foundation sponsors labor colleges in some districts and cooper-
ates with Commonwealth Labor College and similar schools. Maintenance of
traveling seminars, however, has attracted most attention. The director has
described the groups as follows:

One might say that these seminars afford an indirect type of experience for
workers. Actual workers and labor leaders constitute too small a minority, it
is true, but the contact comes when well-chosen and socially-motivated clergy-

men, teachers, and students on these trips meet with scores of workers in local
centers for the sharing of experience.”

Perhaps the most tangible contribution of the groups under consideration
is their literature. A bulletin of the Congregational Churches reveals the
importance of materials in the statement below:

The Council believes in the power of facts. Its leadership will express
itself not in phrases or labels but in careful research, in a Christian interpreta-
tion of facts, in the stimulating of church groups to action, and in distinct
projects of research and action carried on by members of the staff in the four
great fields of the Council's interest—international, racial, industrial and rural-
urban relations.”

_ "1 Willard Uphaus, Executive Secretary of the National Religion and Labor Founda-
tion, in a letter to the writer, March 11, 1938.

* The Council for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches of the
United States, “Churches in Social Action,” Action to Match Our Gospel, p. 3.

46
OUTSIDE THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT



The Congregational Council has crystallized its belief in research. It has
written and illustrated a magazine, Social Action, reprints of social science
materials, worship services, study outlines, and pamphlets so that they may
be understood by workers who are deeply religious and wary of social move-
ments outside of the Church. The National Religion and Labor Foundation
has an official publication, Economic Justice, which carries on a year-round
interpretation of labor problems. The Catholic trade union association pub-
lishes a periodical, The Catholic W orker, as well as pamphlets and leaflets.

All three religious groups may circulate their material nationally. The
Catholic Worker has branches throughout the country, which sponsor round-
table discussions; the Council’s literature is partly distributed through its com-
munity program; and the Foundation has executive committee members in
many branches of the workers’ education movement.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THOSE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE TRADE UNIONS

Workers’ education in trade unions is available only to organized workers.
Concentration upon collective bargaining, therefore, is natural. Unionized
and non-unionized adults form only one part of broad community organiza-
tions, including political parties, community centers, and churches. Although
as a “labor” educational unit they may draw apart from the general con-
stituency, they are influenced, nevertheless, by the philosophy of their parent
body. Collective bargaining, therefore, is not their main goal.

More specifically, in the majority of trade unions, education and organiza-
tion are related functionally. Emphasis upon intensive community participa-
tion and broad social change is only incidental. On the other hand, political,
community and religious groups utilize education for workers to induce trans-
formation of a political, religious or social nature. Trade unionism, however,
may be shown to be one agency significant as a tool.

Labor organizations which have economic, political and social aims—
namely, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers’ Union, and the American Federation of Hosiery Work-
ers—therefore may well consider other educational programs supplementary
to their own, Consequently, they have used the trade union institutes of
political schools; they have met in settlements, with whom they have merged
educational programs; they have held joint classes with Y.W.C.A.s,

47


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

Even trade unions which primarily emphasize “business” principles may
approve of supplementary community educational programs. They know,
for instance, that settlements always have been in close touch with labor prob-
lems and that they have advocated the right to organize.” Therefore they
are confident that educational activities in settlements will be in accord with
their own. Most labor groups today recognize that they must teach members
to meet other citizens and their experts. They value the Y.W.C.A. because
the agency encourages training, bringing workers and employers together
to discuss work relationships, vocational problems, and social legislation. The
majority of trade unionists, however, do not have as much confidence in work-
ers’ education offered by political and religious groups. Even in labor organ-
izations with a political philosophy, the large mass of workers have little
understanding of the terms “class struggle” and “new social order.” They
feel that political parties are using rather than aiding them.

The trade unions do not hesitate to use the facilities of church groups
which they trust. For instance, the Steel Workers’ Organizing Committee
ordered 3,000 copies of Steel and Men, published by the Council for Social
Action of the Congregational Churches. The Educational Committee of
Branch Number Ten, the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, utilizes
Social Action.“ Labor organizations therefore do not oppose honest efforts
to promote good feelings among all people, and appreciate church cooperation
in collective bargaining, social security, and education. Suspicion is directed
towards the Catholic groups which have stated that parish schools must equip
workers “to sift the good from the bad in labor proposals, and to be the
defenders of sound, constructive union activity against the inroads of com-
munistic agitation.”"” A great deal depends upon whether the church and
trade unions agree as to what are bad and good labor proposals.

Trade unions, settlements, and community organizations use similar meth-
ods, since their problems of obtaining and retaining students are alike. All
have had to face lack of interest, varied educational levels, and industrial or
neighborhood mobility. Large rallies, many classes, and committee participa-
tion have been used as solutions for different people. It is true that the trade

* Gaynell Hawkins, op. cit., p. 76.
“Letter from the Council, March 12, 1938.

PA aa Unionists Urged to End ‘Isms,’” New York Times, January 19, 1939,
p; 21.

48

SE ein ee

%
3
a
:
Y
|
5




OUTSIDE THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT



unions have defined their tools more clearly. They feel that they must draw
as many workers as possible into educational work, in order to strengthen
their organization. The community groups are not as strongly motivated.
Settlements and group work associations differ from trade unions in empha-
sizing mixed employer-employee units. They are more like church groups
in this respect. They differ from the religious institutions, however, in
that their programs are more clearly defined. The political schools have usually
emphasized classroom work. ‘They realize that by working with a minority
they necessarily are attracting individuals who come prepared for more
serious study. Only as they have expanded their trade union facilities
have they employed more diversified means.

Thus, workers’ education is seen to be a complex movement. Specific func-
tional philosophies have molded different patterns in trade unions, political
parties, and social and cultural groups. The aims and methods are most clearly
defined in the collective bargaining agencies; less so in the other organizations.
In specific places and at certain times, the respective educational programs
merge or supplement each other. In a few instances they may conflict. All,
however, hope for social reform which will come wholly or partially through
an educated working-class.

49

PP A A A A A A

CHAPTER V

Coordinating Agencies and Resident Schools



A PICTURE of workers’ education is incomplete without a description
of coordinating agencies. Cooperation has seemed to be necessary in order
to prevent duplication of educational services. Certain groups have attempted
to meet the need. Some have been active since the beginning of the move-
ment; others recently have arisen to cope with new and increased demands.
A few have served trade unions primarily, whereas a number have aided any
organization which has asked for assistance.

In 1921 a group of trade unionists and teachers established the Workers’
Education Bureau to promote inter-union cooperation in education." Eight
years later, membership in the Bureau was restricted through the following
statement:

All trade unions and labor organizations, not dual or seceding in character,
shall be eligible to membership. All workers’ education enterprises under
trade union control, approved by city central bodies and state federations of

labor and not antagonistic to the bona fide organized labor movement and
devoted to the general education of workers, shall be eligible for membership.”

As a result the Bureau has been limited in its scope. No workers’ education
program has been able to receive active aid, if criticism of the American
Federation of Labor is allowed. In recent years, therefore, mainly craft unions
have been assisted. Very seldom has the Bureau conferred with representa-
tives of industrial unions, and then only if discussion has not centered about
the craft-industrial issue.

Within its limitations, the Workers’ Education Bureau has helped many
AF. of L. unions develop varied programs. Because effective teachers have

* Consult Chapter III for instances of independent cooperation of various unions.
® Workers’ Education Bureau, Constitution of Bureau, 1929.

51




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

been few, rank and file participation has been encouraged by informal means.
Dramatic skits, portraying current events, have been prepared for labor meet-
ings and conventions. Workers have heard their problems discussed over
radio broadcasts sponsored by the Bureau. They have received reading guides
which lead them to material within their comprehension. Local trade union
newspapers have been sent prepared articles on significant topics. From sev-
eral other services, leaders rather than rank and file have benefited. For
instance, institutes for organizers have helped solve organizational problems.
Finally, community interest and understanding have been promoted by joint
trade union and university conferences or institutes.

The National Women’s Trade Union League, another auxiliary of the
American Federation of Labor, has tended to integrate workers’ education
within trade unionism. Although it has no voting power in the AF. of L,
several of the local units of the League may vote in their respective state fed-
erations of labor. Consequently the organization may influence the educa-
tional pattern of trade unions.

Local leagues recruit students from trade unions and their women’s auxil-
iaries, as well as from community groups. As a result, needs and difficulties
of labor organizations have been studied carefully. Classes for rank and file
and for leaders, conferences and bulletins deal with the problems. The na-
tional unit has recognized that community facilities vary. Through an
advisory service, an attempt has been made, therefore, to help local units
build educational and activity programs best suited for their specific situation."
Cooperation with consumers and other groups has been advised and often
has made available resources heretofore beyond the reach of workers. Research
is conducted on wages, hours, and working conditions in many industries;
education of the public and of legislatures follows. Workers acting together,
therefore, learn the techniques of community organizations other than their
own.

The American Federation of Labor indirectly has contributed a unifying

device to workers’ education. In 1919, a recommendation was made that city
and state federations form educational committees for the purpose of demand-

*See National Women’s Trade Union League, Educational Committee. To Chairmen
of Educational Committees of Local Leagues, State Leagues, and National Committees,
ey Suggested Educational Program for Local Leagues With No Paid Staff, Dec. 9,

32


COORDINATING AGENCIES AND RESIDENT SCHOOLS



ing that organized labor be represented in the public educational system. Thus
a precedent was established for current labor advisory committees. Where
workers’ education is not under the control of official labor organizations,
several trade unions may be represented upon a board which demands that the

interests of workers be duly recognized. While interpreting the significance
of workers’ education to others, the agents have an opportunity to clarify the
subject among themselves.

One of the first signs that trade unions were interested in their own educa-
tional programs was the appearance of labor colleges. Several organizations
together offered a combination of classes to their members. Duplication
thereby was minimized; fees could be small and teachers and materials uti-
lized to the full. In recent years the “colleges” have suffered a severe mortal-
ity. Some still in the field have ben split by the craft-industrial controversy.
A few have continued to be effective.

The Congress of Industrial Organizations also has recognized that the labor
movement needs workers’ education, that instruction is essential to strong
trade unionism. The agency accordingly has recommended that labor organ-
izations themselves sponsor educational programs or at least cooperate
actively with others so engaged. As yet, however, it has instituted no central-
ized procedure. However, like spirit and principles seem to motivate the edu-
cational programs of affiliates, even though financed by individual unions
themselves. Industrial unionism seems to imply workers’ education."

One must look beyond the trade unions for any extensive coordination
service. Two factors are responsible: lack of harmony among labor organiza-
tions often causes failure to cooperate even in education; many programs are



THE AMERICAN LABOR EDUCATION SERVICE

sponsored by non-trade unionists, making integration by autonomous agencies

In the field since 1926, the American Labor Education Service may be
designated as the oldest independent national agency. The organization
evolved from the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Indus-
try, when more schools and wider assistance for their alumnae were needed.

It has fulfilled the designated purpose and is now aiding the community and |

“Interview with John Edelman, Chairman of Education Committee of Pennsylvania
State Industrial Council, 1938.

53

Be aia i




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

residential work of four additional institutions: the Southern Summer School
for Workers in Industry, the School for Workers in Industry of the University
of Wisconsin, the Summer School for Office Workers, and the Pacific Coast
School for Workers. Local committees formed of representatives of the
autonomous affiliates have aided all the schools to recruit students and raise
funds, They also have sponsored community projects which make workers’
education a year-‘round process for their teachers and alumnae.

As workers’ education developed, the Service gradually assumed added
responsibilities, and in, 1939, in order to describe its new functions, the name
Affiliated Schools for Workers was abandoned. As stated by the agency,
“new emphasis has been given to the national character of the work during
the past year, because of the need today for such a unifying force for the
various groups engaged in workers’ education in this country.”° Member-
ship, therefore, has been broadened to admit not only resident schools, but
also local unions, local labor colleges, and Workers’ Education Committees.

By letter and through efforts in the field many organizations have been
aided. Among them are national and local trade unions and their auxiliaries
from the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the American Federation
of Labor; government agencies including departments of education, housing
authorities, and employment departments, as well as workers’ education
projects; and local labor colleges, resident schools, youth groups, and other
adult education and community organizations. During 1939 contacts were
maintained in 47 states and correspondence was carried on with workers’
education leaders in 10 foreign countries. Services are varied. Groups are
helped to initiate educational programs; to find source material suitable for
their use; to train their teachers; and to arrange sectional conferences. Since
1938, the Labor Education Service has carried on the Annual Conference of
Leaders and Teachers in the field, started at Brookwood in 1924. A Teachers’
Registry was inaugurated in 1940 and workshop methods are now being
demonstrated in New York headquarters. Valuable publications on many
subjects continue to meet the need for material especially designed for work-
ers.’ The administration of the American Labor Education Service alone is
a unifying force. Many branches of the labor movement are represented on
the Board of Directors and auxiliary committees. Local committees include



> American Labor Education Service, Report of the Director, New York, 1939, p. 2.
American Labor Education Service, op. cit., p. 2.

54



a a ie

a le


























COORDINATING AGENCIES AND RESIDENT SCHOOLS



individuals interested in workers and recruited from many different com-
munity agencies.
GOVERNMENTAL PROJECTS

In September 1933 the Work Projects Administration entered the field of
workers’ education.’ The primary purpose has been to aid state educational
authorities in reduction of unemployment among teachers. Federal funds
provide work-relief for teachers; but administrative appropriations are suf-
ficient to allow supervisors and the Washington staff to be experts who do
not have to qualify on a relief basis. States have had to finance maintenance,
classroom equipment, and materials for study, and public institutions or
departments must request the program. Their interest has been aroused
through local committees, representing various community organizations.”

By 1936, The Workers’ Service Program, as it is now designated, con-
ducted 1863 government classes for workers, in which approximately 45,000
men and women were enrolled. They were taught by 580 instructors in 570
communities and 28 states. Seventeen state supervisors guided the programs.”
The project has been most effective in large centers where labor is well organ-
ized. Here, trade unions, political parties, settlements, and community centers
have asked for classes. Consequently, New York City, Philadelphia, Cleve-
land, Detroit, and Chicago have extensive programs. In April, 1938 several
cities in Indiana reported 2391 students, white and Negro. Rural communi-

ties in Kansas and Minnesota likewise have been interested.

The federal and state governments have done more than stimulate and
contribute teachers to classes in various labor organizations. Much effort has
gone into training of instructors who receive their jobs primarily because they
are on relief. Guidance, therefore, has been given in training centers, in con-
ferences, and “in-service.” Suitable material has been developed in the public
programs; the federal agency has formulated bibliographical and source sug-
gestions; the state organizations have written pamphlets and outlines.

*The American Labor Education Service surveyed the potentialities of a government
program and then helped to initiate the work by recruiting students, training teachers,
and interpreting the movement. Experimentation took place primarily in small com-
pee with new trade unions, and in areas where a permanent program seemed
easible.

* Hilda W. Smith, “New Plan for Adult Education,” American Federationist, Vol. 41
(March, 1934), pp. 261-267.

°W.P.A., Workers’ Education Under the F.E.R.A., 1934-1935, passim.

55




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

Government-aided instruction has been strongly opposed by many groups
of employers. In states where such instruction has been initiated, attitudes
and support depend upon the status of the local labor movement and the
general acceptance of collective bargaining. Some groups have questioned
the right of the government to promote workers’ education, insisting that
public agencies are created only in response to a public need, and therefore
should not stimulate interest. Hilda W. Smith, the director of the federal i
program, has replied by pointing out that the worker is inarticulate about his
needs rather than unaware of them. She describes the situation as follows:

The applicant for a class in a public school or other community center may
not ask specifically for this information. He may ask for work in English, for
recreation, for literature, art, or music. With many applicants, however, in

many places, the suggestion that classes may be formed for discussion of
economic and social questions meets with an instant response . . .™ 3

The close connection between government funds and workers’ activity
fundamentally is disapproved by many. However, both organized labor and 1
government state that public assistance is justified, since industry and agricul- }
ture have been given governmental grants. In addition, educators have
endorsed workers’ education as a democratic means of meeting the needs of
many people. According to George F. Zook, former United States Commis- 1

.
a



sioner of Education and present head of the American Council on Education,
the value of the special program is as follows:

The regular educational system should welcome movements of this kind.
They serve as a means of helping the schools and colleges to keep abreast of
those things which the people want. The educational organization should
indeed be quick to respond to popular desires in education. . . . At the same
time all types of group organizations should work with the regular school
organization toward the attainment of our common goals.”



Another educator has said:

My interest in workers’ education arises from the fact that I see and
feel the great importance of making the public schools fit the needs of all our
people. In order to make the school suited to the needs of various groups,
it is necessary to make a study of the needs of these gtoups. Then when we

* “Education via Relief,” Journal of Adult Education, Vol. 6 (January, 1934), p. 119.
™ George F. Zook in Jean Carter and Hilda W. Smith, Education and the Worker
Student, New York, Affiliated Schools for Workers, 1934, Foreword. .

56


COORDINATING AGENCIES AND RESIDENT SCHOOLS



have our schools ready to receive them, they should be sincerely welcomed
into our public schools.”

If special instruction for workers is recognized more generally as a tool of
democracy, a continuous, non-relief government-financed program may be
demanded. Public support on other than relief terms is not inconceivable
when one sees how government has advanced in the field of education. Quot-
ing from Prof. H. F. Clark, writing on educational finance in 1934:

Expenditures for education show evidence of a tendency toward rapid
expansion. This expansion has proceeded until about 3 percent of the total
income in the United States in 1928 was spent on education in contrast with
the 1.5 percent in 1913, and about the same percentage of the gainfully em-
ployed population was working in formal schools. In the future much more
attention is likely to be given to education by means of other institutions
with a corresponding expansion of expenditures for education through these
organizations.”

The recent recommendations of the President's Advisory Committee on Edu-
cation that teacher-training and civic, general, and vocational part-time educa-
tion for adults be encouraged have indicated that some of this expansion
may be for and by workers.”

RESIDENT SCHOOLS AS COORDINATING AGENCIES

Although most adults study in their own communities, during their leisure
time, many have taken advantage of intensive, short-term courses, away from
home. Resident centers therefore may help equalize workers’ education
throughout the country. In the process of experimenting with curricula,
methods of teaching and materials, ideas are exchanged among students repre-
senting many geographical sections and diverse organizations. Alumni of the
resident centers carry end-products of experiments into their own localities,
adjusting them to their particular instructional pattern with the help of field
agents from the schools.

Brookwood Labor College and Commonwealth College in the past and
Highlander Folk School in the present have been forces for integration. First
of all, their Boards of Directors and Advisory Committees have been comprised
of representatives of organized labor, faculty, alumni, and “undergraduates.”

* Report of the F.E.R.A., June, 1934.

“H. F. Clark, “Educational Finance,” Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 5,
(1931), p. 431.

“ New York Times, February 24, 1938.

37




) aaa

PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



Secondly, the schools have recruited students from all branches of unionism
and from all over the country. Men and women with different views, desiring
to become labor leaders, union organizers, and teachers of workers have come
together. Exchange of ideas has been stimulated. The schools have offered
winter and summer courses to those workers who have vacations at different
times during the year. Institutes and conferences also have been sponsored.

Brookwood Labor College sent students into communities at the close of a
session as teachers and as members of Chautauquas. Commonwealth and
Highlander Schools have become social and -educational centers for their
environs. Through extension work, more distant groups have been aided in
the development of local classes, and for these groups pamphlets and study |
outlines have been prepared.

Curricula and methods of the schools are similar to content and approach
emphasized by the older trade unions. Subjects studied during the resident
period are designed to further the labor movement along all fronts, economic,
political, cooperative, and educational. “Classroom education” and “training
for service” have been emphasized at the resident center; “mass education”
and “functional activity” in the community programs and extension service.

Another group of schools, the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women
Workers in Industry, the Wisconsin School for Workers, the Southern Sum-
mer School for Workers, the Summer School for Office Workers, and the
Pacific Coast School for Workers, were inaugurated primarily to provide
summer periods of study.* Since their initiation, they have extended their
scope and now help coordinate their work not only through a resident pro-
gram but also through an extension service, set up principally for alumni.
Committees which recruit for the institutions are comprised of representatives
of organized labor, alumni, educators, representatives of diverse community
organizations, and individuals generally interested in workers. Uniform re-
quirements for admission to the schools include a minimum of sixth to eighth
gtade education and two years’ experience in industry. Applicants must
prove that they are concerned with workers’ problems, by being active in local
organizations and affiliated with the labor movement.” 4

*To this chapter, the Bryn Mawr Summer School (now the Hudson Shore Labor 3
School) will not be discussed, since Part II is devoted to it entirely. Therefore reference d
will be made hereafter to four institutions. 1

E. G. Coit and A. Hourwich, “The Affiliated Schools for Workers,” Bulletin Eight ;
of the World Association for Adult Education, London, 1937.

58






COORDINATING AGENCIES AND RESIDENT SCHOOLS

The four institutions have primarily the same purpose. They wish to stim-
ulate an active and continuing interest in current problems and to encourage
their students to assume an increasing degree of social and economic responsi-
bility." They recognize the function of collective bargaining but do not train
their students in its techniques to the same extent as does the Highlander
School. Neither do they emphasize as strongly the concept of a new social
order. Rather they teach general requisites of leadership and membership
for all types of community organizations. While not stressing summer com-
munity and extension work to the same degree, the field work which they
do after the summer session is somewhat similar.

The four schools vary somewhat among themselves, the differences depend-
ing upon their funds, control, the type of applicants whom they accept. Par-
ticular emphases reflect, of course, social forces influencing workers in the
geographical region where the schools are located. It is natural that the
East have problems different from those of the West, Middlewest, and the
South.”

The Wisconsin and Pacific Coast Schools for Workers differ from the School
for Office Workers and the Southern Summer School for Workers in their
control and the source of their money. The latter institutions solicit support
from private individuals and groups. Representatives of a variety of organ-
izations sit upon their Boards of Directors and their Advisory Committees.
The Wisconsin School, as a regular department of the University of Wis-
consin,” is financed by the State. Funds are also obtained through the W.P.A.
since the State’s W.P.A. program of workers’ education is supervised by the
School. In the same way, the State of California contributes to the Pacific
Coast School because the institution supervises the State educational program
for workers. The two institutions respectively supported wholly or partially
by public authorities are accordingly under State jurisdiction. The Director
and Assistant Director of the Wisconsin organization are responsible to a
University committee of three faculty members and three leaders of organ-
ized labor. The University of California, the California State Department
of Education, the California State Federation of Labor, and other units of

E.G. Coit, “Summer Schools in the Wintertime,” American Federationist, Vol. 40
(June, 1933), p. 589.
"LOE. McLaren, ' ‘Summer Schools for Workers in Industry,” Progressive Education,
Vol. 9 (November, 1932), p. 503.
* The School, founded in 1925, became a regular unit of the University in 1937.

59




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

organized labor are represented on the Joint Administrative Board of the

Pacific Coast School.

Public finances have helped the Midwestern and the Western institutions
extend their programs widely beyond their school grounds. The Summer
School for Office Workers and the Southern Summer School, on the other
hand, have concentrated on summer study, with some field work for the win-
ter. The Wisconsin School has held summer and winter classes in many com-
munities and has brought local groups to the summer session for institutes and
conferences.” The Pacific Coast School has maintained contact with nearby
localities through W-.P.A. teachers who must attend the summer program for
training, but as nonresidents. Winter classes also have been held in places
within the vicinity of the School. Those interested in the effects of govern-
ment money and direction might well study the Wisconsin and Pacific Coast
programs. Already the former has experienced a setback, since an unfavor-
able State administration in 1939 temporarily discontinued its work. While
new plans again have been made, the interests of the School will have to be
carefully watched.

The Pacific Coast School for Workers has a more inclusive student body
than have the Wisconsin School for Workers, the Summer School for Office
Workers, and the Southern Summer School for Workers. College students,
teachers, educational administrators, and the general public may attend the
School. However, as in the other institutions, workers constitute a majority
in the resident group although not in the entire school. In 1935 they formed
only 45 percent of the entire student body; only 44 percent in 1936. The
next year they formed 89 percent of the residents but only 52 percent of the
entire school.”

The four schools now recruit most of their students from trade unions, but
this was not always so. For example, the Southern Summer School has been
influenced in proportion to the degree of Southern organization. In 1927,
the first session of the School, only seven out of 25 students were members of
trade unions and all seven were from the United Garment Workers’ Union.
Nine years later 22 of 30 women were trade unionists and many labor organ-

et E. Schwartztrauber, The School for Workers, the University of Wisconsin, Madi-
son, Wisconsin, 1938, passim.

™ Report of the Director of the Pacific Coast School ke i
seleted Great baal ific Coast School for Workers, 1937 (mimeo-

60


err

COORDINATING AGENCIES AND RESIDENT SCHOOLS





izations were represented.” The four institutions now are coeducational,
although all originally were started for women.

to another. Migratory labor is represented in the Pacific Coast School; and
the Southern institution began to admit agricultural workers in 1937. The
majority in the Southern Summer School have had the backgrounds of farm-
ing people, even though they have come from factories and mills. Many
were born on farms and are the first or second generation of workers in
industry.” One hundred percent Americans, in the best sense of that phrase,
many live in the same State where their fathers were born. The absence of
Negro students indicates one way in which the Southern School is limited by
the region in which it operates. The Office Workers School has urban,
native-born students for the most part.

The members of the Wisconsin and Pacific Coast Schools have attained
various educational levels, representing a cross-section of the American popu-
lation. The students of the Southern Summer School and of the School for
Office Workers, however, differ. Small Southern rural schools have given
many Southern workers limited preparation. In the Office Workers’ institu-
tion, on the other hand, individuals have had extensive education but they
have less understanding of economic processes.

The School for Office Workers and the Southern School are held on no
specific campus as are the others. The latter started as a transient organization
so that it might recruit from different Southern States. The former at present
likes to maintain a Middle-west situation since it recruits nationally, being
the only institution for the white-collar group in the country. By 1934, how-
ever, the Southern School decided that mobility did not favor uniform facili-
ties from session to session, and two years later, when facing a second decade
of existence, the School announced that a permanent location would be sought
and a committee has been striving towards this end.

The type of student, whether organized or not, has differed from one school {
}



1 =



a

The four programs have shown a realization that workers cannot stay away
from jobs for too long a time and that their funds are limited. The School for

™ Reports of the Director of the Southern Summer School for Workers, 1927 and
1936 (mimeographed by the School).

"1. L. McLaren, “Summer Schools for Workers in Industry,” Progressive Education,
Vol. 9 (November, 1932), p. 503.

61




PATTERNS OF WORKERS EDUCATION



Office Workers, therefore, has had a two-weeks and a four-weeks session. All
have sponsored short-time institutes and conferences.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Workers’ education has been seen to include more than one type of educa-
tional activity. The first, not in origin but in extent, is the program carried
on by trade unions themselves. Therein interest tends to be focused upon
the fact that trade unions need intelligent membership and effective leader-
ship. A second kind is sponsored by political parties, settlements, community
centers and churches. They have recognized that social institutions, including
trade unions, must always function within a given environment. They know
that trade unions and other labor organizations are not young in this country
but that because of their recent expansion they are new to many geographical
sections and to many people. The community groups, therefore, desire that
education help workers to find their place in this situation and assist labor
groups to be oriented within their surroundings. In other words, workers’
education outside the trade union movement encourages community interest
and activity as related to the labor movement. No clear line of demarcation
may be observed between the two different emphases. The patterns are inter-
related. Trade unionists are participating increasingly in community life. At
the same time, social action of all kinds undertaken by labor has tended to
relate itself more or less directly to the trade union movement. Accordingly,
as trade union activity and community efforts have been seen as necessary
to changing social structure, so the two types of educational activity have
been recognized as essential.

The programs of the coordinating agencies have depended upon the groups
with whom they have cooperated. The Workers’ Education Bureau, W.P.A.,
and the American Labor Education Service have adapted their activities to the
needs of particular groups within different localities. These agencies have
contributed money, facilities, and techniques. In addition they have estab-
lished contacts with local community institutions and have helped to reunite
rapidly growing class divergencies.

The resident programs also have incorporated parts of the two major
types of workers’ education. Commonwealth College and Highlander Folk
School have directly taught techniques of collective bargaining and of social
change and community participation. The other schools have been more

62




COORDINATING AGENCIES AND RESIDENT SCHOOLS



indirect in their teaching. Both groups have experimented with new ma-
terials and methods. They have aided coordination by recruiting from all
types of labor organizations and from many geographical regions, and there
can be no doubt that their administrative boards and advisory committees
have helped to make workers’ education a progressive force throughout the
nation.

63


The Bryn Mawr Summer School

for Women Workers in Industry









CHAPTER VI

From Bryn Mawr to the Hudson Shore



ees schools are more than a valuable coordinating device; they
are significant in and of themselves. A description of the Bryn Mawr Sum-
mer School for Women Workers in Industry may serve to illustrate how one
extra-community program has contributed to workers’ education. Also it may
help evaluate the importance of resident institutions as a whole.

THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL

The founders of the Bryn Mawr Summer School believed that social change
was imminent; that workers of the future were to see international and indus-
trial peace and the reign of reason in the economic world. They maintained
that through workers’ schools, women workers might be prepared to con-
tribute to these forces in democratic ways. The first statement of the School’s
purpose reveals the goal to be as follows:

. to offer young women of character and ability a fuller education in order
that they may widen their influence in the industrial world, help in the coming
social reconstruction, and increase the happiness and usefulness of their own
lives. The Summer School shall not be committed to any dogma or theory,
but shall conduct its teaching in a broad spirit of impartial inquiry with
absolute freedom of discussion and academic freedom of teaching.*

As this dream shaped itself into a functioning organization, certain funda-
mentals were resolved. “Fuller” education was planned as a study of liberal
subjects, designed to train industrial women to think clearly; to stimulate
an active and continued interest in economic problems; and to develop a desire
for study as a means of understanding and enjoying life. Through teachers

* As quoted from original statement of purpose, 1921, in Hilda W. Smith, Women
Workers at the Bryn Mawr Summer School, p. 7.

67




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



who appreciated the students’ industrial experience and who had knowledge
of the labor movement, the workers were to be given insight into industrial
problems and encouraged to feel a more vital responsibility for their solu-
tion’ This obligation soon was defined as that of citizens as well as that of
wage-earners.”

Recently, the purpose of the School has been difficult to fulfill because of
world conditions. Social change has not brought peace and order but inter-
national and industrial unrest and social disorganization. Workers have had
to face new experiences in industry and in the labor movement. Thus the
problems to be studied and the answers offered for their solutions have had
to be altered. In addition, clear thinking has been difficult in a world of
many dogmas and theories.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE SCHOOL AND THE COLLEGE

In 1921 Bryn Mawr College wholeheartedly endorsed the idea of a workers’
school. The College plant, not in use during the summer, was made available
to the new organization. M. Carey Thomas, president of the College, and
Professor Susan Kingsbury believed that other educational institutions might
follow their lead. They hoped, therefore, that the Bryn Mawr experiment
would answer to the satisfaction of workers and educators the question “Can
a workers’ school exist on a college campus and still be of greatest use to
workers in the type of education that means the most to them in their lives?”

Since the very beginning, the combined efforts of college women and
women workers have built the School’s program. A joint conference of
trustees, faculty, and alumnae of Bryn Mawr College, together with a group
of representative industrial workers, made the original plans. In 1928 the
joint Administrative Committee was reorganized to include representatives
from the Wisconsin and Barnard Summer Schools for Workers, which had
developed in the meantime. Four years later, the more inclusive venture
became incorporated as the Affiliated Schools for Workers.‘ The Bryn Mawr
Summer School became an affiliate, as a separate organization with its own
board of directors on which industrial women were allowed six representa-
tives, including an alumna of the School. Another alumna and a current

* Constitution as amended in 1923, Article II, Section I.
* Constitution as amended in 1936, Article I, Section I.
“Now the American Labor Education Service.

68



es






















FROM BRYN MAWR TO THE HUDSON SHORE



student were present for the student body. The faculty had both a former
and a present member on the board; a third instructor was a non-labor rep-
resentative. Other members of the administrative body were drawn from
among the alumnae of Bryn Mawr and other colleges.

Outside organizations looked upon this “rather anomalous joint control”
with reservations and warned that “Any number of circumstances might at
any moment produce a crisis.”° In 1934, a controversy over extra-curricular
activities of students and faculty produced the turning point.’ The College
asked that the situation be studied and that a few administrative changes be
considered, since it believed that equal representation of the College and of
labor virtually had ceased to exist and that the College was at a disadvantage
numerically and also because its representatives were elected by the Summer
School Board. The Board answered that it had attempted to select repre-
sentatives who would not be torn apart by a double allegiance to the School
and to the College or the labor movement.’ Up to that time the plan had
seemed to work, since there had never been any conflict in connection with the
School’s Board. All members had been in harmony and had cooperated readily
among themselves.

A conference was arranged between the Board of Directors of the College
and that of the School, so that they might discuss their relationship and analyze
the responsibility of the School to workers’ education and to the labor move-
ment. The School was temporarily withdrawn from the campus during the
summer of 1935 pending a decision.

An agreement was reached that the School should be continued since the
two Boards of Directors believed in its value. In 1936 the College again made
the campus available. The original purpose of the School was to be fol-
lowed and extra-curricular activities allowed as formerly. The traditional
pattern of joint control which both boards agreed had worked was maintained.
For a two-year experimental period, later extended to three, the School’s
Board of Directors consisted of 13 members. One student and one School
instructor, with four industrial women, represented labor. An equal number

"Lucile Kohn, “Discussion of the Bryn Mawr Summer School,” Proceedings of the
Fourth Annual Conference of Teachers in Workers’ Education, Adult Education Versus
Workers’ Education, at Brookwood, February 18-20, 1927, p. 20.

For further discussion of the situation, see infra, p. 99.

* Statement from Report of Conference Committee Representing Bryn Mawr Summer
School and Bryn Mawr College, October 5, 1935.

69


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



a
]
}
4
j
4

of Bryn Mawr College alumnae, officers, or friends represented the College.
Dr. Marion Edwards Park, the president of the College, continued to serve as
chairman of the Board and was empowered to vote if this were necessary for
a decision. With the approval of the College, the School’s Board selected the
institution's director, who became an ex-officio member.













It was made clear that members of labor organizations were present in
their individual capacities. In the same way, the College did not consider its
representatives instructed members but individuals whose first duty was to
the School. However, they were to inform the College of events and consult
with it on important matters.

THE FORMULATION OF POLICIES

The Director of the School has assumed responsibility for publicity and
also for field work. Various committees have continued to recruit and pre-
pare students, raise funds, plan curricula, govern the School, and help alumnae
in their communities. For instance, the chairman of the School Board has
continued to appoint standing committees to plan the institution’s program.
Members of the Board, School alumnae, former instructors and representatives
of community organizations and of the labor movement have functioned
upon an admissions committee, a curriculum advisory group, and similar
bodies. A finance chairman has been active, but has had no effectively cooper-
ating unit.

In the School's first years, the central organization had recommended that
aid in the foregoing activities be obtained from communities. Local Bryn
Mawr Committees thus could interpret local conditions on an informal basis
but without any decisive power. The suggestion had been made that district
assistance be rendered by different groups, dealing respectively with recruit-
ing, workers’ classes, finance, and publicity. However, the committees which
have developed have not divided the functions. The basic pattern of joint
responsibility between workers and others has governed the constituency of
the committees. Aside from that fundamental principle, they have varied
from one community to another. In some districts the Bryn Mawr groups
have merged with larger Committees of the American Labor Education Serv-
ice in order to lessen competition possibly harmful both to the Bryn Mawr
School and to the other schools which have developed. The cooperation is

70


FROM BRYN MAWR TO THE HUDSON SHORE



natural because two Bryn Mawr people are active on the central board of the
American Labor Education Service.

Decisions made during the Bryn Mawr School’s session also have aided the
Board of Directors to determine policies. The students and instructors sitting
on the Board have brought to it recommendations, made during the summer
by separate student and staff groups which have held closed meetings at which
many problems have been discussed and voted upon. A School governing
council also has transmitted to the Board certain guiding principles. On this
administrative body, which meets once a week during the summer, the faculty
has two representatives and each of three units or student class groups has
elected two representatives. The president and secretary of the student body
and the Director of the School are members of the Council without vote. The
Director, however, has the power of veto.

Towards the close of the three-year experimental period, the Board of
Directors of the School authorized that a study be made of trends in workers’
education.” The purpose was to analyze to what extent the School had ful-
filled its aims in relationship to the movement of which it was a part. The
survey revealed that College representation on the controlling board had not
caused the needs of women workers to be neglected. However, participation
by students, faculty, and labor did not seem as dynamic as on comparable
school boards. In addition, the Bryn Mawr School, unlike many other work-
ers’ schools, did not have an advisory committee, which might yield more
contacts and a wider range of opinion.

In 1938 the investigators made several recommendations in line with their
findings. They suggested that student representatives on the Board have more
maturity and self-confidence so that they might be more articulate in helping
to formulate policies. To gain the necessary experience, it was suggested that
School alumnae be encouraged to serve upon local committees, and such com-
munity functioning be made a prerequisite to being elected as a Board repre-
sentative. To gain wide community support for the School, it was proposed
that an Advisory Council be formed and that it should include both men and
women representatives of trade unions as well as community organizations.
Others in workers’ education also made suggestions at this time. Some
emphasized that since the values of specific community and other organiza-

* Mildred Fairchild and Florence Hemley, op. cit.
71




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION






























tions had become more clear-cut than ever before, a workers’ school would
find it increasingly difficult to be loyal to two such different institutions as an
academic college and the labor movement.

The Directors of the School considered all the facts and opinions sub-
mitted. Realizing that the purpose of the School must be fulfilled with no
ambiguities or confusion of issues, they decided “to plan a program on a
broader basis and with greater opportunities than those afforded by a women's
college available only for the summer months.” Therefore, in 1939, after
18 years of development on the College campus, the Bryn Mawr Summer
School for Women Workers in Industry became the Hudson Shore Labor
School and moved to a new home on the shores of the Hudson River.

On the whole, former faculty, students, and supporters of the Bryn Mawr
School favor the new plans. They believe that complex alliances are best dis-
solved when the atmosphere is friendly. In the words of certain of these
friends, “The plan sounds very healthy; it is time for an independent workers’
school that has real academic freedom to emerge on its own independent
grounds.” Mingled with hope for the future is a feeling of sorrow that the
beauties of the Bryn Mawr campus would be denied future students and the
regret that Bryn Mawr College was losing an institution which many feel has
added distinction to its reputation. All join in the conviction that the School's
activities must be further promoted even though they are no longer part of
the Bryn Mawr campus,” and in the hope that “ . . . a continued relation-
ship of good will and understanding . . .” in the furthering of similar aims
will be maintained between the new institution and Bryn Mawr College.”

FINANCIAL AND BUDGETARY MATTERS

A sound financial condition has been necessary as the Bryn Mawr School
has developed. Budget-raising activities have been continuous and extensive,
so that both a summer session and local community work could be carried on.
However, the amounts needed have changed as administrative policies have



* Letter from President Marion Edwards Park, Chairman of the Board, and Jean Carter,
Director of the Summer School, dated January 7, 1939.

* Statements faculty members, former students and contributors to the Summer
School : © ? ek to a, of New Summer School Plan: Received
During First Two Weeks Following the Announcement (mimeo the
Mawr Office), 1939, pp. 1-4. re Te

. “ Suugement presented by the Summer School Board to the College Trustees, January

72


pa

FROM BRYN MAWR TO THE HUDSON SHORE



been altered. In the first five years when duties were very extensive, an entire
yearly budget was about $30,000. Costs were reduced as more agencies have
extended cooperation. For instance, beginning in 1926 the newly formed
Affiliated Schools for Workers carried much of the work formerly performed
by the School alone. Budgetary reductions accordingly followed.” Changes
in operating policies also have caused expenses to vary. Among these changes,
decreased numbers of students and shorter sessions have been primary. In
1935 the School was not on the campus and thus had different financial
arrangements. When a “Cooperative Living Plan” was introduced in 1937,
household expenses were much less than the year before; as a result of the
plan and a shorter term a saving of $1,000 over 1936 was made. The per
capita cost of each student has of course changed with the different altera-
tions. During the first two years of the School, a scholarship which would
cover all expenses except incidentals was estimated at $250, while in 1936,
the per capita cost was figured to be approximately $191. By 1937 and 1938
total expenses amounted to approximately $16,000 a year. A list for dis-
bursements in 1938 follows: *

Administration
(including year-round director, office, field work, etc.)....... $6,000
Pusicings end grounds... «bce vie 0.6 aad es ce ep le Nera ee mean 1,000
Household (food, supplies, wages, etc.) .....ceeeceeeececeeeees 4,200
TRBEFUCTION’ |. 6-00 05.405 vale go Fe Ue dis le dionne wahelaletecie: sl piaiapeaen soa 4,000
Pleaith and recreation... <2 sas cese4 ech dep ako ens wanereuuie 850
Totals... ol doce ce Hoes d Bidlpis disk eee eet semaine ey Wee $16,050

Local committees and the School’s central office have cooperated in raising
money for the combined summer and winter budget. The following table
shows an approximate picture of the total sources tapped in 1937 and 1938.

” Because of the differing needs from one year to another, no attempt is made here
to compare yearly budgets.

“Information secured from an interview with Miss Jean Carter, Director, Summer
School, March 22, 1939.

13



a Ts a a





|

a=
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



SOURCES OF FUNDS DURING 1937 AND 1938 *
Source 1937 1938
From School committees located in Rochester, New
York; Buffalo, New York; New Haven, Conn.;
Pittsburgh, Pa.; Chicago, Ill.; Denver, Colo.; Bal-
timore, Md.; Washington, D. C.; Boston, Mass.;
Cincinnati, O.; Providence, R. I.; Philadelphia,
Pa.; New York City, N. Y.; Akron, O.; New Lon-

don, Conn.; Hartford, Conn.; Cleveland, O..... $8,300.00 $8,500.00
From School faculty members.......-+-+-++++: 300.00 350.00
Prom former students. ...00600csccccccseasaee 95.00 150,00
From undergraduates in women's colleges........ 2,100:00 2,200.00
From funds and foundations...........0+0000% 1,200.00 1,020.00
From unions (exclusive of those contributing to
local committees referred to above).........+- 50.00 200.00
From 75 personal contributions sent direct to School
office
New York City 806s. 5635566 ce lsc y ecwcwes 2,400.00 2,500.00
Ontiite New York Gite. oi 5 oss 5 6:5 th amet 36 1,500.00 1,000.00

(Chicago, Washington, Detroit, New Eng-
land, Pennsylvania, Portland, Ore., Rich-
mond, and upstate New York)
Miscellaneous (cooperative store, faculty board, etc.) 1,000.00 1,000.00
OPER sic Gos a oon 0Gce 9 STO Oe 0 seo ais ois $16,945.00 $16,920.00

* Information secured from an interview with Miss Jean Carter, Director of the School,
March 22, 1939.

Local committees usually have given approximately one-half the total con-
tributions. In order to analyze the sources they tapped and their problems
in doing so, a questionnaire was sent to 15 of the committees. Out of nine
returns, certain points of interest have been drawn, and coordinated with
information from the central office. Fourteen committees, from communities
representing various sections of the country, have contributed annually but in
varying sums. In 1933 the range among the committees was from $5 to
$7,300; two years later from $45 to $2,200; in 1937 from $50 to $4,100; and
in 1938 from $35 to $3,400. For all of the 14 committees, the total given
was as high as $15,500 in 1933 and as low as $6,600 in 1935.

In addition to the regular contributors, many communities have given irreg-
ularly to the School. Southern, Midwestern, and Western communities with

* Some of these are joint committees for several schools.

74













FROM BRYN MAWR TO THE HUDSON SHORE



their own sectional resident schools, have reduced their contributions as they
have shifted interest to their own institutions. Believing that “a more united
effort in finance work might result in wider publicity and increased funds for
all these schools, considered not as separate enterprises but as meeting different
needs of industrial workers, in one general movement,” the Bryn Mawr group
has been urged to avoid separate drives when the other schools have attempted
to raise money in the same locality.” Some of the reporting committees, there-
fore, are American Labor Education Service Committees,

Generally there is no sub-committee on finance; treasurers, with or without
the help of other individuals, have been responsible for the major part of
the work. On the whole, few groups have worked according to a definite
plan, the method of raising money depending upon the particular committees.
All use solicitation of individuals and groups; some give benefits and parties
and some supplement written requests with interpretative bulletins and letters.
Former students have written poems and stories for bulletins and have
addressed community organizations.” Interpretation of the School to the
public has been emphasized in recent years, in order that well-to-do contrib-
utors may give with new understanding and that those less able to help may
justify their choice of workers’ education in preference to another cause.
Emphasis has been placed upon concrete leadership and trade union respon-

While all committees have kept some records, varying in detail and form,
few have paid attention to specific details about disbursements or contribu-
tions. Reported expenses have seemed to be of a minor nature, being devoted
to printing, postage, teas and other incidentals, and transportation of some
students to the School. Records have not always indicated what proportion
of funds are spent for or given to the School.

The nature of the records and the methods of reporting also make it impos-
sible to discover precise contributions, whether from individuals or from
organizations. Total sums from all sources have seemed to vary within a
specific area from as low as $200 in one year to as much as $1200 in another,
but specific amounts cannot be given tabular outline since communities do



* Statement by Hilda W. Smith, at meeting of Joint Committee of Affiliated Summer
Schools, November 22, 1930.

See the Worker Student, issued by the Buffalo Affiliated Schools Committee, Feb-
ruary, 1938.

75








PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



not use comparable forms. They merely have indicated sources which com-
mittees may rely upon from year to year. Donations towards scholarships
usually have been made by trade unions, Young Women’s Christian Associa-
tions, Summer School alumnae, benefits, individuals, and a few miscellaneous
groups. A great interchange among categories has been indicated. Bryn
Mawr College alumnae may have given as individual contributors, Summer
School alumnae as members of a Young Women’s Christian Association
group, or both may have been included in the figures of other organizations
and their contributions to the School thereby concealed. Committees on the
whole, however, feel that if College and School alumnae give through differ-
ent organizations, they increase contacts for both the Summer School and the
College.

Money that has come from trade unions, from industrial groups of the
Young Women’s Christian Association, and from School alumnae has been
regarded as gifts from labor sources. The reporting committees have pre-
sented some specific instances of trade union help in their communities, con-
sisting of partial or full payment of wages, the payment of travel and inci-
dental expenses, and the contribution of complete scholarships. Students
thereby have been helped to compensate for their loss of wages. Funds from
college groups, clubs, benefits other than those given by the alumnae group,
and from individuals have been listed under non-labor sources. Questionnaire
returns have indicated that recently, except for the years 1927-1928, depressed
economic conditions have made money-raising difficult within the non-labor
groups. All of the committees have emphasized that increased personal obli-
gations, growing taxes, and more demanding community ventures have com-
peted with the School for funds. In addition, mounting conservatism may
have caused distrust of the School’s program, many people being afraid that
workers’ education will aid radicalism. The committees therefore often have
believed it helpful to have a Bryn Mawr College alumna as chairman. Bryn
Mawr alumnae may then be more or less satisfied that the project is in the right
hands and alumnae from other schools that one of their own members is not
giving too much attention to an outside project.

All of the resident institutions have experienced increasing competition
from community projects in workers’ education. Contributors to the Bryn
Mawr School have compared expenditures for resident and for community

76

I
FROM BRYN MAWR TO THE HUDSON SHORE



ventures in the field, and one committee member described the situation in
1938 as follows:

It has been increasingly difficult to raise money due to several factors. One
is the growing belief, even among the committee members, that the Summer
School fee is large and that local classes in the Y.W.C.A. and in local unions
have somewhat invalidated the need for the Summer School . . . Everywhere
there is an increasing belief that the Summer School has served its chief pur-
pose, that $190 for one girl who may or may not prove herself worthy is
too much and that the money applied locally could accomplish a great deal
more! *

When, as early as 1933, the central office began to notice this problem, it
encouraged the committees to emphasize the relation betwen the central work
and local classes. In 1934 a statement was made to the effect that the most
promising students of the local classes should be sent to the Summer Schools,
in order that they might do the more intensified and specialized work neces-
sary for intelligent leadership.” That year the local work did not seem to
interfere with the central recruiting as there were even more applicants than
ever before.

The central office has also received money directly from many community
organizations; in addition, records have indicated a few sources not listed by
the committees. Bryn Mawr College alumnae have made donations as indi-
viduals or in groups. Also increasing support from undergraduates of six
well-known women’s colleges and one junior college has been indicated in
some recent years, ranging since 1935 from $25 to $700 in one year. The
undergraduates have participated in the functioning of the School, as well,
acting as assistants in the sessions, and also their alumnae have helped on
committees in the communities.

Bryn Mawr College undergraduates have contributed rather more than have
those from other colleges, as might be expected. Excluding the years 1930,
1934, and 1935 for which no information is available, from 1927 through
1938, they gave $9,215.82 to the School. For this period the highest contri-
bution, $1,510, was made in 1927 and the lowest, $735.93, in 1928. Con-

“Letter from Mrs. M. C., Chairman of a local Summer School Committee, dated
July 21, 1938.

8 Katharine Kautz, Executive Secretary of the School, in a letter to Finance Chairmen
of District Committees, January 23, 1934.

77





St eee

Pa ee



i
;
;

gp SIT CTI I OS


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

tributions in 1931 and 1932 were higher than the average, being $1,250 and
$1,180 respectively.

Money from six trust funds has been helpful, two providing a rather con-
stant source of income and four others contributing from time to time. Of
the two regular funds one has yielded annually from $175 to $250 and the
other from $271 to $679. One committee organized to assist the School has
given every year except 1935 in amounts varying from $126 to $300. Groups
in Young Women’s Christian Associations and Summer School instructors
and students have aided the School. Proceeds from parties at the Summer
School, and from the cooperative store, have been given, and in addition, con-
tributions from the Summer School alumnae as individuals or in groups. Stu-
dents of certain years pledged money toward scholarships and funds. How-
ever, records on all of these were found to be too inadequate to warrant any
listing of figures.

The records of the central office indicate trade union contributions other
than those mentioned by the local committees, the sums, coming from seven
local and central organizations in several sections of the country, ranging from
$15 to $200 in any one year. A few other trade unions promised money
should some of their members attend the School, indicating in letters that
they saw the value of the Summer School course. Others withdrew their
promise of support, stating that any money they could spare for scholarships
should go toward their own institutes.

The central office, therefore, has experienced competition similar to that
reported by the local committees. It has recognized that the depression has
increased the burdens of trade union treasuries and that those organizations
are not able to aid the School despite their recognition of responsibility. Con-
sequently a suggestion made in 1934 has been reiterated; namely, that present
lists of contributors be extended by the use of club lists, local social registers,
and perhaps by cooperation with other organizations.”

No matter what the source of funds, the Summer School has continued to
stress the principle that financial support should not determine the choice of
applicants. An effort has been made to keep both the School and the stu-
dents free from obligation to any particular group providing a scholarship.
The right of selecting applicants has seemed better reserved to the School it-

* See Handbook of Information for Chairman of District Committees of the Bryn
Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, 1934, p. 3.

78























FROM BRYN MAWR TO THE HUDSON SHORE



self, contributors being asked to help build a general scholarship fund, or else
aid a specific student after she has been selected.” Individuals and organiza-
tions, however, have been consulted as to whether an applicant is fit for the
work of the School.

The Directors of the Hudson Shore Labor School have taken stock of the
financial assets and liabilities of the Bryn Mawr School, hoping they may
learn how to meet the financial needs of the new venture. Under depressed
economic conditions, financial problems become more weighty. The Hudson
Shore Labor School still will have to face the challenge of local programs and
justify to contributors the wisdom of their choice. If many groups are allowed
to participate in planning, interest may be stimulated. As workers receive
more control they may offer more money to the School. Coeducational insti-
tutes may make allies of several hesitant friends. While linking control and
finance, the School, however, must still guard its traditional principle that
independence from all groups is a necessary corollary to the effective, honest,
and objective functioning of a resident school.

* Hilda W. Smith, member of the Board of Directors of the School, on the relation
of the School to the College, April, 1935.

19,



ae eee os











CHAPTER VIL

The Selection of the Student Body



F UNDAMENTALLY, a resident school should plan a program of
education and activities to meet the needs of students, and the workers’ back-
ground and the opportunities awaiting them should guide the schools accord-
ingly. Do chosen individuals represent the general working group? Are
they aware that others have the same problems? These are questions which
resident institutions should answer. The Bryn Mawr Summer School for
Women Workers in Industry consequently has determined admission require-
ments by studying the American population. Through a representative
student body it has hoped to help all workers.

In 1921 educational requirements were a common school education or its
equivalent and the ability to read and write English. In the early years of
the School, however, low educational standards throughout the country made
flexibility necessary: 66 per cent of all children left school after the sixth
grade. In 1926, therefore, completion of the sixth grade became the standard
for entrance. But rules continued to be flexible and even in 1930 a few appli-
cants had completed only a second year class, whereas others were high school
graduates. Yearly, candidates tended to have more training, and in 1930
most of the students had finished the eighth grade. Three years later 50 per
cent had had some high school training. By 1934 the student body contained
13 high school graduates and only five women had not finished the seventh
grade of elementary school. At least one year of high school had been com-
pleted by half of the group in 1935 and 14 were high school graduates. In
1938, 70 per cent of the women had attended high school. Eighteen had
graduated; 25 had attended two or three years; and only three had completed
but one year.

During the last decade, the admissions committee has questioned the trend
toward high school education among the applicants. Did it represent all

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION























women in industry or was it due to the particular selection of workers sent to
the School?? In 1929 a study of the situation revealed that young people
were staying in school longer than formerly because of economic and indus-
trial conditions, The raising of the school-leaving age and the extension of
educational facilities were contributing factors. The recent report of the
National Advisory Committee on Education emphasized the continuation of
the trend in the present as follows:

As late as 1890 in the United States only 3.8 percent of the number of young
people 14 to 17 years of age were enrolled in public high schools; at present
more than 60 percent of the population of high school age are enrolled in
public high schools. In 1937 for the first time the number of graduates from
high schools in a single year passed the million mark. There are now some
25,000 public high schools in which over 230,000 teachers instruct almost
6,000,000 boys and girls. . . .

All existing trends indicate that a considerably higher percentage will attend
high school in the future, particularly in areas where high school enrollments
are still low.

The nationality composition of the student body has changed during the
development of the Summer School, the shift being from foreign-born to
American-born. As late as 1930, at least half of the women were immigrants
and an additional 25 per cent were the children of immigrants. Four years
later, one-third were foreign-born and the majority of them had lived in the
United States for 10 years. In 1938, only 16 per cent were immigrants. Both
parents of approximately one-third of the native-born students had been born
in America and an additional 16 per cent had at least one native-born parent.

The increase in native-born candidates has reflected the national trend. In
1922 the country admitted 309,556 immigrants. Ten years later immigration
was the lowest in a century and only 35,576 aliens entered the United States;
in 1935 the number had dropped to 17,207.

From the outset the School has required that candidates should have had at
least three years of industrial wage-earning experience, of which two years
should have been with the tools of their trade in other than a supervisory
capacity. Naturally many have come from the great industries which employ
large numbers of women, foremost among these being the needle trades and
the textile industry. In 1926 a special group was admitted to the School from

* Report of the Educational Secretary, 1929.
*The Advisory Committee on Education, op. cit., p. 13.

* Lloyd Allen Cook, Community Background. Educati -Hi
YC 1038 nds of Education, McGraw-Hill Book Co.,

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THE SELECTION OF THE STUDENT BODY



the latter, so that a large number of women workers might be helped to study
the problems of their industry. Four years later, the majority of applicants,
as in former years, came from the clothing industries, the millinery trades, and
the textile field.

By 1934 the School recognized new trends in the employment of women
and recommended, therefore, that students be admitted to the School from
other industries. Attention was centered upon rubber, automotive, and flat
glass centers, in addition to textile and garment trades. Thus in 1937 recruit-
ing for one-half the student body was concentrated in the Lowell-Lynn-Haver-
hill textile district of Massachusetts, the Akron-Toledo rubber, flat glass and
automobile region of Ohio, and the Pennsylvania garment section. The fol-
lowing year, in the total of 65, four students came from textile industries, 18
from the women’s clothing industry, and seven from the men’s clothing indus-
try. The School has continued to believe that a large group of workers from
a specific industry will feel more encouraged to continue education and activi-
ties after the summer than will the isolated worker.

The changing proportion of women employed in different occupations has
complicated the choice of students, as have shifts in occupations due to eco-
nomic exigencies. The following table presents the employment distribution
which has influenced the selection of candidates. Since the trend line from
1880 seems to have been relatively unbroken, figures from that date seem
necessary for a complete picture.

WOMEN IN THE ECONOMY OF THE UNITED STATES*
Percent Distribution of Women in

Occupation 1880 1910 1930
Agriculture and allied industries...........065 220 22.4 8.5
Manufacturing and mechanical industries....... 23.8 22.5 LT Dens
Trade, transportation, and communication...... at 73 11.6
MIREICAP OCCUDREONS 0. os geo oslo oie ec aiee we cas 3 7.3 18.5
PENAL SETVICE - o.5'0 os sis'iis sce sano 918 Hp Wk 6.7 9.1 14.2
Domestic and personal service..........2ee00: 44,4 31.3 29.6
Public service (not elsewhere classified) ........ a Al 2

* This represents a decline chiefly in the earlier manual skilled work, such as
that of tailoresses and dressmakers and seamstresses. If the figure be taken on
factory occupations alone, the proportion in 1930 is greater than in these
earlier years.
“Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon, Women in the Economy of the United States of America
(United States Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau, Publication No. 155), Wash-
ington, 1937, p. 18.

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



From 1910 to 1930 the number of women in the clerical, professional, and
trade groups more than doubled, while it decreased by one-fourth in domestic
and personal service and by two-fifths in factory operation. In the chief
hand trades the number declined heavily. The changes may be seen in the
following list:*

INCREASE IN NUMBER OF WOMEN EMPLOYED 1910 TO 1930

Percent
PAM WCCUPAHONS ts. c's see lcks G's pea a eas ose eels Stine Cetin S5.1
Domestic and personal service.....---++eeeeereees fe eeeneseees 25:7
Glerical occlipations . cis <5 065 seo 88s s ekele ale melee oe eis Syst a ote 237.2
Manufacturing and mechanical industries.........0.00ceeeeeeeeee 3.6

CBatebs Frere ti aces occ) os: ste ae ora aie pede an! be oie piotnerw oye nse oie he ae 65.3*
Factory, Operatives sc. ews 006 citi civic « $s were wien nictere + up afelele 39:7
SUEGAE F055, Figs aol SHG. b ASTD ieee Do Wie jehe rap aeNTe Pod acolane Sivas aac 103.7
Professional s6nvice. ..eic4 555 0s de 94 6d slow wdc wns halla ie wis wie net enia 107.7

"In this case a decrease, as group comprises dressmakers and seamstresses not
in factories, and milliners and millinery dealers.

The admissions committee has had to cope with problems resulting from
the national trend. Originally the School was not planned for clerical and
office workers. Soon, however, the student body requested the inclusion of
different categories of workers, with which the Board of Directors complied.
District committees were told to advise applicants to apply even though their
eligibility seemed doubtful but to warn them that they might not be accepted.
Domestic workers, clerks engaged in a mechanical process, or other groups on
the borderline of the industrial category especially were affected.’ Hence,
consideration was to be given to the contact of office and domestic workers
with an industrial group and their response to its problems.’ Some clerks, for
example, employed in a trade union office, might have had more experience
with industrial than with white-collar groups. On the other hand, some
clerical workers might have drifted into the industrial field due to lack of
choice, their sympathies not necessarily rooted there. In 1930 the School
accepted seven women from domestic and personal service and one adding-
machine operator. By 1933 the American Labor Education Service recognized

° Ibid.

*Report to District Committees, 1931-32.
* Recommendations of Faculty of the Summer School Session of 1936 for 1937.

84




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THE SELECTION OF THE STUDENT BODY



the problem of the clerical worker and founded the Summer School for Office
Workers. Bryn Mawr Summer School students, however, still demanded
closer contacts with the various categories of workers than could be afforded
by separate schools, and in that year the Bryn Mawr School accepted 15 wom-
en from the trade, transport and clerical fields as well as four from domestic
service. The students have continued to request the admittance of clerical
workers and the Board of Directors has stated that a white-collar unit might
be planned for some session in the future.’

Partly to meet the request that more domestic workers be at the School and
partly to experiment with student participation in housework, seven women
with both industrial and domestic experience were accepted in 1937.° On the
campus, the seven workers combined housework and study; as a Committee
on Cooperative Living, they planned housekeeping duties for the other women
in the student body. A similar committee functioned in the 1938 session.

In addition to these changes the number of categories among the “industrial
workers” has tended to expand within the School as within the country, and
has included mass production workers, elevator operators, sales clerks and
beauty shop operators. For instance, a few workers were accepted from
among automobile, glass, electric, and rubber workers in 1938, and a wide
variety of other categories were represented, including beauticians and wait-
resses.

The Bryn Mawr School has considered applicants from many places within
the United States and abroad. Nevertheless, especially since 1930, the majority
of students have come from the Middle Atlantic, New England, and Middle-
Western areas.” In 1938 the usual proportion for recent years was main-
tained; New England sent 19 students, the Middle Atlantic area 31, the
Middle-West seven, the South three, and the West one; four students came
from abroad. Thirteen states and 34 cities in this country were represented,
as were England, Denmark, and Canada.

The location of women employed in industry will continue in part to
determine recruiting policies. According to the 1930 census, one-fourth of

® Statement at Meeting of Board of Directors of the Bryn Mawr Summer School,
November, 1936.
® Report of the Board of Directors of the Bryn Mawr Summer School, April, 1937.

® Eleanor Snyder, Job Histories of Women Workers at the Summer Schools, 1931-
1934 and 1938, Washington, Bulletin of the Women’s Bureau, No. 174, 1939, passim.

85


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



all working women were in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and
two-thirds of the women employed in manufacture were located in the 14
states north of Maryland and the Ohio River, and East of the Mississippi.”
The situation in 1938 was different. Industries employing women were
moving from the large cities into new regions of the South and toward the
West. This trend is likely to affect the recruiting procedure of the Hudson
Shore School. Not only the changing location of industry but also the rise of
sectional schools for workers certainly may be influential. The School may
realize, as did its predecessor, that national recruiting is affected by the cost
and time of travel. District committees had often sent a majority of candi-
dates to sectional schools rather than to the more distant national one. A
secretary of the San Francisco Y.W.C.A. has expressed the opinion that stu-
dents from the Pacific Coast may well attend their own educational institution
instead of coming as far East as Bryn Mawr. In the Middle-West, Chicago
and other cities have reported that it is easier to secure recruits for Wisconsin
partly because of the distance involved. Southern areas have found their
school more within their reach financially. The development of new schools
for workers throughout the country, therefore, seems to meet in part the
problems raised by the changing location of industries employing women.

The initial policy of the Bryn Mawr School was to admit an equal number
of non-unionized and unionized workers. Representation of different philoso-
phies was desired in the latter category. Also within the organized group of
students, women labor leaders were to be included. As outlined in 1922,
educational opportunity was to be given to women not necessarily employed
with the tools of a trade but integrated closely with the workers’ life. The
balance between unionized and non-unionized workers has been difficult to

attain. In the early days, a minority of students were interested in the labor

movement, but by 1934, two-thirds of the School was comprised of active
union members.” Two years later the percentage was approximately the same
but in 1938 it had advanced to 84 per cent. Certain textile and garment
workers’ organizations were widely represented in the School and since 1934
an increasing number of students have belonged to industrial unions.

* Grace Hutchins, Women Who Work, N. Y., International Publishers, 1934, p. 27.
* Hilda W. Smith, Member of the Board of Directors of the School, Policies of the
Bryn Mawr Summer School, March, 1935.

86
























THE SELECTION OF THE STUDENT BODY



The type of trade union student has differed from year to year. In 1934
the younger leader in the labor movement was predominant. She had certain
specific problems in mind which she wished to study. The student in 1936
was less experienced in labor organization; 17 of the 39 trade unionists in the
School had been members for less than two years. However, the faculty
found them more difficult to assist and recommended that most of the organ-
ized students should be experienced and genuinely interested in the labor
movement.” In 1937, therefore, 26 of the 41 trade unionists admitted to the
School had held office or served on important committees within their organi-
zations." The recommendation was made in 1938 that the School continue
to choose applicants who are intelligent trade unionists. Mere membership
is not enough, since individuals may be drawn into a union by a closed shop
agreement and may not comprehend the function of their organization. A few
specialized leaders have continued to come to the School. Numbering only
three or four a year and including organizers, business agents, Y.W.C.A. sec-
retaries, or labor college executives, they have not constituted a separate group,
but have been taught with the other students. In 1938, two leaders were re-
cruited through the N. Y. Women’s Trade Union League where they were
being trained as organizers.

The changing proportion of trade unionists within the School has reflected
nation-wide trends. Prior to the present time, the peak of organization in the
country had been reached in 1920. In that year the total number of women
in trade unions was estimated to be under 400,000, less than eight per cent of
all organized labor.* According to an estimate made in 1938, women trade
unionists numbered almost 800,000, or about 10 per cent of all organized
workers, although current official figures are not yet available to substantiate
this conjecture. The increasing number of unionized women is revealed in
the following list:”

#8 Recommendation of Faculty of the Summer School Session of 1936 for 1937.

“Report of the Director of the Summer School, 1937.

“Leo Wolman, Ebb and Flow in Trade Unionism, N. Y., National Bureau of Eco-
nomic Research, 1936, p. 74.

™ Mae Hawley Pritchard, Recent Trends in Unionization Among Women Workers
(an unpublished Master's Thesis, Columbia University, New York, 1938), pp. 11-16.

87


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



INCREASE OF UNIONIZED WOMEN

Percentage of Gainfully
Year Number Unionized Employed Women
1910 74,246 9%
1920 366,400 4.3%
1924 214,049 2.5%
1927 256,700 24%
1938 800,000 74%

That members of certain trade unions have been well represented in the
School has been natural. Since recruiting of students has been focused on the
Middle Atlantic, New England and Middle-Western areas, workers from the
garment, textile, and boot and shoe industries have applied. For example, by
1929 the Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Union had organized’ many women
in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Rochester, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleve-
land, Boston, St. Louis and Milwaukee. Since 1934, the textile and garment
organizations have greatly augmented the number of women upon their rolls.
In that year, for example, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union
had 80,000 female members. Three years later, there were about 200,000
women in the union, comprising three-fourths of the total membership. By
1937, women constituted one-half of the 300,000 members of the A.C.W.A.
Specifically, they formed about 85 per cent of unionized shirtmakers and 70
per cent of organized laundry workers.”

Large numbers of the newly unionized women belonged to the Congress of
Industrial Organizations. The American Federation of Labor had barred
many of them from membership, claiming as a reason that their jobs were
unskilled and semi-skilled. Although the Federation had hired special organ-
izers to work among women in 1918 and 1926, by 1934 their proportion was
still small.* Because of this, the Bryn Mawr School has found equal recruit-
ing from craft and industrial groups difficult to attain.

Leadership opportunities for women trade unionists also were unbalanced.
The A.F. of L. did not heed the plea reiterated in 1935 that women should be
given responsible positions, but at present certain trade unions in the C.LO.
report increased leadership among them. Although the clothing branch of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers does not offer much opportunity, women
hold positions as business agents, secretaries, and local officials in its cotton

* Pritchard, op. cit., pp. 27-28.
* Hutchins, op. cit., p. 260.

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THE SELECTION OF THE STUDENT BODY



garment branches. However, leadership cannot be forecast for women in
either the A.F. of L. or the C.LO., since factors other than opportunity in-
fluence the situation.

As trade unions have developed, groups have been formed to interest the
wives of organized workers. Ladies’ auxiliaries have been instituted and their
members have been trained to participate effectively in workers’ education as
well as in other activities. At a 1937 meeting of representatives from Detroit
and Flint auto auxiliaries, women seemed eager to attend summer schools.
They wanted training in planning educational programs for women and
children.” Although the Bryn Mawr School has accepted an occasional aux-
iliary member, no definite precedent has been established. The 1938 investi-
gators, therefore, recommended women’s auxiliaries as an important recruiting
source.

The average age of students has altered as the Bryn Mawr School has
developed. Women between the ages of 18 and 35 originally were admitted
although preference was shown to candidates over 20 years old. The age
range of 20 to 35 later defined the entrance requirements. In the early years
the largest number of students were between 25 and 29. By 1933 a younger
group began to enter the School. In 1934, one-half of the students were under
25; in 1935 the median was 25; and in 1936 it was 23. In that year the
Director commented on the youthfulness of the women and the faculty recom-
mended that the average age of future students should be 24. In 1937,
although the age level was approximately the same as the year before, they
seemed more mature and stable and some of the best students were the
youngest. However, the desirability of preserving balance between the more
and the less experienced members still was mentioned.” In 1938 the student
body included 36 women between the ages of 19 and 24, 17 between 25 and
29, 10 between 30 and 35, and two over 35. On the whole, the influx of
younger women into the School has reflected their entrance into the trade
union movement. Of women suit, coat, and overall operatives in New York
State in 1930, for example, 38.8 per cent were under 25.*

Statistics of the Southern Summer School, the Wisconsin School for
Workers, the School for Office Workers, and the Pacific Coast School indicate
that their recruiting has been influenced by the same forces which have

* Proceedings of the Convention, 1937.
” Report of the Director of the Summer School, 1937.
™ Pritchard, op. cit., p. 38.

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



reached the Bryn Mawr institution. In some instances, however, they have
responded differently, the primary distinction centering about the issue of
coeducation. Trade unions and other groups have stated that workers’ edu-
cation for women alone is artificial and does not mirror accurately the life
situations the workers must face. With the exception of the Bryn Mawr
institution, therefore, the resident summer schools became coeducational.

The Bryn Mawr School has utilized male instructors on its faculty and has
stimulated workers’ education projects in men’s colleges. Trade unions,
however, have not been satisfied; school alumnae have emphasized the import-
ance of learning how to work with men; and faculty and students have asked
that the issue be studied. The Hudson Shore School still wishes to analyze
the problem, and in the meantime, men will be invited to institutes and con-
ferences.

Generally, students have come to the Bryn Mawr School for only one year.
A few women, however, have been accepted for advanced study if their first
year record indicated that they would benefit especially from a longer period
of training. District committees have been consulted about the activities of
the candidates after their first term, and the School has wished to know
whether a particular worker is equipped to interpret its traditions to new
students.

Students who have spent their first year at sectional schools for workers
also have been accepted at Bryn Mawr for advanced work. This has happened
because the value of training in a nationally-based institution has been rec-
ognized. To facilitate a student exchange, the Bryn Mawr School was asked
to recommend a uniform record card which would indicate the first-year
progress of a particular worker. Ordinarily second-year students have been
distributed throughout the student body. In 1934, when 20 advanced candi-
dates were accepted, an entire school unit was provided for them. In 1938
and 1939, second-year students on the committee for “cooperative living”
partly constituted a separate group. With these exceptions, advanced students
have not been a distinct group and their average number has been 10, but
acceptance of even this small number of “graduates” has aroused discussion.
Certain supporters of the School have stated that attention should be focused
upon first-year applicants; others have suggested that the School become a
graduate institution recruiting mainly from the East.”

* Recommendations of Faculty of the Summer School Session, 1933.

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THE SELECTION OF THE STUDENT BODY



Women workers have found it difficult to attend the summer session for
a variety of reasons. Industrial causes, including unemployment and seasonal
employment, and personal factors, including family responsibilities, lack of
money and illness, have been responsible. The same reasons have been given
year after year. For instance, busy seasons in certain industries are relied
upon for employment. If the peak period of a trade occurs during the sum-
mer months or immediately after the summer session, the School necessarily
must lose some applicants for they must remain in their communities to seek
jobs. Also trade unions are busy during the same period and experienced
union members are needed at home.

Unemployment has not consistently discouraged candidates from attending
the School. In 1930, it did not affect recruiting from metropolitan centers
as much as from non-metropolitan communities.” Two years later, very few
women withdrew their applications since many felt that the prospect for
employment was so slight that they might as well attend the School. In con-
trast, the year 1933. influenced many women differently. They felt that since
work was so slack they could not risk losing even a little employment during
the summer. “Though reluctant to give up the school these girls who had
been out of work for the best part of three years snatched at the opportunity
of even temporary jobs.” In 1935 the situation again was reversed. Fifteen
of a total of 51 students were unemployed. They had come to study since
there seemed to be no opportunity for work in their communities.

In 1937, a typical year for the School, 99 candidates were accepted. Before
the session began, 39 found themselves unable to attend, thereby reducing
the size of the student body to 60. Of those not accepting the opportunity,
12 could not obtain a leave of absence from work and union duties kept four
at home. Five could not leave family responsibilities and three had no money
for travel; four were ill, three could not obtain the permission of the family,
one decided to marry, and one merely indicated a family emergency. Five
additional applicants had been accepted as alternates too late to complete
their plans for attendance.”

The School has attempted to solve the problem by having a short session of
seven weeks ending when a seasonal rise in industry tends to occur.. A smaller



* Report of the Educational Secretary, 1930.
“Hilda W. Smith, “Chapter Thirteen of the Bryn Mawr Story,” Journal of Adult
Education, Vol. 5 (October, 1933), p. 425.
* Statistics of the School, 1937.
91



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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION













group of students, numbering 50 to 70 instead of 100, also has tended to
diminish the proportion relinquishing their study, since selection may be
more careful. However, obstacles in recruiting have been only partly over-
come.

The Bryn Mawr Summer School may be commended. Despite the indicated
limitations, its students have represented American working women in edu-
cation, national origin, geographical residence, and experience in industry and
labor organization. On the whole, the Hudson Shore School intends to follow
the precedents which have been established. The reorganized institution
realizes that only through a representative student body can it help all
American workers to face their problems with understanding, integrity, and
freedom.

92
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CHAPTER VIII

~The Summer Program of Studies and Activities



| school should emphasize subjects and methods which
community projects are unable to develop. The Bryn Mawr School has
attempted to do so as it has helped students “obtain a truer insight into the
problems of industry, and feel a more vital responsibility for their solution.” *
Accordingly, sustained study and extensive analysis have been encouraged.
The School has designed the summer session to be significant for each stu-
dent. Therefore applicants have been asked to indicate challenging com-
munity problems which study might help to solve.” When the institution
was still young, questions on the application blank were general, and candi-
dates merely were asked what subjects they wished to take and what they
wanted to do as members of various community groups. Burt as the School
has developed and grown more conscious of workers’ problems, questions have
become more specific. Applicants have been asked to indicate what topics
relating to their industrial life and their locality they wish to study and to list
the specific organizations with which they are affiliated. They have been
requested to state their responsibilities in the associations, how important they
consider their participation, and what they desire to do in the future. Cur-
ricula have been planned partly on the basis of these answers. Interests thereby
are discovered. Winter activities of alumnae are an additional guide.
Program hints also have been obtained from community classes for appli-
cants and alumnae, The faculty and board of the School have recommended
instruction, preliminary to the summer session, so that the educational equip-
ment of candidates may be developed. Through courses in their own com-
munities, prospective students therefore are prepared to use effectively the



‘Constitution as amended in 1923, Article II, Section I.
"Information obtained from a study of application forms of successive years.
93



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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

limited opportunity of the short resident program. Local committees have
instituted the classes and draw applicants to them. At first, instruction in
English necessarily was emphasized; but as the education and Americanization
of candidates have increased with time, social and economic topics have
been chiefly discussed, though work in English has been continued. More-
over, changing world conditions have influenced the School to focus upon the
social sciences.

The shifting emphasis of the application sheet reflects trends within the
summer session. ‘The basic range of subjects usually has had to be limited so
that the best possible course may be planned for the two months which work-
ers spend on the campus. Whereas the early curriculum offered many fields,
in the past 10 years instruction has centered around a principal economic
topic, coordinated with work in English. Economics and English accord-
ingly have been required courses.’ Elementary economics instruction has been
supplemented by more advanced elective study.

The choice of the economic theme each year has been influenced by the
interests which students express and the immediate problems facing labor in
general. In 1931 study focused upon unemployment; in 1932 social control
was the major interest; and two years later students analyzed the National
Recovery Act and situations within codified industries. Recently, trade union-
ism has been emphasized. The content of specific courses is related to the
central theme of the session.

The integration of subjects has in part conditioned the teaching of Eng-
lish. In earlier years, the tendency was to emphasize considerably the creative
and cultural study of literature and composition. By 1936, better understand-
ing and expression of spoken and written English became the goal bur in
that year, students recommended that classes become more utilitarian. "The
faculty recognized the need for practical work, but maintained that creative
and corrective opportunities should be available if individuals wanted them.
Specialized writing and social literature thus were offered as elective courses,
supplementing required speaking and composition classes.‘

Opportunities in subjects other than economics and English have been
flexible. General science at times has been required and sometimes has been

* Statement of policies of the School, April 16, 1934.
“Report of the Director of the School for the session June 13 to August 8, 1936, p. 6.

94

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SUMMER PROGRAM OF STUDIES AND ACTIVITIES





we

elective. In 1932, for instance, a science workshop served as a “museum” for
women who were interested in the field. Therein visual aids and laboratory
demonstrations were used to illustrate theoretical lessons. By 1936, the sub-
ject was presented in an elementary required course; it included some discus-
sion of human biology, and used laboratory work wherever possible.

History and psychology on the whole have been subordinated to the basic
curriculum, being offered as electives. When, in 1936, the students recom-
mended that history be a fundamental course, the Board of Directors of the
School cautioned lest breadth of curriculum introduce overcrowding. With
this in mind, the planning committee recommended more emphasis upon
history but suggested that the subject be related directly to topics discussed
in economics.”

Numerous other needs of industrial workers have been recognized. As the
industries from which candidates have come have altered their working con-
ditions and hours, intelligent use of leisure time has been taught. Music and
dramatics have offered new pleasures and recreation new skills. A health pro-
gram has been designed to prove the importance of individual and social well-
being to workers as well as to society.”

When the School first opened, courses were comparatively unrelated and
tutors aided students outside of class. A unit system was adopted in 1927 and
initiated in 1928 in order to integrate studies and avoid confusion. The sys-
tem aimed to synthesize subject matter, somewhat according to a plan de-
scribed a few years earlier at Brookwood Labor College. A. J. Muste, who
outlined this scheme, stated that the basic principle was to have several
instructors sit in and take part with the class in handling a given situation,
each making the contribution for which his specialization fits him.’ Students
were placed in several groups. Within each, three instructors of different
subjects planned coordinate courses and tutored their own pupils. In 1930,
participant observers were placed in the units to record discussion and report

q to students in other groups, as well as to the faculty.
; All units fundamentally are interrelated, because they are centered around
E the main topic developed in the session. Yet within each group, flexibility



® Statement made to the Board of Directors of the School, November, 1936.

‘ "Statement of policies, op. cit.
7A. J. Muste, “Discussion,” Proceedings of the Conference of Teachers in Workers’

; Education, at Brookwood, February 23-24, 1924, p. 14.
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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

has been the primary characteristic. Each class has focused upon individual
needs and not upon subject alone.

The number of units and of women in each have varied. A group usually
has included from 17 to 20 individuals. In 1929 and 1930, there were five
and six divisions respectively. In recent years, three have encompassed the
student body. Throughout, an attempt has been made to make each group,
a cross-section of the School. Differences among the women in nationality,
geographical origin, occupation, and trade union membership always have
had to be considered. At first, tests indicating general intelligence and reading
ability determined the placing of students in specific units. In 1929 social
attitudes of individuals were analyzed and used as a basis. Recently candi-
dates have tended to be more alike and their educational background has
improved. The tests in 1936 as a result revealed less variation in the rate
and comprehension of reading than had formerly existed.* Therefore the
faculty in 1937 decided to discard the tests and to group students experimen-
tally, using as guides information on the application sheet and other prelimi-
nary data. The English teachers, however, still used tests to determine the
need for remedial work.’

Second-year students complicated the unit system. Should they have their
own group or should they be distributed in several divisions? In 1934, a
committee suggested that second-year students be recruited for a separate
project but study mainly in the regular groups. In 1937 and 1938, through
the Committee on Cooperative Living, second-year women attended the usual
classes but also were in a special project on household employment.

In addition to class work, special meetings have been held so that students
may discuss problems vital to them all. Yearly the women have been encour-
aged to consider issues which challenge them. In 1930 a forum weighed the
relative value of various community organizations. During the last two
weeks of the 1932 session workers from different sections of the country met
and analyzed their local problems; they discussed how to form classes where
workers had few opportunities, how to participate more effectively in their

® Jean Carter, “The Bryn Mawr Summer School,” Snapshots of Workers’ Education
Here and Abroad, Affiliated Schools Scrapbook, Vol. 1, Nos. 3 and 4 (March, 1937), p. 6.

* Report to the faculty of the School on plans followi
les aig hh ran e or n plans following the staff conference held on

96
SUMMER PROGRAM OF STUDIES AND ACTIVITIES





communities, and what issues to study before voting in the coming election.”
In 1936 a large meeting considered the variety of organizations and points
_of view represented in the School. Several smaller gatherings which fol-
lowed analyzed more specifically the difference between workers’ groups
throughout the country. A realistic approach to workers’ problems also has
been encouraged through studies which the School has conducted or for
which material to be used by other groups has been gathered. The job-
analysis survey undertaken in 1925 had the following aims:

. to assist the teachers of the summer schools in understanding the back-
ground experience of the students with whom they are working and thus to
adapt their program and teaching methods to the problems at hand, and
second to build up a body of information concerning the trade experience of
a selected group of women workers from the important women’s trades and
from all parts of the country.”

Another study was initiated three years later by the economics faculty so
that both instructors and students might obtain “more systematic knowledge
of the experience of industrial women composing the Summer School
group.” In 1933 a third project was undertaken because the wornen were
“convinced that it was their obligation, both as students and as workers, to
arrive at a better understanding of the predicament into which they had been
forced by the economic organization in which they live and work.” *

Informal discussions and research are favored by the students. They have
suggested several times that fewer formal class hours be scheduled and that
more time be devoted to spontaneous study evolving from individual interests.
The faculty has recognized that the idea has merits, like those embodied in
“training for leadership” and classes in community organization. Thereby
workers may learn persistence and how to be intelligent, active members of
varied groups.

The School has realized that workers will benefit greatly if while studying
they remain interested in events off the campus and maintain contact



” Hilda W. Smith, “Bryn Mawr Summer School,” Journal of Adult Education, Vol. 4
(October, 1932), p. 451. ; ;

“Quoted in Amy Hewes, Women Workers in the Third Year of the Depression,
Study by Students in the Bryn Mawr Summer School, (U. S. Department of Labor,
Women’s Bureau Publication, No. 103), 1933.

"Gladys Palmer, The Industrial Experience of Women Workers at the Summer
School, 1928-1930, (U. S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau, Publication No. 89),
1931.

* Hewes, op. cit.

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



with the outside world. Therefore, speakers and groups have been invited
to visit the summer session. Gradually the number of speakers has decreased
while the latter have become more important. The women recommended
that student forums replace outside speakers as far as possible.“ On the
other hand, they have desired to meet the members of various organizations.
To satisfy the demand, weekend conferences and one-day institutes have been
organized. Groups including the Philadelphia Labor College, the Women’s
Trade Union League, the Central Labor College, and alumnae from
academic colleges, have been invited to participate and also to observe
classes. In 1937 the Board of Directors stated that some plan might be
formulated whereby small groups from several organizations could be accom-
modated for longer periods. Students could become familiar with their tech-
niques and in turn the agencies could interpret workers’ education in their
respective communities.

When the School began, arrangements had been made to allow the women
to observe group techniques and programs off the campus. In April 1934 a
policy relating to extra-curricular activities was defined as follows:

The major educational value of the Summer School lies primarily in the
work on the campus. A limited time, however, may successfully be given to
field work, for we recognize the principle that students learn by experience.
Such field work should be supervised by teachers and undertaken only as part
of the regular work of the School or class. Such field work may include trips
to museums, factories, union meetings, strikes, and legislative hearings.*

Since trips to the community were integrated with study at the School, they
could not be planned before the summer session. They had to evolve accord-
ing to student interests, which differed from one summer to another. At all
times two factors were taken into consideration: the educational advantages
to be derived and whether or not the School and College would be exposed to
unfavorable publicity." The School could not officially participate in indus-
trial conflicts or like activities, since students held so many different opinions
and philosophies. Also the short summer session would not permit the care-
ful investigation which would be necessary before any unified action could
be taken. However, individual students and faculty members were allowed to

* Report to the Board of Directors of the School, April, 1936.

_ ™ Plan of Procedure for Off-Campus Activities, Voted upon by the Board of Directors
in April, 1934.

* Statement of policies, op. cit.

98

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SUMMER PROGRAM OF STUDIES AND ACTIVITIES



participate in controversial situations occurring off the campus, if they felt
they must. They had to identify themselves with their local affiliations and
positions and not with the School.”

Despite precautions, in 1934 the public connected several events not only
with the School but with the College. The latter, therefore, recommended that
outside activities by students and faculty be discontinued. The Board of
Directors of the School answered by saying that the School was an integral
part of the workers’ education movement. Students, therefore, could not be
denied contact with important outside events. At the request of the college,
the School was temporarily withdrawn from the campus during the summer
of 1935 so that the issue could be decided upon objectively.” An agreement
reached the next year stated that the policy formulated in 1934 be maintained.
The opinion was that, on the whole, extra-curricular activities would be few
since so many of their functions had been built gradually into the regular
program. However, many individuals feared that field work would be re-
stricted too greatly; they believed that the situation strengthened the argu-
ment that resident schools represent a withdrawal from the active world.

The School has always emphasized that the learning process be objective,
whether inside or outside of the class room or campus; that no particular
theory or dogma should be favored; that expression of minority opinion
should be encouraged. Yet because students have differed in their acquaint-
ance with economic and social problems, it has not been easy to enforce
the principle that all ideas be presented equally. Skill has been needed to
help the inexperienced worker match her wits against others more experi-
enced.

Recently, however, an increasing number of women have learned about
vital questions. In their communities, elementary and secondary schools
have broadened curricula; Y.W.C.A.’s, settlements, and other organizations
have been making their programs more responsive to environmental prob-
lems. Various organizations are at the present time urging that adult and
workers’ education be as varied as are the social and economic needs of adults
and their intellectual interests. One group recommends that adult education
include the following:



oo of meeting of the Executive Committee of the Summer School, July 10,
Pp. >.
®“The Bryn Mawr Summer School,” Survey, Vol. 7 (August, 1935), pp. 239-240.

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



1. Training for vocational readjustments.

2. Opportunities for growth in social and political understanding.

3. Provision for the creative use of leisure time in such manner as to add to
the well-being of the individual, physically, intellectually, and emo-

tionally.
4, Guidance in the pursuit of intellectual achievement or artistic performance
in some field of interest.”

Women are today coming to workers’ schools better equipped to take ad-
vantage of resident study.

The Director and faculty of the School have been chosen carefully so that
the workers may be helped to understand their problems and articulate their
thoughts. The School has realized that the relationship between student and
staff must be informal if the desired ends are to be accomplished. The
Director and instructors, therefore, have been required to have certain qualifi-
cations. The former has had to show that she is genuinely interested in the
students, that she understands labor movements and workers’ groups, and
that she knows the principles and methods of workers’ education. In addition
she has had to be an administrator and able to work with committees.

The School’s requirements anteceded the typical prerequisites for teachers
in workers’ education, as set forth by the W.P.A.:

1, A keen interest in workers’ education and its relation to the labor move-
ment.

2. A broad understanding of and sympathy with workers’ problems, based
wherever possible on practical experience in industry or personal con-
tact with workers.

3. A belief in a democratic procedure among adults.

4, A comprehensive knowledge of the subject matter proposed workers’ edu-
cation courses and familiarity with materials and techniques of workers’
education. ”

Within general requirements like those above, the Bryn Mawr School has
chosen faculty members to meet different problems. In the first years of the
School a labor representative was present on the campus. The arrangement
was discarded when it was felt that direct contact with labor organizations

* W. Carson Ryan, Jr., Editorial, Progressive Education, Vol. 15 ( January, 1938), p. 5.

_ ™W.P.A., Technical Series, Education Circular, No. 4, Workers’ Education—Its Ob-
jectives, Standards, and Techniques, Washington, D. C., February 1, 1937, p. 4.

100

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SUMMER PROGRAM OF STUDIES AND ACTIVITIES



was possible, but in 1938 a labor representative was reintroduced for the fol-
lowing purposes:
. . to act as an interpreter between students and members of the faculty; to
watch and participate in the daily life of the students as a so-called warden;
to interpret the School to the public; to help plan institutes; to sit in certain
classes as consultant in practical trade union problems.”

In one session it was discovered that women of a particular religion could
not reconcile their religious and social ideas. The next summer an English
teacher of the same faith who had faced the same problems and met them
successfully for herself was chosen so that she might help the students.*
Faculty members have also been recruited from particular sections of the
country where alumnae are asking for help. Instructors have been both male
and female so that workers may learn to cooperate with both sexes.

Because of the prerequisites the School’s instructors have been men and
women who have taught in secondary schools and colleges and are interested
in workers. They usually have participated in labor groups. For example, in
one session, one instructor had experience as a trade union member and
workers’ education teacher; another had been a labor organizer; several had
taught workers in community projects or in government programs; one teacher
had done social and industrial research, and one had been a Y.W.C.A.
Industrial Secretary.”

The task of obtaining the proper instructors has not been an easy one.
Few teachers have been interested in labor problems or closely associated
with workers. Individual teachers have not believed unionization necessary
for themselves. School boards have blacklisted those who joined labor organ-
izations. The situation has, of course, been changing recently. But from the
very first the School has maintained that instructors had to be found who
could understand the students and their problems. The search was made
more difficult because of a desire that at least 20 percent of the faculty be
new each year.

The role of all staff members has been analyzed carefully in meetings pre-
liminary to as well as during the summer session. The faculty has always
been asked to make suggestions which will aid recruiting, teaching and fol-



"| Statement obtained from plans for the summer session of 1938.
* Letter to interested individual by a member of the Board of Directors, 1938.

* Material obtained from a study of letters of application.

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



low-up work in the communities. They have been allowed freedom of thought
and of speech in all their functions; individual convictions have not been pre-
cluded. The School has maintained, however, that instructors must be
objective and that controversial issues must be discussed from every point of
view.

Since few opportunities for teacher training exist in workers’ education,
the School initiated an informal program, and aid has been given both indi-
viduals and groups. College undergraduates and graduates, as assistants to
instructors, gather reference material for the units, and coach students. In
1938 seven trainees at the School helped the English and economics faculty
and assisted in recreational work, music, the library, and the cooperative store.
One English instructor developed in-service training as follows:

Fach of the undergraduates assigned to assist this unit stated that she wanted

to take up workers’ education after college. Consequently, we planned all of

the work of the unit together. This was done not only in a regular weekly

conference but in continuous consultation. . . Every phase of English teach-

ing fell to them during the seven weeks period . . . Psychological problems

of individual control and group management were taken up with the assistants.

They were made to analyze the techniques of teaching in the units they visited,

and they were in turn criticized on their own method of projection and

organization . . . Since the Bryn Mawr Summer School is a center, and in

some respects a model, of workers’ education, the instructor feels strongly

that every person who assists with the work should be given the fullest possible

opportunity to learn to teach workers. This was done in this unit.
Opportunities also have been provided for development in the communities.
Wherever possible, former assistants serve upon local Summer School com-
mittees and help to interpret the field to others.

Through the Work Projects Administration, the School taught techniques
of workers’ education to a large number of individuals. In 1934 the Bryn
Mawr institution, as well as other workers’ schools, housed a government
training center upon the campus. After that year the decision was made not
to accommodate an entire unit of this kind because the School was not
equipped to shoulder the added responsibility. Since that time conferences
and institutes have provided the main medium for training. W.P.A. teachers
met with second-year students in 1936 to learn techniques, and in 1938 they
attended a week-end meeting for teachers in workers’ education.

“The Use of Undergraduate Assistants, Report of an English Instructor to the Board
of Directors of the School, 1937.

102





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At the close of the summer session, the faculty has rated students in order
to report to community organizations intending to cooperate with alumnae.
The evaluation forms which were devised in the early years emphasized in-
tellectual details.” It was noted that the type of work done and the grasp of
subject were “very superior,” “acceptable,” or “definitely inadequate.” Note
was made of the way a student could be expected to react in an adult educa-
tion class—whether she was “very dull and slow,” whether she was “original,
keen, or logical,” or somewhere in between the two categories. Capacity for
independent thought was indicated. Personality traits were noted in terms
of language difficulties, marked prejudices, emotional instability, and marked
susceptibility to distraction. Each instructor decided whether or not a student
should be recommended for second-year work.

In 1928 community activity by the students became a primary focus.
Under a new category of “capabilities,” the following questions were asked:
“Did this student display qualities which might be further encouraged through
the usual community resources to increase her effectiveness in dealing with
industrial problems? Did she show any capacity for leadership or social use-
fulness? (Consider her originality, initiative, perseverance, good capacity of
self evaluation, or evaluation of others, etc.).” Adequacy of work and results
of mental and educational tests were still noted in detail.

In 1930 possible future activity was emphasized further. Instead of con-
sidering intellectual capacity alone, development during the session was em-
phasized. Specific details which might help the student to become effective
in her community were noted. Accordingly, consideration was given to the
ability to think impersonally, open mindedness, ability to read, to speak to a
group and to write. The instructor was asked whether high school training
helped a worker adjust to the group and to this type of educative experience.
Suggestions also were made about the “kind of experience the student should
have in her district to carry on the development started at the School to
further her community usefulness.” District committees interested in the stu-
dents learned such facts through correspondence. In 1931 intellectual rank
was emphasized even less and community tie-up even more. Specific recom-
mendations for activity came to include class or study programs, or work in
community organizations or the labor movement. Choice of second-year

* Information obtained from a study of rating forms of successive years.

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



candidates was made after consideration of their ability to undertake advanced
work. Because exact classification was difficult, still another rating change
was instituted in 1932 and carried on thereafter. Unit leaders, after guidance
in faculty meetings, submitted statements about each student, with particular
reference to intellectual progress, group participation and effort. Recom-
mendations were made for community activity and work in local classes.

Ratings have been important since they inform community organizations
how to help alumnae when they return home. In the evalution process, the
faculty has expressed the belief that the summer session must lead to more
than a desire for study. By being active in local groups, the women really
must prove that resident schools may help workers to become aware of their
problems and active in solving them. Social participation has been the ulti-
mate goal of the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in In-
dustry.

104






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}
{
t
‘
The Participation of Summer School |
Students Within Their Communities i





CHAPTER IX

The Activities of Students in Upton, Downton
and Fluxton





Les Bryn Mawr School has realized that the achievement of its pur-
pose—student participation in community life—depends upon varied social
and economic backgrounds as well as upon differences among individuals.
Women who have attended the School have come from many communities:
urban and rural; small and large; Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern.
Modes of life have differed from one place to another. At the same time,
however, special nation-wide interests and what the sociologist calls “rurban-
ization” have tended to eliminate sectional dissimilarities. When alumnae
participation is surveyed, both likeness and difference among communities
must be remembered and also the diverse personalities of the workers.

Upton, Downton, and Fluxton symbolize the three types of communities
in which the School’s alumnae live: one a place conducive to activity; one dis-
couraging to activity; and one a changing community.’ Through visits to
these cities, the activities of former students were observed closely.

UPTON: A COMMUNITY CONDUCIVE TO ACTIVITY
The 1930 census placed Upton in the population category 250,000-500,000.
Different social and economic classes, nationalities, and races are represented
in the community and varied interest groups have been formed and are active.
Organizations include a Council of Social Agencies, a university, several indus-
trial associations, a number of trade unions, political parties, and group work
associations.



*These names are fictitious. They represent, however, three actual cities carefully
selected as typical of the community types.

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



Certain of Upton’s organizations plan special programs for workers. One
of the political groups has a predominant working-class constituency. A few
churches hold classes in which social problems are discussed. Settlements
sponsor recreation especially for unorganized working people and arouse
their interest as consumers. Citizens’ groups conduct lectures on trade union-
ism. Schools and a few labor organizations are helping to promote W.P.A.
workers’ education projects. Efforts are made to stimulate and to meet demand
for the services of these projects. Forums have been most successful, each
attended by approximately 80 to 90 persons. Teachers have conducted classes
for a small number of trade unions.

Unionization has progressed in recent years, especially in certain industries,
and women are being organized in large numbers and encouraged to partici-
pate as members and leaders in union activities. Their educational opportu-
nities are primarily of a recreational type; but through the W.P.A. and the
Y.W.C.A. they have been able to obtain formal instruction designed for
workers. A liberal and progressive Y.W.C.A. industrial department serves
both organized and unorganized women and provides trade parties, labor dra-
matics, mass recitations, and formal classes. Cooperation is encouraged
between union and non-union groups and between different races. Physical
facilities are extended to many dissimilar labor organizations.

A local committee promotes the interests of the Bryn Mawr School within
the community. This committee is composed of representatives of grad-
uates of several colleges (including Bryn Mawr) and of various commu-
nity organizations. At one time it included a “labor representative” who was
a personnel executive rather than a member of a bona fide labor organization.
A Bryn Mawr College alumna is chairman and Summer School alumnae have
designated two students to interpret their ideas to the group. The com-
mittee, once a formal organization, now functions informally. Funds are
raised by personal solicitation; recruiting is centered in the Y.W.C.A., a few
trade unions, and the Alumnae Association; and classes and workshops are
sponsored primarily for the women who have attended the School.

In the years 1925 to 1938, 31 women went from Upton to the Bryn Mawr
School.” Eight of these women attended for two years. Complete informa-
tion could be obtained for only 28 and the organization through which the

*In this section the word “candidate” or “applicant” refers to the women before they
attended the School; “alumna” refers to them after their return.

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STUDENTS IN UPTON, DOWNTON, AND FLUXTON


































workers were recruited was ascertained for only 15. The Y.W.C.A. alone
was responsible for eight; the Y.W.C.A. and the Alumnae Association, three;
the Y.W.C.A. and a trade union, one; and a trade union, a nationality club,
and the Alumnae Association, one each.

Educational preparation and the ages of students from Upton have changed
as they have for the entire School; nationality background has not. Every
Upton applicant who has gone to the School has completed at least the sixth
grade of elementary school; all have been between the ages of 20 and 35.
Among the 21 women who attended the Bryn Mawr Summer Session before
1933, 16 had no education beyond the eighth grade of elementary school;
ages ranged from 20 to 34, 13 candidates being 25 or over. Among the seven
students who attended the Summer Session in 1933 or after, four had
attended high school but none of these had graduated; ages ranged from 23
to 29, three being 25 or over. Therefore from 1933 to 1938, students from
Upton who were members of the student body of the Bryn Mawr School were
better educated and younger than they were in the period before. During
the entire 13 years represented, 18 women were American-born but the par-
ents of the majority were immigrants. The percentage of native-born students,
therefore, from Upton has been higher than that for the entire School.
Candidates indicated participation in community, labor, political, and civic
groups as well as in various miscellaneous organizations. As alumnae they
had an added sphere for activity, namely the Alumnae Association. It should
be reiterated that their functioning in all the groups has depended upon
opportunities afforded them as well as upon their desire to participate”

The women, both as candidates and as alumnae of the School, have partici-
pated in the Y.W.C.A. Before they came to Bryn Mawr, 23 of the 28 indi-
viduals under consideration belonged to the organization, 14 as leaders and
nine as members; as School alumnae, 14 belonged, nine as leaders and five as
members. The Y.W.C.A. Secretary reported that, all things considered,
participation was much more alert. Outstanding “leadership” positions are
as follows: cabinet officer, adviser to an industrial group, member of the
Industrial Department Committee, representative at sectional conference,
member of Public Affairs Committee, National Industrial Council member,
chairman of National Council Project Committee, Dance Group chairman,



*The chart showing the background and activities of each worker is in the original
Manuscript at Bryn Mawr College.

109

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



and member in charge of mass recitation. It has been indicated that the
alumnae who ceased to be active have been absent from the city, or ill, or
have married. Those who have not been very active have stated that advanced
age, changed occupation, or marriage is responsible.

On the whole, the organized workers who have attended the School have
maintained their trade union loyalty, most of them belonging to a union of
clothing workers. Two women joined labor organizations after their summer
away from home. Eighteen candidates of the 28 under consideration belonged
to trade unions, six as leaders and 12 as members. When they were School
alumnae 15 of these women reported they were organized, 11 serving as
leaders and four as members. The women who have discontinued their affili-
ation have given changed occupation, marriage, and employers’ disapproval as
the reason. Observers in the community have commended the type of trade
union participation of alumnae. They have reported leadership as follows:
Joint board member, representative on the Central Trades and Labor Board,
organizer, business agent, active striker, representative on the C.1.O. Council,
educational leader. Particular attention has been called to the woman who
helped convert her company union into a bona fide union.

Other organizations in which the women have been interested include
churches, the League of Women Voters, the Democratic, American Labor,
and Marxist parties, the American League Against War and Fascism, the
Committee to Aid Spain, and a Consumers’ Cooperative. As a group, the
alumnae have tended to participate in these groups less than they did before
they went to the School. However, certain alumnae have greatly increased
their activity. One woman now participates in several organizations but exclu-
sively in the political field. Three lead church discussion groups concerned
with labor problems. One alumna is a member of a W.P.A. Committee for
the Advancement of Workers’ Education.

Partly responsible for the declining participation in miscellaneous groups
has been intense interest in the Summer School Alumnae Association, a group
which has sponsored many activities. Twenty-two of the 28 women under
consideration belong to the Association. When several members were unem-
ployed, a loan organization was established; the necessary funds were raised
through a cooperative store, set up in the Y.W.C.A. In addition, money has
been sent to the Summer School. A broad educational program has been
instituted, including preparatory and follow-up classes, Sunday forums, special

110



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STUDENTS IN UPTON, DOWNTON, AND FLUXTON


































projects, and a lending library. The group keeps individuals informed of
Br: special events in the city and it has been said that when anything of impor-
tance takes place, alumnae are invariably present.

When all the activities of the women are considered, only seven alumnae,
Ps besides those who have moved from the city, may be designated as definitely
inactive. Some individuals have discontinued specific interests, but others
have joined certain groups for the first time and still others have progressed
__ from membership to leadership in the organizations with which they remained
affiliated. Whereas the 28 candidates indicated only 29 positions of leader-
ship in the Y.W.C.A., religious, political, and labor groups, and miscellaneous
__ organizations, the alumnae reported 43 leadership activities. Eleven had been
made possible through the Alumnae Association. The actual performances of
the women seem to follow faculty recommendations for community activity.
The ratings which the School gave them for “group consciousness” and
“effort” seem more relevant than class marks. In the community, activity has
been more important than study, although attendance at workers’ classes has
increased as compared with interest in public school courses.

Decreased participation in certain organizations does not mean that the
women have lost the desire to be active. This must be measured against
increased interest in other groups. Although the Y.W.C.A. has declined in
popularity in comparison with certain other agencies, the Industrial Secretary
believes that the change is normal and should be encouraged. The Y.W.C.A.,
in her opinion, should be for women with little experience and old members
should be very active only long enough to influence new ones. New organ-
izational interests, however, should not clash with the old in terms of phi-
losophy.

The School has influenced the shift partly because the Alumnae Associa-
___ tion is strong locally. As stated above, 22 of the 28 women under consider-
ation lack time to do other things as well; they must concentrate their
attention here. Also it must be remembered that no one year is being con-
sidered and therefore that changing activities merely may indicate that one
organization has ceased to exist whereas another has been founded. For
instance, alumnae returning to the community a number of years ago could
join a Y,W.C.A. student-industrial group which no longer exists. Moreover,
because certain trades are not organized, the labor activity of several alumnae

has been limited.
111
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



In conclusion it should be stated that it is difficult to estimate accurately
the influence of the summer experience, whether for bad or good. Several
persons have stated that alumnae have not done what they should to aid the
WPA workers’ education program. They have blamed the School for “spoil-
ing” students. However, the alumnae have maintained that the program could
afford them no opportunities either as students or teachers, that classes have
been too elementary and that they cannot meet the relief requirements for
teachers. It has been said that progress in the Y.W.C.A. may be stimulated
by its own Industrial Department, the Summer School, or both together.
Trade unionists in the community are unwilling to state that the resident study
influenced their members greatly—although they are willing to admit mem-
bership was not discouraged. They suggest that cooperative recruiting between
labor organizations and the School and functional, coeducational courses might
increase effectiveness. One alumna who leads a church discussion group
asserts that she learned the technique at the School; another says that she now
has an increased ability to encourage people with different philosophies to
speak. A woman who is exceptionally active politically maintains with others
that the School did not give birth to her political ideas but brought them to
expression. Another has discontinued radical activities because the summer
experience proved to her that “all groups must be democratic and fair.”

It should be mentioned that the School has not lifted its students from
the working class. Marriage has taken six workers from factory to home;
an unemployed person has become a W.P.A. worker, two alumnae are still
without work, a former shoe worker has just lost her job, and one person has
gone into domestic work. The majority of the others have remained in the
trade which they had before they attended the School.

Many individuals have participated in more than one type of organization,
in addition to holding their jobs and carrying home responsibilities. The
record of activities, 69 in all, in addition to educational interests, seems excel-
lent when one considers that 21 of the women attended the School before
1933 and still are very active in community groups.‘ Many factors do
influence participation; personality of the worker and of community leaders,
existence of groups, time and money. On the whole, it would seem that Upton
alumnae have taken advantage of the opportunities afforded them.

“For analysis of community activities of the general population, see infra, p. 139.
112
STUDENTS IN UPTON, DOWNTON, AND FLUXTON


































DOWNTON: A COMMUNITY DISCOURAGING TO ACTIVITY

Downton is very different from Upton. Immediately apparent are the
reasons. The 1930 census placed the city in the population category 50,000,-
100,000. Although 71 percent of the total population is foreign born, certain
nationality groups are discriminated against. Two percent of the people are
Negro. Public opinion is influenced mainly through the papers of a larger,
conservative city which is nearby and which stimulates many of Downton’s
activities. Since Downton is small, community facilities are not well devel-
oped. There is no Council of Social Agencies and no general community
center.

The city’s few industries have employed somewhat more than 20,000 people,
7,000 of whom now are not working. The serious unemployment situation
has influenced the community to believe that individuals who have jobs
should be content and that those who are in comfortable positions must pro-
tect themselves. Accordingly, trade unions are resisted and employers have
formed “independent” groups designed to discourage bona fide organizations.
Added to the community’s distrust of labor has been the conflict between labor
organizations themselves. The trade unions belong predominantly to the
American Federation of Labor; the building trades supply the majority of
the 5,000 paid-up members. In recent years the Congress of Industrial Organ-
izations has been attempting to organize certain of the new industries and now
has a membership in good standing of perhaps 1,000 persons, largely men.
Neither group has organized women to any great extent, possibly because men
predominate in Downton’s industries. However, the A.F. of L. has recently
asked members to bring their wives to meetings concerned with social security
and similar problems. Women have also been invited to attend public con-
ferences on communal questions sponsored by the C.LO.

Workers’ education has not progressed very far in the community, which
believes that vocational instruction provided in the public schools meets the
needs of workers. An adult education program of the W.P.A. was opposed.
Personnel men in some of the companies at one time seemed interestd in
workers’ education but now are definitely against the idea. The A-F. of L.
claims to favor a program but states that its members are not ready. Informa-
tional meetings have been encouraged. The C.1.O. has had to emphasize organ-
ization because of its very small staff in the community and the union’s leaders

113




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

seem to favor functional activities rather than formal study. Conferences are
an example.

Few other groups have been interested in workers, although the Y.W.C.A.,,
as in Upton, is the center of a great deal of activity. An International Insti-
tute serves the foreign born and programs are available in the general organ-
ization for business and industrial women, but since one secretary is responsible
for the two groups of women, activity is somewhat limited. The greater part
of the program is devoted to the former, who have been interested in educa-
tional as well as other activities. The white-collar workers are not friendly
to the industrial unit, which has attracted only 20 women, primarily interested
in social and recreational activities. Neither trade union nor Negro groups
have used the building although the Y.W.C.A. Industrial Secretary feels that
should they ask to do so, the Board would meet their request.

There has been no definite Bryn Mawr School committee in Downton. An
interested group has worked through the committee of the nearby community.
A college club once in favor of the School is now opposed to it.

In the years 1931 through 1934, five women went from Downton to the
Bryn Mawr Summer School, all being recruited through the Y.W.C.A. Two
of the women were foreign-born; the other three were native-born but of
foreign parentage. One student had had only a sixth grade elementary edu-
cation; another had completed the seventh year class; two had finished the,
eighth grade; and one had attended high school for one year. The students
varied in age from 20 through 27°

Before and after they went to the School, the women did not participate
in many activities. As candidates, all five reported they were leaders in the
Y.W.C.A.; two indicated membership in church groups; two said they held
leadership positions in a nationality organization and one stated that she
merely was a member. As alumnae, the women have sensed that the com-
munity has distrusted them and they have had to guard their activities ac-
cordingly. They indicate a sense of futility when they mention the limited
Opportunity to function. Only one person has been very effective as an
alumna; she has continued to be a leader in the Y.W.C.A. and is now serving
on the Industrial Committee and the Board of Directors in both of which she
interprets the needs of working women and their point of view. She is the

° The chart showing the background and activities of each worker is in the original
manuscript at Bryn Mawr College.

114

A eer
STUDENTS IN UPTON, DOWNTON, AND FLUXTON





































- first industrial woman ever to have functioned on the Board. After she re-
turned from Summer School, she joined a trade union affiliated with the ALF.
oof L. Interested in other community programs, she attended a conference
- sponsored by the CLO. as a Y.W.C.A. representative but was called to ac-
count for her action by her labor organization. In addition she has main-
tained an interest in workers’ education and has tried to stimulate the Y.W.C.A.
Industrial Club to initiate a program.
‘The Y.W.C.A. has provided the main outlet for the other Downton alum-
nae. Only one has ceased to participate in the association. Interest in
_ nationality clubs has been maintained. Labor organization has been dis-
couraged. One alumna is in the food industry, one is a domestic employee,
_ one is unemployed, and one is in an unorganized occupation.
In view of the discouraging environment, why has the one alumna been
able to function extensively? When she came to the School she was unem-
ployed; she immediately found work upon her return and soon became a
forelady. Other than community interests might have been anticipated for
her. She alone of the Downton students however had received an “A” rating
at the School, was commended for the special effort which she exerted, and
was recommended for a second year. The others received poor ratings, except-
__ ing one who was noted to be an effective participant in groups. However, the
_ Y.W.C.A. Secretary stated that the latter has not been very successful in the
_ community for the following reasons:
. . . being a naturally frank, outspoken girl, she has not always realized that
members of an industrial committee are not wholly sympathetic with the
organization of labor, because many of them are from the employing class.
She has said things that have been misunderstood, and since this town, and
especially members of the Industrial Committee last year (following the over-
whelming defeat of the Republican Party) has been very much upset about

the whole question of labor organization, her lack of sensitiveness with regard
to the general situation has been difficult to handle at times.”

In contrast to the situation in Upton, the worker with common sense and
an intelligent appreciation of a specific situation seems to be more important
than the one with great group spirit but little native intelligence. To be
effective in a discouraging atmosphere seems to demand much effort and a
great deal of insight, even more so than in a favorable background. The

__

"Letter to the writer from the Industrial Secretary of the Y.W.C.A., March 24, 1938.
115
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.

116
STUDENTS IN UPTON, DOWNTON, AND FLUXTON

pet



























unions have developed during the last few years, thus upsetting
of the old community patterns. Company unions became bonafide
rganizations despite the interfering efforts of employers and even the
yed formed pressure groups of their own. The New Deal which
etus to trade unionism also introduced workers’ education to Fluxton
vide basis. Previous to this time, the Board of Education had sponsored
t education for native and immigrant illiterates; other groups had insti-
radio broadcasts, community forums, and public institutes; and a
bureau had furnished lecturers especially for workers’ groups, both
y and in the neighboring industrial communities. A labor college
s formed by several groups. The Work Projects Administration started
ction for the unemployed in Fluxton and then extended courses to em-
workers. Although the community has felt that “Lewis should educate
henchmen,” the program has progressed and at its peak sponsored 78
the average being 60. Summer institutes have been planned for the
onal directors of various trade unions, although the labor organizations
not always cooperated; women have been reached either as members of
unions or of their auxiliaries. The work of the project has been aided
outlying districts by a privately supported school, which organized labor
controlled in large part, contributing 60 per cent of the budget.

hanging patterns in Fluxton have in many instances sharpened conflict
ven opposing philosophies. “Red scares” and “red baiting” and an accen-
| conservatism in the press and among employer and business groups
ppeared in the transitional stage. Workers’ representatives have had
ceed cautiously and new programs have received more than one setback.
Fluxton, as in Upton, the Bryn Mawr Summer School is represented by
mittee and an alumnae unit, the former existing ever since 1921,
p during that year money could 1 not be raised because of adverse com-

Pa ti ng to foxtade representatives of various community groups into whith
ideals of the Bryn Mawr Summer School and of the committee could be
Accordingly, members have come from trade unions, the city’s uni-
, the Y.W.C.A., settlements, various collegiate alumnae, libraries, the

117

het ge i Nene een aE
= a %



aa ——












PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

~ ~

effectively and have understood only in part the Summer School and workers’
education. However, the nucleus of the committee has been effective and has
repeatedly promoted a local program of workers’ education. The goal has
been more than that of sending workers to the Summer School; rather mem-
bers have stated that workers’ education within industrial communities them-
selves must evolve from the work of the School.’ In the early period, prepara-
tory and follow-up classes were instituted for Summer School candidates and
alumnae and cooperation was given the labor college of the city so that the
classes in Fluxton and in outlying districts might be established and inter-
preted to the community. Later the function and method of workers’ educa-
tion was explained to hostile groups during a “red scare,” and four committee
members of the School now are on the committee of a workers’ school. Finally,
the School committee petitioned for the W.P.A. program of workers’ educa-
tion and when government activity was finally begun, contributed funds to
help overcome limitations. Of nine committee members at present, five are
serving upon the workers’ education advisory board of the Work Projects
Administration, one as chairman.

In the years 1922 to 1938, 22 women went from Fluxton to the Bryn Mawr
Summer School. Sources of recruiting candidates are indicated in the follow-

ing list: s

Number of

Organization Candidates
Ne VARS CONCERT yore st Sais cael cacti Gastdib%s.arednidierd sosle i esas hearer 8
Summer School Alumnae Association...........cceececcccceceece 4
Maa eL PROM TRLONAMCT 65. gle orks Sos aide die cwi as wld sab oot aoe 3
ree eorh sr meee apeeeri a GET es ie eas o ead oc det ee ch acn bee edMuthe 1
prsctnrie erly eactuatrial frei e s B toh, ects aie, c'k gala oa wos eee crete eh ae 1
PRIETO MEL EERE LISTS. arcade al asGrdca br onidsd ove eter kod vie c wrocohor eee mee 1
CAMO MINOLO ML eisai Pie Leorrascicls ts $k elecarie a Seth eb oda iute vu ce tone I
Pius Parham OLN Mideast is leheis ah car da cae 6 bis d give elvis Seriting vate es L
NBDACHOW A Mbieks Geriatr ae elt o\trolaw sik valores x ace eavele ba Yau celle lle 2
POEM Erk oe Ok Ms mah Rhts da. diiiea La ald olf corv-us biel ue 22

The educational and nationality backgrounds and the ages of students from
Fluxton have changed as they have for the entire School. Among the 11 who
went to the School before 1933, the majority had completed only the sixth,

* Letter to the writer from the Chairman of the Committee, July, 1938.
118

































aly one of these had native born parents; ages ranged from 20 to 31, six
ndidates being 25 or over. Among the 11 students who attended the School
n 1933 or after, the majority had attended high school, five having been
duated; all were native born, six having American born parents; and ages
ranged from 21 to 29, only three women being 25 or over. Thus, as in the
~ entire student body from 1933 to 1938, in contrast to the earlier period, more
dents from Fluxton were better educated, were native born and were
Information about seven alumnae could not be ascertained and therefore the
activities before and after attending the School may be discussed for only 15
women. Candidates indicated participation in religious, political, labor, and
community groups, as well as in various miscellaneous organizations. As
alumnae they had an added sphere for activity, namely the Alumnae Associa-
tion’ Their functioning in all groups has depended upon opportunities
afforded them as well as upon their desire to participate.
The Y.W.C.A. on the whole held the interest of the workers both before
and after they went to the School. In the former period, 14 of the 15 women
under consideration belonged to the organization, five as leaders and nine as
members; during the latter time, only 10 belonged, six as leaders and four as
_ members. One of the six leaders is a Negro alumna, who, after studying
_ further, became the secretary of the colored industrial branch of the city.
Thirteen candidates of the 15 under consideration indicated that they be-
longed to trade unions, four as leaders and nine as members. Eleven reported
as School alumnae that they were organized, six serving as leaders and five as
members. However, examination of the type of labor organization to which
; the women have belonged reveals that actually alumnae have increased their
q trade union activity greatly. Eight of the 13 candidates who said they were
_ trade unionists belonged to company unions. As alumnae, four have shifted to
bonafide organizations; one becoming secretary of an industrial union, editor
ve BY of its paper, and active in organization work; another has become chairman
_ of a department shop committee. The industrial union through which two
i. women were recruited has expressed great satisfaction with the results. After

her return from the School, one of the women, acting as secretary of an in-
ee
"The chart showing the background and activities of each worker is in the original
Manuscript at Bryn Mawr College.
119
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



dustrial committee, initiated an educational program. She formed a library
for the ladies’ auxiliary and a forum group, and coached a skit to be shown at
a conference, proving herself so effective that she was sent to the School for a
second year. Finally, in addition to the alumnae who are active in labor
groups, two unorganized workers have expressed their interest in the labor
movement. One has worked closely with the organized group of which her
husband is a member. The other, a Negro domestic worker, serves on a
city-wide domestic committee, attempting to raise standards for household
help.

A few of the women who have not joined trade unions have emphasized
loyalty to the company rather than anti-union feeling as their reason. They
criticize unthinking unionism, pointing to the petty ideas brought out by the
Congress of Industrial Organization-American Federation of Labor contro-
versy, and are cynical about the absence of labor solidarity. They believe that
membership alone is not indicative of union feeling since women may join
to be in the crowd. They maintain that they know more about labor organiza-
tion than do some of the trade union members. The organized women have
attempted to interpret trade unionism to them but do not condone intra-union
differences. Believing that the Summer School tries to show people of differ-
ent opinions the way to effecting cooperation, both groups consciously attempt
to act in terms of that common background. Their main division is based
upon the type of union endeavor rather than upon the principle of organi-
zation.

Participation in political, religious and miscellaneous groups has tended to
decline among the alumnae, but several new opportunities have absorbed
their interest. The 15 women under consideration belong to a Bryn Mawr
Summer School Alumnae Association. This group has cooperated with the
School's Committee in many ways, but especially in recruiting and educational
work. The alumnae believe that even while trade unions are used increas-
ingly to recruit students, they must still search for candidates. They main-
tain that they are able to spend more time than impersonal organizations, that
they are better able to interpret the forthcoming experience to the applicants
and their families and that they are able to help in emergencies through obtain-
ing extra money for the women or aiding the families which must dispense
with the necessary salary of the workers who are going away.

120













rs and for other workers. Preparatory, tutorial and follow-up classes,
y institutes and discussion groups have been included at various times
program; there have been units in outlying sections of the city as well
the center. In earlier years, study of unemployment and industrial
took the place of discouraging industrial activity. Although the
d was never very large, the work offered a nucleus for those inter-
in developing workers’ education. At present, the Bryn Mawr group is
conducting classes since it wishes to avoid duplicating the work of the
.A. However, the latter does not prepare students for the School or
follow-up activities for alumnae. The need for such activities still

ough the women all belong to the alumnae group only three are out-
ing in their activities. The issue of unionization has diminished the
eration among many, causing cliques to be formed. Individual alumnae
believe that the group may become more unified if the older leaders are sup-
planted by younger people. Therefore, elections are to be held and young
“women encouraged to become officers.

The total picture is not as encouraging as that of the Upton group but it
ows more promise than that of Downton. In Fluxton as in Upton, the
inae have on the whole remained in the industrial sphere of work. Two
_ have moved on to professional work but still have been connected with the
7 bor movement through their positions as Y.W.C.A. Industrial Secretary and
em loyee of a Marxist political party. Many have participated in more than
A Se of organization, as may be seen since the 15 women have reported
_ 44 total activities. Numerically the comparison with Upton is favorable but
es no in other ways. Whereas the women have been rather constantly active in
_ Upton, extensive functioning, with the exception of membership in the
alumnae group, began only since 1934 in Fluxton. Since that time individual
women have felt a new sense of responsibility for spreading what they learned
ie t the School. They now have the vehicle for translating their learning into
_ Social action. They have increased their interest in labor organization but not
¥ ‘the expense of the Y.W.C.A,, as in Upton. The reason may be that they
_ feed the moral support of the Y.W.C.A. if they are to face public disapproval
_ of labor activity, while in Upton this was not necessary. On the whole, per-
__ Sistence rather than imaginative leadership has been characteristic of the Flux-
121

De








PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

ton alumnae to date. In Upton, increase in leadership after attendance at the
School was marked; in Fluxton only three more outstanding positions were
reported after School attendance than before. Therefore, even though quan-
tity and type of activity are changing, much more has to be done to bring
‘these women up to the level of alumnae in other communities.

122
CHAPTER X

er Activities of Summer School Students
















re

HE alumnae of the Bryn Mawr Summer School have returned to locali-

scattered throughout the United States and abroad. They have met diverse
6 encouraging or discouraging to social activity or in process of change.
they have been influenced accordingly. In this chapter, the determinants
tivity are indicated for communities additional but similar to Upton,

nton, and Fluxton.

S$ IN COMMUNITIES CONDUCIVE TO ACTIVITY AND COMPARABLE
TO UPTON

Alumnae were studied in a relatively encouraging environment in four
approximately alike in size but located in different geographical sec-
Before applicants went to the Summer School, programs in commu-
aigdig and political groups, as well as in labor organizations, were
eto them. Upon their return, they could participate in an alumnae
as well and find enlarged trade union facilities.
. Forty-eight of 84 women under consideration indicated that they belonged
othe Y.W.C.A. before they went to the School. Half participated as lead-
half as members. Thirteen, mostly in the latter group, discontinued
affiliation after their return. They were reported to have shifted to
union activity. Several Y.W.C.A. Industrial Secretaries have stated
the change may have been due partly to the elementary level of their
ams and partly to new labor organizational opportunities offered
1934, when the cities were invaded increasingly by trade unions. It is
icant that whereas 35 candidates had indicated they were organized (17
ets and 18 as members), 48 alumnae reported trade union activity (39
a 2 aders and nine as members). Not only had former trade union members
increased their participation but former Y.W.C.A. members joined more

123





pee




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

important activities. The opposition of the communities to an articulate
working-class may partly explain the large number of very active trade union-
ists. Only women willing to oppose the mores are strong enough to join
the young labor groups which need leaders and are able to stand up in the
face of disapproval. One alumna has had to change her occupation because
she has been blacklisted in her original trade. For the same reason another
could find employment only on the government workers’ education program,

Twenty-five alumnae reported political activities. Fifteen had begun to
function in this sphere after their return from the School, about half as lead-
ets and half as members. Total affiliation with miscellaneous organizations
hardly changed after attendance at the School but 10 alumnae received posi-
tions of responsibility after their return, making 22 leaders and two members
in all.

Only 36 women of the 84 under consideration belong to the Summer School
Alumnae Association. Weak groups are said to be one cause of this condi-
tion. None of the four cities has recruited actively for the School in recent
years, the large size of the cities making it difficult to maintain contact with
many of the older alumnae. Accordingly, some of the women may have been
doing more than was reported to the investigator.

The total picture in the four communities reveals an increase in activities,
especially in leadership. Some 122 leadership positions were reported for
alumnae in contrast to 71 for candidates. Most of the women participated
in more than one organization, 172 activities being reported for the 84
women. Twenty-two have indicated that heavy home responsibilities have
caused them either to join few groups or to concentrate their functioning.
Three of these are Negroes who have been hindered by race prejudice as well
as by other obstacles. Four have complained that the depression has pushed
them into household employment and that they, therefore, have had little
time or energy for “leisure.”

Case studies reveal types of services alumnae render, as well as some of
the problems they must face. In the following pages, the diverse activities of
three women, who live in the same city, are described. Their experiences
before they went to the Bryn Mawr School, as well as their attendance at the
School, seem to have influenced their activities as alumnae.

“A,” a widowed Negress, is an American born of American parents.

124

“ree

, ~

aida
FURTHER ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS
















CASE STUDY OF “A”

Before the School—She had supplemented her tenth grade education by class work in
a workers’ school and in the Young Women’s Christian Association. She was a leader
in a student-industrial council, a city inter-racial council, and a Negro industrial council
within the Y.W.C.A. She was a member of the Baptist Church. Her trade was that of
a finisher of women’s dresses.
- Atthe School—She attended the summer session in 1928, when she was 32 years of age.
She was a very good student, a thoughtful group member, and a hard worker. Through-
out the session, she displayed a willingness to co-operate in all activities, and she pro-
gressed consistently in her work. Her teachers recommended her for second year work.
After the School—She found it very difficult to secure employment. Many members of
5 t community attributed her unemployment to the reaction of employers against her



participation in labor organizations.
In the Y.W.C.A.—She became a member of the Central Industrial Committee and of
the City-Wide Industrial Committee. She visited the homes of Negro women workers
and invited them to the Industrial Club, with the hope of starting an inter-racial indus-
_ trial group. She also stimulated the organization of an economics class at the Y.W.C.A.
In the School's Alumnae Group—tIn holding the position of secretary, she attended
- state-wide conferences of alumnae and was a member of a state-wide committee. She
endeavored to interest other alumnae in legislative work for the State.
c She became interested and active in workers’ education in her city. In 1934 she
served on an educational policy committee which devised plans for workers’ education
in the city. She helped plan for a conference sponsored by the Affiliated Schools in
1935. At this conference she led the singing for all members and she led the discussion
in a unit for industrial workers. As a teacher in the present workers’ education pro-
_ gram of the Work Projects Administration, she conducts classes for Negro and white
men and women workers in various organizations. She has been an instructor in a
_ summer training camp for teachers on the program. Her special subjects are current
events and labor dramatics. At times she functions as a leader of forum discussions, In
_ a letter to the investigator, her supervisor wrote, “She has a high value in this program.
She has had splendid training and an extensive experience which, coupled with her
native intelligence and aptitude, provide a background that is somewhat rare. She is
an able leader of discussions, a quick thinker, and possesses essential qualities of good
humor and tolerance that make her acceptable in any group.”

She is an active trade union member. As a member of the American Federation of
Teachers in the Work Projects Administration local, she serves on a social committee,
an educational committee, and on the executive board. She contributes articles to the
Periodical of the organization.

Miscellaneous Activities—She is a member of the State Committee on Social Security
| __ aind of the Executive Board of the Future Outlook League. She formerly was active in
the Consumer’s League.

“A,” clearly, has not only maintained her leadership in the Y. W.C.A. but

____ has extended her interest to many other groups.
125


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

“B.” a married woman, is a German-American, born of German parents.

CASE STUDY OF B

Before the School—She was a worker in the men’s clothing industry. She belonged to
the American Federation of Labor and to the Women’s Trade Union League and par-
ticipated in a German organization. She had a seventh grade education.

At the School—She attended the summer session in 1932, when she was 40 years old.
She was able in interpreting her own experiences to others and indicated great loyalty
to her labor organization. She displayed good leadership qualities and made good prog-
ress during the session. Her teachers recommended her for second year work.

After the Summer School—In a letter to the investigator, she declared:

“After I got back from School, I was active in the American Federation of
Labor member’s League for Unemployment Insurance and was vice president
of the State Association for Social Security until the Bill passed. Then I was
vice president of the Farmer-Labor Party Club. In 1936 we dissolved and
went out for Roosevelt with Labor’s Non-Partisan League, in which I’m still
active. I also was vice president of the city’s Women’s Trade Union League
and I’m an Executive Board member of my local of the LL.G.W.U. and a
delegate from my union to the City Industrial Council. I’m active in the
International Labor Defense, raising money for a Christmas fund in the win-
ter and a milk fund in the summer for political prisoners’ families. I help
raise funds for the Abraham Linco!n battalion, am active in Mothers’ Day
peace parades, and I’m a member of the People’s Lobby in Washington, D.C.,
and of the Consumers Co-operative.” *

On the whole, “B” has continued to concentrate her activities in trade
union groups, but since her labor organization has become interested in civic
and political issues, she, also, has broadened her activities.

“C,” a married woman, is an American born of Russian parents.

ee

CASE STUDY OF C

Before the School—She supplemented her twelfth grade education by attending lectures
and going to evening school. Although she was unemployed, she participated in various
activities in workers’ groups. She was educational director of the Young Peoples’
Socialist League, secretary of the General Defense Committee, and chairman of the
City Strikers’ Relief Committee.

At the School—She attended the summer session in 1933 at the age of 20. Her teachers
reported that “Her ability and preparation for the work were outstanding. She has
worked very hard and has participated in all of the school forums. She gets along well
with people. She is recommended for a second year, if there is an advanced project.”

*In a letter to the writer, July 20, 1938.
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FURTHER ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS





























have been an active member of the Socialist Party and the Young People’s
- Socialist League, there participating actively in several strikes, and was arrested
twice for defying a couple of vicious anti-picketing injunctions. I have been
active in a couple of civil liberty fights, have participated in fund-raising efforts
and labor demonstrations. Recently I worked in National Sharecroppers’
Week, have helped organize classes in economics, and attended several. I hope
to be able to concentrate most of my energies in the near future in anti-war
work which I feel is of utmost importance to the labor movement because
all that we have fought for and sacrificed for will be lost unless we can ward
off another ‘war to save democracy’ which will bring with it the blackest
reaction.” *

ler than when they were at the School.

Although cities usually present many opportunities for alumnae, they some-
times aggravate the odds against which the working woman has to struggle
every community. A letter from one alumna illustrates how difficult
_ inarticulate workers find it to function effectively in large groups built chiefly
upon secondary contacts. Summing up her problems, she writes, “Being a sort
_ of shy person, I don’t attempt any active part in any group, but I do like being
part of the group.” Another alumna writes that it is inconvenient to attend
meetings when one has a young baby and no one with whom it can be left.
wo other alumnae describe their struggles for existence in a large city. One
‘feels that her personal problems are more important than her interests devel-
oping from the School. She says, “If I didn’t attend Bryn Mawr, I probably
would be feeling very sorry for myself and blaming the world in general—
badly depressed and humble.” Although this woman manages to find some
values in her surroundings, the other alumna is more discouraged. She writes
that the School is not to blame: “Sorry I could not continue on—that has been
_ my failure.” Manifestly, positive and negative forces within the environment
and within individual personalities combine to influence former students of
the School, even in encouraging communities.

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



STUDENTS IN COMMUNITIES DISCOURAGING TO ACTIVITY AND COMPARABLE
TO DOWNTON

The task of the School and of alumnae is even greater in localities which
discourage the type of activity which the institution stimulates. A group of
New England communities, a Mid-Western city, and an Atlantic Seaboard
town were studied in order to analyze what former students are accomplishing
in a negative environment. In these localities, the Y.W.C.A. usually has been
the most encouraging organization; the Alumnae Association has been an
additional outlet for the returning women. Trade unions are weak.

Thirty-two of some 52 women under consideration indicated that they be-
longed to the Y.W.C.A. before they went to the School. Twelve as alumnae
dropped their affiliation; 11 had been leaders and one had been a member.
Although the total number of women who belong to miscellaneous groups
has remained the same, many have progressed to outstanding positions.
Only 25 former students have joined the Alumnae Association. The most
marked change has been the increase in trade union affiliation, but the figures
of themselves are not very startling, only five more women having joined after
their return from the School. However, 13 of 18 organized workers are lead-
ers; before they attended the School only half of 13 trade unionists were out-
standing participants. Eighty-five activities in all were reported for the 52
women; 67 were leadership positions.

The significance of certain activities is more psychological than statistical.
Reports from one city reveal how difficult mere trade union membership is.
In this community, few people, including workers, have faith in trade union
leadership or accomplishments; the prevailing philosophy is individualistic.
Those who are interested in labor organizations are handicapped by lack of
labor solidarity not only within the city as a whole, but also within shops and
families and among nationalities. Before 1935, when four women from the
town attended the School, trade unionism was non-existent. Before they
attended the Summer Session, these women centered their activities in the
Y.W.C.A. The narrow range of their activities influenced their education at
the School. Only two met with some success; none was recommended for a
second year. The community prognosis was that while these persons lacked
individual initiative, they might work well with leadership.

Any enthusiasm which these alumnae had was discouraged upon their
return from the School. Even the Industrial Club of the Y.W.C.A. was not

128




FURTHER ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS



prepared to help them greatly. The women became discouraged and stopped

trying to form study groups. One did serve on the Industrial Committee for
ayear. All married and devoted themselves exclusively to their home respon-
sibilities.

Two workers who went to the School from this same community in 1937
had more opportunity to function, although they still had to face many handi-
caps. The case studies of these women, “D” and “E,” follow:

CASE STUDY OF “D”

Before the School—She had attended an evening school which was under the auspices
of the Work Projects Administration. She was a member of both the Y.W.C.A, In-
dustrial Department and of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Union.
At the School—Her teachers reported that she was an earnest and conscientious student:
“Although she gained much in her understanding of workers’ problems,
she is still confused in her thinking about social and economic issues and is
consequently easily influenced by people who have strong convictions on one
side or another. She needs further participation in discussion groups to clarify
her thinking. She has qualities of leadership perhaps able to be utilized in
singing and dramatic groups.”

After the School—She became a member of the Industrial Club Committee of the
Y.W.C.A. and attended student-industrial meetings in that organization. She also
joined the study group sponsored by those community members interested in the
Summer School. According to the Industrial Secretary of the Y.W.C.A. she is anxious
to belong to a trade union but has no opportunity to do so. She lost one job because
of her labor interests. The Secretary feels that although she is more responsible than
the rest of the group, she has less confidence. She does not dare speak in public, agrees
to do so, and then “gets sick.” She is easily discouraged and is hindered from activity
by fairly acute family criticism: “What is this club doing for you; someone else draws
the salary, why should you work”—and Italian family authority. The Industrial Secre-
tary feels that she will improve each year and should return to the School.

cir

CASE STUDY OF E

Before the Summer School—She belonged to the Industrial Club of the Young Women’s
Christian Association and to a church group. She attended W.P.A. classes.

At the Summer School—The faculty stated that she was a hard worker but was hindered
by scattering her energy over too many activities. It was felt that she might assume
leadership but that several years should elapse before she should return to the School
for a second session.

After the School—She remained a member of the Industrial Club of the Y.W.C.A.
and became a member of the Industrial Committee. She continues to attend discussions
in the student industrial club and the study group of the Bryn Mawr Summer School

129
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



Committee. She is reported to be somewhat undependable in the latter, although all
right if bolstered. She belongs to the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union
and works in an organized shop. Her shop unit, however, is inactive and its leadership
discourages activity. She is said to need trade union experience but has no chance to
acquire it. The Industrial Secretary feels that she is active when sufficiently encouraged
and that she catches enthusiasm from others. She is still slightly immature as to values
and responsibilities but it is felt that she will improve and become more serious.

Three former Summer School students in another community have faced
similar discouragement. They were recruited through the International Ladies
Garment Workers’ Union; all belonged to miscellaneous clubs and one to the
Y.W.C.A. They were American-born of Polish parentage. The three attended
the School's 1936 session, when they were under 23 years of age. They also
were young in experience, and thus were handicapped in their school work.
The faculty believed that one should study further in her community and that
she needed most of all to learn how to sustain her interest and make her energy
yield returns. It was recommended that the second also study further, since
she did not have the equipment to translate into action her interest in the
labor movement. The third, it was felt, needed help to overcome shyness.

When they returned to their community, an .L.G.W.U. member convinced
the Y.W.C.A. Industrial Secretary that they could help promote an industrial
club. All attended once or twice. After they had been absent for a few meet-
ings, the Y.W.C.A. Secretary went to see them. The women told her that the
club was so undeveloped that they were not interested in it. They also felt
extremely discouraged in their union work. One had hoped to form a dra-
matics group but had not even been allowed the floor ina union meeting.
She therefore ceased to participate in union affairs.

The Y.W.C.A. Secretary attempted to show the women how they could
stimulate programs even when discouraged. She met with little success and
concluded that these workers had no conception of their place in and respon-
sibility to the labor movement, that they were quite definitely assuming an
opportunist role, that they had stepped out of and beyond the ranks of workers,
Although she recognized that the 1.L.G.W.U. and the Y.W.C.A. in the city
were far from progressive, she was convinced “that unless workers’ schools
‘graduate’ students with an increased consciousness of the role of and their

oneness with all workers, they have no legitimate place in the labor move-
»3s
ment.

* Letter to the writer from the Industrial Secretary of a Y.W.C.A., April 17, 1938.
130
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The admissions committee of the School has attempted to choose students
who are equipped to achieve their ends even against odds. Naturally, selection
has been difficult since personalities react differently within the same environ-
ment. The history of two women, “F” and “G,” in one city are similar except
for certain points which would tend to make one predict that “G” would be
more active. Their background and School rating are as follows:

Pi Nativity of parents Tealian Tralian
Nativity of student American Brazilian
Age 28 21
Marital status Married Single
Education 7th Grade 8th Grade
, Occupation Housewife Garment operator
r a Interests and contacts President and Treasurer Treasurer of Y.W.C.A.
e Y.W.C.A. club, pres- Industrial Club

dent Industrial Depart-
ment Council, member
of Industrial Commit-
tee

School Rating Very good Very poor
In March 1938 the local Y.W.C.A. Industrial Secretary stated the following:

CASE STUDY OF “F”

She went to the School in 1937. Because she has not yet been successful
in getting a job, she is not active in any union, but she has spoken before one
or two, and has influenced the program of the union in which her husband
and her closest friend are leaders. She is very active in the Y.W.C.A., is a
member of our Industrial Committee, and is being proposed for the Board of
Directors this year. She has been the leading spirit in our workers’ education
project this past winter, and largely through her enthusiasm and industry,
the group has been successful.

Pi ; CASE STUDY OF “G”

“G,” who went to the School in 1932, is no longer active in any group so
far as is known. She married shortly after her Bryn Mawr experience and has
not been active in the Y.W.C.A. or in industry. As she had been the only
girl from her city ever to go to Bryn Mawr until this past summer, she prob-
ably found it difficult to make her experience real to others. However, to all
intents and purposes, “F” is in the same position and her experience is very
real and the carry-over to other girls is tremendous. We do have a committee
that is interested in “F”’s work and in sending other girls now, and such did
not exist when “G” returned several years ago.

131

J

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ae tee era A NN EN

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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



The Y.W.C.A.’s Industrial Secretary realizes that perhaps the environment
was not as receptive to “G” as it was to “F” but she emphasizes personality as
chiefly responsible for their different achievements. She commented further:

From a complete lack of interest in such things as we have been doing this
winter to even the small amount that is, it is such a large step for us that
we have real hopes for the future, especially if we can keep feeding the girls
to Bryn Mawr each summer . . . We need to build up a group of girls who

have such experience as Bryn Mawr can give them, and who will transmit some
of their enthusiasm to the larger group.

Except for the one case which has been cited, observers of the alumnae
in discouraging localities have been sympathetic. They realize that where
the pattern of living is narrow and where former students are scattered geo-
graphically, more effort and patience is needed to achieve a few goals than
is necessary to obtain greater ends in progressive places. Here even member-
ship in some organizations is considered daring.

STUDENTS IN COMMUNITIES WITH CHANGING PATTERNS AND COMPARABLE
TO FLUXTON

Fifty-one alumnae in a number of New England towns, a Southern com-
munity, a Mid-Western and two Eastern cities wrote about their activities. In
these places, not only are new organizations appearing but old ones are
changing their philosophies.

The total number of activities in these localities has decreased from 131
to 101 but the number of responsible positions has increased from 68 held
by the women as School candidates to 90 as alumnae. What seems to have
happened in all types of organizations is that weak members have admitted
failure and have dropped out of groups. Strong members, however, have
strengthened themselves in the face of adversity and have progressed to lead-
ership. Political affiliation has increased; whereas six candidates had reported
they belonged to political groups, 12 as alumnae have indicated this. Only
three candidates had been political leaders; 10 as alumnae are outstanding
participants. In miscellaneous associations leadership has been attained by
10 alumnae; an additional eight, who were especially effective before they
went to the School, have retained their responsible positions, Membership
and leadership in the Y.W.C.A. and the trade unions has remained about the

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same, 24 women belonging to the former and 28 to the latter. Only 15 women
belong to the Alumnae Association.

Reports from these cities indicate that in many respects it is harder for
alumnae to be effective in changing communities than in discouraging ones.
The general population is confused by certain trends and conflict between
the old conservative and the new progressive accordingly is acute. The
$chool’s alumnae reflect this confusion. The older women are bewildered by
_ the new patterns around them; they are not familiar with the ideas which

_ the younger workers bring back from the School. The latter, in turn, are
blocked by the opposition of the former and by the conflict in the community
at large.

Three case studies show the activity of three alumnae, “H,” “I,” and “J,”
within one small community. The first two illustrate how differently the
passage of years has affected “H” and “I”; the third illustrates the obstacles
encountered by “J,” inspired by the new forces which she sees about her but
struggling within an essentially unfriendly environment.

ty

CASE STUDY OF H

Before and at the School—"H” supplemented her seventh grade education with study
in the Young Women’s Christian Association. She was active in the church and in
the Y.W.C.A. before attending the Summer School. Her rating for the summer period
was very poor,
After the School—In 1938 the Industrial Secretary of the Y.W.C.A. reported:

“She is still active in the Y.W.C.A. club. She has never taken an active
i part, however, in industrial or social issues; she plans social programs and that
‘Wee sort of thing. The reason for this, it is believed, is her personality; she was
not really interested in Bryn Mawr except as a means of ‘social climbing’
locally. Since that time she has married, has one child, and her interests are
centered around the home alone. Before that time, however, she did not have
the inclination to study or take part in active social issues.”

The community participation of “I,” also an older alumna, is much different.

CASE STUDY OF “I”
Before and at the School—"Y” was thirty-four years old when she attended the School
in 1923. She had been active in the church, Y.W.C.A., a lodge and a company club.
She had a grammar school education which she supplemented with classes in the
Y.W.C.A, Her rating at the Bryn Mawr School was good.
After the School—In 1938 it was reported that:
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PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



“She has since left the Y.W.C.A. clubs because of other interests and of
age. However, she can always be counted upon to take part in active issues;
she has done a great deal to promote unionization in her mill, although she
is a forelady. She has worked in her country community on the school board
and in church work. She acknowledges the debt she owes to Bryn Mawr for
its information and general attitudes on issues and broadening of horizons.”

“J” attended the Summer School many years later than “I” and encountered
different experiences upon her return.

ae 299

CASE STUDY OF “J

Before and at the School—She had been active in the Y.W.C.A., the church, and na-
tionality clubs before she attended the Bryn Mawr School. In addition to her seventh
grade education she studied in the Y.W.C.A. The rating at school indicated a “truly
remarkable awakening and a quiet kind of leadership which needed encouragement to
offset the effects of much discouragement.”

After the School—She is now with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers as an office
person. She has continued her activity and her interest in studying and knowing work-
ers’ problems. The first year after her return, she led discussions at the Y.W.C.A.
industrial conferences. In 1934 she organized a group for the Young People’s Socialist
League. Beside attending worker’s classes, she took university extension courses and
attended business classes. Although she came back imbued with enthusiasm for study
and more study, she did not have any knowledge of how to get other girls interested.
Therefore, she “harped” so much upon serious work-study, discussions, speakers, and
scorned the general social activities of a group, that she antagonized the girls and finally
left the club and the Y.W.C.A. She is now in the Amalgamated office and feels that
she has found her niche in the labor movement. Her interest in active issues has always
been keen; her opinion is likely to be shaded by those with whom she is working, which
is natural; and her judgment is rather emotional and superficial at times. Although
she had a very difficult time when she first returned from Bryn Mawr—bitterness over
a lost position, antagonism among her friends because she felt she must study and make
everyone else become interested in serious things, cynicism over the jobs of every one
else—she has contributed much to the community and to various groups. She will
never be an outstanding leader but by her general interest and enthusiasm she has aided
many in her union.

In a nearby community, a group of alumnae have been struggling in a simi-
lar way in the transitional period. The inhabitants of the town have, on the
whole, been reacting with small town attitudes to the new vigorous forces
that have appeared in their midst. The following is the case of the most active
alumna in this town:

“K” is an American, born of American parents.

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fs
f
F



FURTHER ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS

CASE STUDY OF “kK”

Before the School—“K” was household assistant in the Y.W.C.A. and, as such, she
was responsible for the clubs of the industrial workers. She had completed the twelfth
grade in high school and had attended lectures and classes at the Y.W.C.A., at night
school, and at business school. She was a leader in many activities in the Y.W.C.A. and
a member of church groups.

At the School—She attended the summer sessions of 1932 and 1933, when she was 22
and 23 years of age respectfully. Although her ratings were good for both years, she
made great strides in her second year.

After the School—She continued her leadership activities in the Y.W.C.A. She was
effective especially at industrial conferences; she recruited girls for classes; and she
obtained membership for Negro girls. She attended lectures given by the League for
Industrial Democracy and helped plan for conferences sponsored by the Affiliated

_ Schools. She did some work for a miners’ trade union and became an organizer for

the Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Union. She arranged for classes in the latter
organization. She worked in a settlement house and on the W.P.A. workers’ educa-
tion program, later attending its state teachers training course. She continues to be
active in the State Security League. At present, she is an organizer for the Textile
Workers’ Organizing Committee and is secretary for its local in her community.
In 1938 she wrote to the investigator as follows:
“The chances are ten to one that if I hadn’t gone to Bryn Mawr, I would
not have done any of the things I did. At Bryn Mawr I learned to under-
stand some of the problems facing workers and something that could be done
about them . .. My family did not like the idea of what they called my
‘Red’ work but over a period of time in which my family met a good num-
ber of my ‘respectable red’ friends and since at intervals I was the only one
in the family working, my family although not in full accord are much more
sympathetic and understanding. They now call me a ‘Progressive Socialist’
... 1 would like to suggest that before the Bryn Mawr sessions end, the
girls should be given some POSITIVE alternative—by that I mean in the first
year most of our former ideas and ideals are either scoffed at or torn down
. . . then when we come back to our communities we must live and work
with folks that do not understand the experience that we have gone through
and not understanding, the Bryn Mawr girls are at a disadvantage—and in
my particular case, I took a reverse position and became more religious and
more intolerant than ever before I went to School. It wasn’t until many
weeks later that I attempted to try to pick up the threads and try to do some-
thing with what I learned at Bryn Mawr.”

In some of the Southern regions, the transitional period has been especially
difficult. Case studies of “L” and “M” show the influx of new ideas and new
opportunities in the South and the effect upon the alumnae. “L” is an
American, born of American parents. She had a sixth grade education.

135




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

to

CASE STUDY OF L

Before the School—When she applied to the School, she was a shoe worker and was on
the Executive Board of the Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union, of which she had been a
member for two months. In the Y.W.C.A., she was on the Board of Directors and was
president of the Industrial Club, She belonged to the Baptist Church, in which she
taught Sunday School.

At the School—She attended the summer session in 1921 at the age of 25.

After the School—In 1938 it was reported that she was still on the Industrial Committee
and was making a contribution to the younger industrial club members. She tried to
attend the current events class and was instrumental in forming the new workers’ educa-
tion group. She wants to be active and is as far as her health and home responsibilities
permit. Her work in a children’s flannel-wear factory does not help her with her health
problems. The industrial secretary feels that she has lost touch with the present trends
in the labor movement and that her ignorance of recent trends in our industrial life
accounts for her attitude regarding the Congress of Industrial Organizations. “She is
articulate and thinking, and is trying to understand what is happening but she is way
behind the times and really mistaken in her beliefs. She was quite incensed with reading
a current novel about the South and is trying to write a novel, when fime permits, to
show another kind of people in the South.” The Secretary tried to plan for her return
to the School as she felt that the novel could mean nothing without a new point of view.
However, the family health prevented her return.

The difficulties of “M” in the South, are almost as great although she
attended the School 15 years later. “M” is an American, born of American
parents.

CASE STUDY OF “M”

Before the School—She completed the first year of high school. As a shoe worker, she
belonged to the Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union and served on several of its committees.
She was a member of a student-industrial group at the Y.W.C.A., a representative of
workers on the industrial committee of the Y.W.C.A., and in its industrial club, She
promoted workers’ education within the Y.W.C.A.

At the School—She attended the summer sessions of 1936 and 1937 at the ages of 31
and 32 respectively. The faculty reported that she was earnest in her desire to learn and
willingness to participate in activities but that she was hardly leadership material.

After the School—After her first year at the School, she planned for economic discussions
at the Y,W.C.A. and tried to further workers’ education in her trade union. She formed
a workers’ education library and set up a bulletin board in the Y.W.C.A. Industrial Club.
She was interested in starting a joint meeting of the trade union and of the Y.W.C.A. on
social security. During this time she had a great deal of pressure from home since her
mother was against the teaching of evolution and other facts at the School and was
therefore against her community work. Her trade union work was hampered by the lack
of interest within the union—(“Our union seems so dead after so much I heard about

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FURTHER ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS





unions i in the North”)—and by the disinterest and fear of workers’ education in the
Pape . When a speaker addressed a local union on organized labor, the company
had a stenographer copy the speech.
en a After her second year, she put more effort into labor organization work. The organizer
x “for the American Federation of Labor told her that she had too many ideas like those
-. endorsed by the Congress of Industrial Organizations and he would have to do something
about it, She left home and is living at the Y.W.C.A.

The Industrial Secretary of the Y.W.C.A. wrote the following:

“M” is an active member of her union insofar as a woman can be; she is the
person in charge of complaints on her floor at the factory; is a member of the
Industrial Committee of the Young Women’s Christian Association represent-
ing the workers’ education group and the student-industrial commission. The
Bryn Mawr confidential report on her is quite true—she is earnest in her desire
to learn and willingness to participate in activities but she is hardly leadership
material. Her background has been a very poor one, as I am learning more
and more, for she is writing a story of her life and brings it to me to go over.
I seem to see some improvement in her efforts to be of service in her union.
She feels her responsibility to be of service because she has been given so much
opportunity through two summers at Bryn Mawr. The experience has meant
much to her personally if not so much to the group in which she works.
At any rate she is the only person in her union with any training in workers’
education and she does try to spread her knowledge.







SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

In Upton, Downton, Fluxton, and the comparable communities which
have been surveyed, 235 alumnae have reported that they belong to 478
groups, either as members or leaders. Little effort has been required to
accomplish results in some places; in others, only a few gains could be
achieved and only after a hard struggle. Even in places encouraging as a
whole, women have been discouraged by their immediate neighborhood. For
instance, Fluxton is so large that alumnae often have had to confine their activ-
ities to a small section offering as many handicaps as does Downton. Yet most
_ of the women elsewhere have stated that the School has widened their horizon
and has given them the perspective necessary for them to work effectively in
different groups.
pe In recent years certain organizations have reached many different commu-
nities and have tended to make them more alike. Y.W.C.A. programs have
invariably been present, although they have differed from one locality to
another. Trade unionism is increasingly apparent throughout the nation

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SSE ie FP OEP ae

eR ra.

SEIT a

Eee a



PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

























and people in all places are much more aware than they were form
various political philosophies. All this has affected the alumnae.
Y.W.C.A. has provided opportunities for many of the 235 women
As trade unions have developed, they have tended to attract many
away from group work organization. Lately political interests
grown. In specific cities an Alumnae Association has held the
attraction, but only 103 of the 235 women under consideration belong tc
group. Many observers of the situation have urged the School to |
to form a nation-wide Alumnae Association. They claim that the
of the women are no longer exclusively local and that an extensi
tion, paying attention to local and national problems, would be very
and most helpful.
In the field of workers’ education, alumnae have stimulated the d
ment of miscellaneous workers’ schools and of the government progr
workers’ education. In the establishment of the latter, alumnae h ec
gather information about specific communities; they petitioned for the
gtam; they acted as teachers, advisers, and supervisors. In addition,
aided experimental field projects carried on by the American Labor B
tional Service, they helped conferences of this and other agencies, a
worked on trade union education committees furthering programs
labor organizations. Student conferences in the South and partic
New England have reached many groups which could not leave their
In all activities, an increase in leadership has been most marked ai
those women who have attended the Summer School. Even when p
tion in the Alumnae Association is not counted, the number of outsta
positions is much greater for the women as alumnae than as ind t
Many have shown initiative on committees and boards, have held
and have planned programs. At the same time alumnae have given t
port so necessary to leaders if they are to accomplish their objectives. —
have retained their membership in groups to which they have always
others have joined new organizations after their return from the Sch
some places, the total number of associations in which the women 1
has decreased as they have assumed new responsibility in particular
Participation has become more intensive and less extensive than

138


FURTHER ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS



interests so that the total picture in a specific community may appear much
better for the women as alumnae than as candidates.

One significant point should be kept in mind when alumnae and their con-
tributions to society are considered. These women are workers, many of
whom carry home and family responsibilities in addition to working. Analysts
of community participation have stated that “In general the lower the occu-
pational status the fewer the number of clubs a person joins. Thus com-
f munity participation has a positive correlation with income and leisure.” *
In addition various studies have shown that, no matter what the income level,
few people belong to many groups. A study made by Komarovsky of approxi-
mately 6,000 people in each of two communities shows that 60 percent of one
and 64 percent of the other had no participation. Here and in other places,
the indices of average membership per adult in civic clubs and movements
have been shown to be very low. In two rural communities, the index was
0.6 and 0.7, in three suburban communities it was 0.6, 0.5, 0.5, and in two
small cities 1.1 and 1.2.°

Within all incomes and all places, the ultimate determinant of community
participation seems to be the personality of the participating individual.
Some people are inert, some active, no matter what the type of community.
The Summer School, therefore, has attempted to be careful in the selection
of applicants. On the whole its efforts have been justified.





* Quoted in Lloyd Allen Cook, Community Backgrounds of Education, p. 68.
5 Ibid., pp. 65-67.

139









CHAPTER XI

Evaluating the Past in Terms of the Future



\) HEN the Bryn Mawr Summer School was founded in 1921, few indi-
viduals or groups could visualize the results of the pioneer efforts of President
Thomas and Susan M. Kingsbury. Now that the Hudson Shore Labor
School is replacing it, the development of the Bryn Mawr School may
well be reviewed. Has the institution conformed to the larger pattern of
workers’ education? Have the hopes and intentions of its founders been
realized?

The Bryn Mawr School could not have continued to exist had its directors
and supporters not believed in the profound importance of workers’ education.
They have from the very first visualized instruction for workers as a means
of helping to build a constructive labor movement and maintaining our demo-
cratic government. Since general education has not achieved these aims, they
have contended that supplementary programs must exist. They have not main-
tained that they will necessarily favor separate education for adult workers if
continued expansion of standard educational facilities levels differences among
adults and if general adult education more readily reflects the social scene.
But workers must in the meanwhile continue to study their environment, even
though practical reasons demand that they form separate groups.

Moreover, the Bryn Mawr Summer School has continued its work because
it believes that resident schools are as important to workers’ education as are
community projects. The development of its program has justified its belief
and would seem to effectively answer those critics of the resident process who
have stated that extra-community projects accommodate too few students,
that many of the students do not represent workers in general, that the courses
are limited and not coordinated with the everyday life of workers, that
expenses are high, and that control is in the wrong hands.

141
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



The School can show that 1,610 women workers have studied on its campus
in the period from 1921 through 1938. These women have represented
American working women in general in respect to national origin, education,
geographical residence, arid experience in industry and labor organization.
Only recently has the School been faced with such problems as whether or
not to widen its concept of industrial workers, admit men, and examine the
influence upon recruiting policies of increasing unionization and the changing
locale of industry.

The small percentage of individuals that workers’ education in general has
reached indicates that the movement needs the interest and help of many
organizations. In 1935, from 70,000 to 80,000 workers were enrolled in
classes in W.P.A. workers’ education alone.” In 1939 it was reported that well
over 100,000 workers were enrolled in all classes. Even though it is difficult
to estimate the exact number of people reached, one may safely say that it is
only a very small proportion of the 7,000,000-8,000,000 organized workers
and of the total “organizable’ working population of 32,000,000 people."
The reasons for this are many. Even in their own communities workers are
not able to attend classes because of lack of carfare, overtime work, or partici-
pation in trade union and other activities. Some, of course, simply are not
interested. Therefore, enrollment in classes may be small and turnover great,
even when time and place of meeting have been carefully planned. Func-
tional groups also reach but few persons. It is true that “mass education”
accommodates larger numbers but it has not provided adequately for the
more serious student. It is interesting to note that the W.P.A. program has
* never been able to supply enough teachers and leaders to meet more than a
minimum number of requests from union groups all over the country. Con-
sideration of all factors may well lead one to believe that both community
and extra-community programs have advantages and disadvantages which
must be considered when students are recruited.

* Figure obtained from analysis of the annual reports of the School.

* Alice Cheyney, “Workers’ Education in the United States,” International Labour
Review, Vol. XXXII, No. 1 (July, 1935), p. 39.

“Dorothy Rowden, “Workers’ Education,” Social Work Year Book, Fifth Issue
(1939))5 p: 27.

3 ae MacDonald, Labor Problems and the American Scene, N. Y., Harpers, 1938,
p. 10.

142




EVALUATING THE PAST IN TERMS OF THE FUTURE



The Bryn Mawr School has attempted to develop a course not too theoretical
or removed from the everyday life of the worker. Its curriculum has been
flexible and has avoided academic rigidities so as to respond to a wide range
of student interests. The emphasis has been similar to that of community
programs, although necessarily more concentrated because of.the time element.
The social sciences have provided a framework for the teaching. And the
classroom work, special studies, leadership groups, and extra-curricular activ-
ities, are designed to offer techniques of active citizenship. A community
focus has been emphasized in the application sheet, preparatory classes, resi-
dent work, and student ratings. The belief has been expressed that the sum-
mer session must lead to more than a desire for study. Social participation
has been the ultimate goal.

Local groups should, of course, be as careful as resident schools in making
sure that classes do not become theoretical or removed from the practical
experience of workers. Community courses may also be submerged in arm-
chair philosophies. It is true that local organizations can—and sometimes
do—develop functional activities and mass facilities to counteract this tend-
ency but they still do not overcome all the difficulties. Some workers desire
only class work and naturally gravitate into theoretical discussions.

The Bryn Mawr School has utilized functional and mass devices even
though it has not been able to develop these as widely as have local programs.
Special meetings, studies, conferences, institutes and other methods have been
used. However, the School has realized that the select student body and the
concentrated period of study have offered an ideal laboratory for demonstra-
tion of class techniques and accordingly has developed these. Students have
been grouped in different ways and subjects synthesized. Teaching devices,
curriculum and materials that are significant for all workers’ education have
resulted. Alumnae have stated that class work at the School has often been
superior to that in their communities. They have mentioned the difficulties
encountered in local groups in which elementary and advanced students were
mixed. Courses were disrupted by slack attendance and constant reviews for
the benefit of those who were absent. Concentration after a day of work
proved difficult. One student expressed her appreciation of resident work as
follows:

“As a worker myself, I realize how very little spare time they [the workers]
have and I know of what immense value it is to bring workers to a residential

143
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



school like yours to study and relieve them of the tiredness from their daily
jobs . . . if they have one . . . and of the burdens of many details of the
average person’s daily life and to give them people willing to listen to what the
souls of these workers have to say ...”°

The School has chosen its faculty very carefully and has trained teachers
informally. The qualifications formulated have been used by local programs
and assistants from the School have been valuable to many different proj-
ects. The alumnae have expressed their appreciation of the instruction which
they have received. They have indicated that this often is in contrast to local
work since the hustle and bustle of the community touches not only the stu-
dents but also their teachers who, buried as they are in many activities, cannot
always give adequate attention to their tasks. Since some of the ablest in-
structors are overburdened, the weight of carrying a local program often falls
upon the less competent.

It seems reasonable to assert that workers’ education as a process has not
come to the point where it may accept one project in preference to another.
Due to the limitations of specific types, the aim should be intelligent combina-
tion of various facilities. In the community, mass education, classroom educa-
tion and training for leadership should be utilized. In the resident school,
mural and extra-mural activities of students and faculty, as well as teacher
training and institutes, should approximate the local combination. Finally,
the community and extra-community programs should be unified in a year-
round workers’ education movement.

In the same way, workers’ education still needs projects under a variety of
auspices. Instruction in trade unions is available only to organized workers
and is related functionally to collective bargaining. Non-unionized persons
need the programs developed by political, community, and religious groups;
these programs may help trade unionists to have a wider social perspective.
If collective bargaining and community efforts are necessary to changing social
structure, then the two types of educational activity may be recognized as
essential. The School has incorporated parts of both and has brought together
workers from all kinds of groups. It has had representatives of labor upon its
Board of Directors and the fact that these have not been confined to trade
union women probably has contributed toward building a comprehensive
labor movement. Although individuals have supplied most of the money,

* Letter from a German student, 1934,

144

pee



ay

Cinaiee Re! ¥ fee

ne




EVALUATING THE PAST IN TERMS OF THE FUTURE



moral and financial responsibility has been placed upon the local communities
and upon those organizations which have sent students to the School. As a
result of decreasing liberal and foundation support, the School has attempted
to obtain more aid from organized labor. The administrative board of the
institution, however, has continued to maintain that the program is not to be
controlled by contributing groups. The practice of independence has been as
real as its theory. No specific organization has determined policies.

The Hudson Shore School is following the Bryn Mawr School as closely as
possible. This seems to indicate that student, faculty and community groups
are satisfied with what the School has accomplished. The few changes that
are taking place are logical developments. Increased representation of labor,
still on an independent basis, and the solicitation of more support from organ-
ized labor are intended to bring the School closer to the needs and interests of
the labor movement. The continuation of the Bryn Mawr School in the form
of the Hudson Shore School is predicated upon the belief that there is a need
for this kind of institution. Organzied labor has acknowledged, although
hesitantly, that until the labor movement is willing and able to support work-
ers’ education as an integral and vital activity, instruction for workers must
be entrusted to others equipped and ready to carry it along. Although the
unions have recently shown a greater willingness than heretofore to support
educational ventures, they still cannot claim that the most effective work and
leadership is in their hands. The intellectuals from the colleges and universi-
ties, the middle class liberals, and the government officials who have entered
the field have contributed much. And, even if it were thought desirable, the
means are not at hand for integrating these activities within the trade unions
themselves since the unions necessarily are preoccupied today with the prob-
lems of organization. Nor is the government ready or equipped to perform
the task. Although valuable work has been done with federal funds, govern-
ment support is unreliable at the present time. The failure of appropriations,
the relief standards, and the whims of a public opinion only partially informed
about workers’ education are responsible. Where techniques and methods are
still in process of development, the flexibility of the privately supported ven-
ture, independent of government and the trade unions, is desirable.

The test of an educational program for workers should be what it can do
for the workers. The scope of community participation of the alumnae is on
the whole encouraging and seems to justify the existence of the School. It

145


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



would, of course, be far too optimistic to state that none of the students’ activi-
ties could have occurred had it not been for the School. On the other hand,
the institution certainly has made significant contributions; it has drawn work-
ers from a variety of organizations, has given them techniques of thinking and
acting, and has attempted to show how these techniques may be adjusted to
community patterns. Observers have indicated that more could have been
accomplished had the School penetrated the district around it and brought
more community groups to the campus. Students might have become more
familiar with functional and mass techniques unavailable in the regular course
and a greater tie could have been established between the summer session and
continuous programs of workers’ education. However, it should be remem-
bered that even if all this had been done, economic depression, the daily
routine of living, and personal differences still would have impeded the
activity of some students. Many supporters of the School have felt heartened
because alumnae have shown signs of broadened interest and ability. These
supporters do not expect startling results in the expansion of different types
of programs. One person crystallizes the feeling in this connection in the fol-
lowing statement:

There is the question in my mind just how much we feel they should accom-
plish upon returning from Bryn Mawr. We expect them to “set the world on
fire” without realizing that a few weeks of summer work cannot change their
personality or years of background development. We need to find more outlets
for their abilities within our community life after returning to the community
from which they went to school. If their personal horizon is broadened, their
interest in personal development heightened, that in itself is of great aid in
building citizenship. Our hope always is that they will grow beyond their own

world to interest in workers’ problems; not only interest but devotion and
activity.°
The alumnae themselves have indicated that this hope has been realized

in part. In answer to an inquiry about their activities, they have stated that
the School has helped strengthen their personalities by giving them increased
understanding, a broader outlook, and closer insight into the problems of
the organizations with which they are associated. The resultant outlook has
stimulated tolerance in all spheres of life. The comments made by some of
the women illustrate this. One alumna says:



“Letter from the Industrial Secretary of a Y.W.C.A., June 21, 1938.
146




EVALUATING THE PAST IN TERMS OF THE FUTURE



Bryn Mawr helped me to think before making decisions or forming opinions.
It made me a little more tolerant of people of other races and nationalities.
Best of all, it helped me to control my temper. I needed that as much as any-
thing else in studies, in order to get along with people.

Another student writes:

Bryn Mawr taught me that the other fellow's point of view might be wrong
only because he does not understand. When one does a bit of enlightenment
and he begins to see what's back of his hard luck, he’s not so dumb.

Many alumnae state that the understanding stimulated at the School has led
them to activity of various kinds. In community, government and labor
activities they are showing that they have learned how to ask questions, how
to understand problems better, and know how to express themselves more
clearly. Several alumnae have said:

If I had never gone to Bryn Mawr, I'd just be a tongue-tied inarticulate
worker with no hope of ever taking part in discussions of any kind. Now I do
try to protect my job and interest each individual in a convincing manner that
it’s up to all of us to do our best and no one person can do very much
alone. ...

As far as politics were concerned, the instruction received at Bryn Mawr
taught me to study all party platforms and how to use my vote most effectively
for the benefit of all workers. In other words “to point a finger to every item
and ask that it be explained.” . .

It taught me not to follow cease” thoughts and ideas blindly because the
other side is not always wrong. Now I listen to all sides of an argument with-
out a biased opinion and then when I think I’m right, I do speak and I’m able
to speak my share. In other words, it helped to give me confidence in myself
and to broaden my mind. . . .

One woman says that her motto now is to look for logic in any arguments
concerning the labor movement or current social problems. Others point to
specific instances of being able to conduct meetings, hold office, and address
conference groups. Such alumnae say:

It taught me to express my opinion in very few words and yet get what I
had to say across. It also helped me in taking minutes when I was secretary.
I learned that one group of union workers had to co-operate with the others
if they wanted to hold what they had and gain more, for if all groups do not
progress at the same time the group which goes too far ahead will have a set-
back. I learned to meet and speak to people and groups without fear. . . .

Before going to Bryn Mawr, I believed very much in unionism but found
difficulty in taking an active part as male members resented it. I found that

147
PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION



few if any women fought that state of affairs and I also dropped out of the
executive board in 1930. After going to Bryn Mawr, I found spirit to fight that
situation and returned to the executive board in 1936 and also fought my way
into the Joint Board. I am the only woman member on the board of our local
but since then the executive board number has grown to four. I spoke to our
business agent who has been in the office one year about making women more
union conscious and he helped me to form our women’s education group.
We have sent and helped financially one girl and hope to send one every year
to the Summer School.

Some alumnae say that they learned that it is also valuable to work from
the bottom, to be a quiet but effective member of a group, and to persist.
One woman states:

I have written you all this for I thought you might like to know that if it
had not been for my six weeks at Bryn Mawr in 1934 that I would have long
fallen out of union ranks just as many of my very close friends have done for
lack of knowing what it is all about. I’ve also tried to start workers’ education
groups but due to lack of interest from workers it was impossible, but I am not
discouraged, for what I learned at Bryn Mawr is still with me.

If the Summer School experience has meant so much to these workers,
certainly resident programs like that of the Bryn Mawr Summer School should
be encouraged. Such experiments are important if our theoretical acceptance
of democracy is to be paralleled by practical achievement. Democracy implies
independent thinking, intelligent participation in community organizations,
and consciousness of social standards. These qualities are conscientiously en-
couraged and heightened among those who attend the School. One German
student, upon her return home, wrote in her Jast letter to the School:

There is no opportunity for German working women to talk now. I hope
that all the workers at the Bryn Mawr Summer School this summer will appre-
ciate the splendid opportunity they are enjoying and will equip themselves to

become fighters, not alone for the right of women workers, but for mankind
in general.”

Mote than ever before, we are today aware of certain values which we must
promote and preserve in our country. Workers’ education may aid the process
since it may help create the informed, active citizens which democracy needs.

"Letter from German student, op. cit.

148








BL i Te tLe oe oe “ge i ea
Arrenpee
BOOKS

be
. a the Boye Seema Sobeel, Mew York:
Affiliared Sehooks: fox Workers and American Associumem fee Adel Bdecetion,

Coie, Feancr G. Sappert af Wertery Mew York: Amerikan
Service (formerty Atilated foe oo (Com
y
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c ier Rene § rr) eee Oe a a
= o in Cenhlioes Feed Ueto,
1937. py SES.
49







ee eo By






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pp. 18-20.
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Morris, Mae B., A Study of Group Participation of the Cleveland Alumnae of Bryn Mawr
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Workers’ Education Bureau, Workers’ Education, A Quarterly Journal of American
Workers’ Education, Fifteenth Anniversary Issue, Vol. xiii, No. 4 (October, 1936).

Wolfson, Theresa, “The White Collar Worker Asks Questions,” Social Frontier, Vol. 4
(March, 1938), pp. 184-7.

Y. W.C. A., Laboratory Division, Tentative Conclusions and Recommendations for the
National Industrial Study Relating to The Local Industrial Program of the
Y. W. C. A., New York: June, 1937.

METHODS AND MATERIALS IN WORKERS’ EDUCATION

Affiliated Schools for Workers (now American Labor Education Service), New York:
Affiliated Schools Scrapbooks, Workers’ Education Through Action, Vol. 1, No. 6,
(February, 1939). (With bibliography). Alice Hanson, Editor.

New eee for Workers’ Groups, Vol. 1, No. 5 (April, 1938). Eleanor Coit,

itor.

Labor Drama, Vol. 1, No. 1 (March, 1936). Jean Carter, Editor,

Teaching Economics in Workers’ Classes, Vol. 1, No. 2 (June, 1936), Gladys
Palmer, Editor.

The Social Science Workshop, A Scrapbook, 1935.

Annotated Lists of Materials for Workers’ Classes; Labor Plays; Reading Lists of
novels, plays, biographies, poetry; pamphlet material; special bibliographies.

Carter, Jean and Smith, Hilda W., Education and the Worker-Student, 1934.

Carter, Jean, Mastering the Tools of the Trade, 1933.

Plunder, Olga Law, Monographs on Methods of Teaching English to Workers’
Classes, 1931.

Pamphlets on many subjects.

faelensed Clothing Workers of America, Department of Cultural Activities, New
ork.

Delegate’s Handbook, Regional Conference on Cultural Activities, 1938.

Advance a Seg “Our Union University,” Vol. 24, No. 4 (April, 1938),
pp. 24-25.

American Federation of Hosiery Workers, Philadelphia: Suggestions for Branch Legisla-
tive Committees, 1938; Suggestions for Branch Press Committees, 1937; Handbook
for Branch Education Committees, 1938.

International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, Educational Department, New York:
Growing Up, 21st Annual Report, 1938.

Cohn, Fannia M., History; Fiction or Fact. What is Workers’ Education, including
suggestions for teachers in workers’ classes, 1938.

Starr, Mark, The Eye Route, 1938.

Let’s Sing, 1938.

152
APPENDIX



Claessens, August, A Manual for Trade Union Speakers, Published for the Educa-
tional Department by the Rand School Press, 1936.

National Women’s Trade Union League, Washington, D. C.: Suggested Educational
Program for Local Leagues with no Paid Staff, 1937; To Chairmen of Educational
Committees of Local Leagues, State Leagues, and National Committees, 1936.

Work Projects Administration, Workers’ Service Program, Washington, D. C.: Workers’
Education—lIts Objectives, Standards and Techniques, (W.P.A., Division of Edu-
cation Projects, Technical Series, Education Circular No. 4), February 1, 1937.

List of Sources for Teachers of Workers’ Classes, September, 1937.

Methods and Materials in Workers’ Education—Service Bulletin for Teachers
(Office of the Specialist in Workers’ Education, Education Division F. E. R. A.),
August, 1935.

Additional Reference Lists, 1935.

Workers’ Education Bureau, New York: Labor Speaks for Itself, A Series of broadcasts
on American industrial problems by outstanding labor officials, 1936.

Bowerman, George F., “The Public Library and Workers’ Education,” Workers’
Education, Vol. 6, No. 10 (July, 1929), pp. 1-4.

Hader, John J. and Lindeman, Eduard C., What Do Workers Study?, Workers’
Education Research Series, No. 2, 1929.

Lindeman, Eduard C., Workers’ Education and the Public Libraries, Workers’ Edu-
cation Pamphlet Series, No. 7, 1926.

Wolfson, Theresa, The Women’s Auxiliary to Trade Unions and Workers’ Educa-
tion, Workers’ Education Pamphlet Series, No. 8, 1926.

Mitchell, Broadus, How To Start Workers’ Study Classes, Workers’ Education
Pamphlet Series, No, 1, 1925.

MISCELLANEOUS SOURCES

Black, H., “Work of a Labor School Library,” Specific Libraries, Vol. 28, (January,
1937), pp. 7-12.

Carter, Jean, et al., “Creative Expression: A Symposium of Drama, Dance, and Litera-
ture in Workers’ Education,” Journal of Adult Education, Vol. 7 (April, 1935),

p. 179-87.

leer, Emilie, “Workers’ Schools and Correspondence Courses,” American Federa-
tionist, Vol. 43 (October, 1936), pp. 1069-70.

Nockels, E. N., “Labor’s Experience in Radio,” American Federationist, Vol. 44 (March,
1937), pp. 276-81.

Pleysier, A., ‘Workers’ Education and Broadcasting,” American Federationist, Vol. 43
(October, 1936), pp. 1056-63.

Udell, Sophie, Annotated List of Motion Pictures for Workers’ Groups, New York:
Southern Summer School for Workers, 1939.
Note materials mentioned throughout the book.

153


VITA

I, Florence Hemley Schneider, was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 18th,
1914, the daughter of Benjamin Hemley and Frances Gottlieb.

I received my elementary and secondary education in Brooklyn, New York. In
1934 I graduated from Brooklyn College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
After a year of graduate study in Economics at Columbia University, I received
the degree of Master of Arts from that institution in 1935.

From 1935 to 1938 I was a student in the Carola Woerishoffer Graduate De-
partment of Social Economy and Social Research, first as a Scholar, then as a
Fellow. In 1937 I received a Two-year Certificate in Social and Industrial Re-
search. ‘

To fulfill the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Bryn
Mawr College, in 1938 I took preliminary examinations in the major field of
Social Economy and the minor field of Economics. My dissertation was begun in
1938 under the direction of Professor Mildred Fairchild.


i

PP PPP. PP A LP LP I

Index.



Adult education, 8, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 54,
99, 100, 103, 113, 141; part-time, 57
Advisory Committee on Education, 7, 25,
57, 82

Advance, The, 31

Affiliated Schools for Workers (see Amer-
ican Labor Education Service)

Agricultural Workers, 34-37, 61, 83

Akron-Toledo region, 83

Amalgamated Clothing Workers (A. C.
W.A.), 17, 19, 27-34, 37, 47, 88, 129,
134, 135

American Federation of Hosiery Workers
(A. F. H. W.), 17, 27-34, 37, 47, 48

American Federation of Labor, 16-18, 46,
51-54, 88, 89, 113, 115, 120, 126, 137

American Federation of Teachers, 24

American Labor Education Service, 2, 18,
19, 53-55, 62, 68, 70, 71, 73, 75, 84,
125, 138 ‘

American Labor Party, 110

American League against War and Fas-
cism, 110

American Youth Congress, 43

Amherst College, 17

Annual Conference of Leaders and Teach-
ers (see Brookwood Labor College)

Art Workshop, 18, 45

a of Catholic Trade Unionists,

a,

Barnard Summer School, 18

Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union, 136

Brookwood Labor College, 17-19, 54, 57,
58, 95; Conferences, 15, 19, 24, 54

Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women
Workers in Industry, 1-3, 11-13, 17, 53,
58, 68, 141; Affiliated Schools for
Workers, 18, 68, 73, 125; age of stu-
dents, 89; Alumnae Association, 110,
111, 119-121, 124, 128, 133, 138; ap-

plication sheet, 93, 94, 143; Cooperative
Living Plan, 73, 90, 96; finance and
budget, 72-79, 144-145; Hudson Shore
Labor School, 2, 11, 72-79, 86, 90, 92,
141, 145; labor representative, 100,
101; policies, 70-72; purpose, 67, 68,
141; rating, student, 103, 104; relation-
ship with college, 68-70; source of
funds, 74-79; student body, selection of,
81-92; summary, 141-148; summer pro-
gram, 93-104; survey, 11-13; (see also
Downton; Fluxton; Upton)

California, Department of Education, 59

California, Federation of Labor, 59

California, University of, 17, 59

Carnegie Corporation, 24

Catholic Worker, The, 45-47

Central Labor College, 98

Chautauquas, 58

Churches, 39, 47, 48, 62, 108-112, 114,
116, 119, 120, 133, 134

Civic Education Association, 44

Clark, Prof. H. F., 57

Class consciousness, 31, 48

Class philosophy, 9

Classroom education, 22, 28, 31, 33, 37,
41-49, 58, 95, 96, 142-144

Clerical workers, 84, 85 (see Summer
School for Office Workers; white collar
workers )

Cleveland, 42, 45, 55

Collective bargaining, 28, 29, 31-33, 37,
40, 47, 49, 56, 62, 144

Committee to Aid Spain, 110

Eee College, 17-19, 35, 46, 57,

8, 62

Communism, 18, 20, 39, 40, 48

Communist Workers School, 17 (see
political parties)

Community centers, 39, 43, 47, 55, 62

155

re


PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

Community organization, 9, 30, 47-49, 52,
54, 58, 75, 103, 116-121

Company unions, 110, 117, 119

Conferences, 15, 18-25, 46, 52-55, 62, 98,
102, 138, 143

Congregational Churches, 45-48

Congress of Industrial Organizations
(C. I. O.), 31, 46, 53, 54, 88, 89, 110,
113-15, 117, 120, 125, 136, 137

Contributions, to workers’ education, (see
financial support of )

Control of ee education, 10, 23, 26,
59, 68-72, 78, 79, 144, 145

Cooperative living plan, 73, 90, 96

Cooperation, 9, 27, 52, 108, 110; con-
sumers, 52, 110, 126

Coordinating agencies, 51-63

Correspondence courses, 22, 31, 41

Council of Social Action, 46

Council of Social Agencies, 107, 113

Craft unions, 36, 88

Dances, 22, 28, 39, 42, 109

Democracy, American, and education, 7-9

Democracy, and workers’ education, 9, 15,
cee 56, 67-68, 92, 100, 112, 141, 146-

8

Democratic Party, 110

Discussions, 42, 97, 116, 121, 125, 129

Domestic service, 83-85, 112, 115, 120,
124 (see Cooperative Living Plan)

Downton, 3, 13, 113-116; communities
comparable to, 128-132, 137; case
study D, 129, E, 129, 130, F, 131, 132,
G, 131, 132

East Side Forum Unit, 44

East Side Tenants’ Union, 44

Economic Justice, 47

Economics, 9, 21, 29, 56, 94, 102

Education, American, strengths and weak-
nesses, 7-9, 56, 57, 141

Educators, 8, 17, 56

Employer-employee units, 49

Employers, 9, 56, 115, 117

English, study of, 21, 28, 30, 81, 94, 96,
102, 116

Extension work, 17, 24, 35, 58, 59, 134

Extra-curricular activities, 69, 97-99, 143

Federal Emergency Relief Administration,
2, 3, 19, 24

Federal funds, 2, 3, 7, 19, 24, 25, 55, 116,
118, 145

Federal Workers of America, 34

Federation of East Side Clubs, 44

156

Financial support of workers’ education,
10, 23-26, 30, 32, 41, 43, 45, 59, 72-89,
145

Fluxton, 3, 13, 116-122; community com-
parable to, 132-137, case study H, 133,
I, 133, J, 134, K, 134, 135, L, 135, 136,
M, 136, 137

Foreign-born, 16, 37, 39, 82, 109, 114,
117, 119

Fordham University, 46

Forums, 39, 42, 96, 98, 108, 110, 116,
117. 120, 125,°126

Foundations, 10, 24, 25
Franklin Settlement, Detroit, 45

Functional education, 9, 21, 30, 33, 41,
44, 45, 58, 142, 143

General Education Board, 24

Government funds (see Federal funds)

Government projects, 55-57

Greenwich House, New York, 45

Group work associations, 107-112

Health standards, 21, 95

Henry Street settlement, New York, 44

High school education, 81, 82, 109, 114,
119, 135, 136

Highlander Folk School, 18, 29, 35, 57,
58, 62

History, 9, 21, 29, 34, 95

Hudson Shore Labor School, 2, 11, 72-79,
86, 90, 92, 141, 145 (see also Bryn
Mawr Summer School )

Immigrants (see Foreign-born)

Industrial groups, new, 34-37

Industrial unions, 32-34, 53, 86, 88, 119,
120

Institutes, 18, 22, 24, 52, 62, 79, 98, 101,
OZ, Liv, 121, 143

Instruction, continuous, 8-11; public, 7-9

International Institute, 114

International Ladies’ Garment Workers
Union’ (1. L. G. W..U.),17, 19; 25;
27-37, 47, 88, 126, 130

Jewish Workers’ School, 16

Job-analysis survey, 97

Kennedy, John, 36

Kingsbury, Prof. Susan M., 68, 141

a 17-19, 29, 53, 54, 98, 117,

Labor organizations, 8, 10, 15-20, 23-26,
100, 108-112; advisory committees, 53;
(see also Trade Unions)

La Follette, Tennessee, 29




INDEX



Leadership, 13, 18, 20, 22, 23, 29, 31, 32,
33, 42, 59, 75, 77, 97, 103 123, 124,
128, 129, 134, 138, 144

League for Industrial Democracy, 135

League of Women Voters, 110

Leisure time, 19, 28, 95, 100

Liberals, 24, 25, 145

7 ag 22, 29, 33, 111, 116, 117, 120,
13

Local programs, 8-11, 19, 41, 43, 45, 52,
58, 62, 76, 77, 79, 143, 144

Local unions, 28, 30-33, 37, 52, 54, 77

Lowell-Lynn-Haverhill textile district, 83

Lyceums, 15

Marxist party, 110, 121

Mass education, 22, 28, 31, 33, 37, 41,
58, 142-144

Mechanics’ institutes, 15

Middle-class organizations, 15, 16

Migratory workers, 61

Milk Consumers’ Protective Committee, 45

Mothers’ Clubs, 44, 45

Movies, 22, 28, 29

Muste, A. J., 95

National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, 35, 36

National Council of Congregational
Churches, 45

National Federation of Settlements, 43

National Negro Congress, 35

National Recovery Act, 94

mes Religion and Labor Foundation,

5-47

National Urban League, 35, 36

National Women’s Trade Union League,
16, 17, 52

Nationality, groups, 113-115, 118, 134

Native-born students, 82, 109, 114, 119,
135, 136 ‘

Negroes, 34-37, 39, 55, 113, 116, 119,
124, 125, 135

Neighborhood House, Louisville, 45

New York City, 40, 43, 44, 55, 74;
trade unions, 16

New York City School for Workers (see
Henry Street Settlement)

a York Women’s Trade Union League,

7

Non-unionized workers (see Unorganized
workers )

Norfolk, Virginia, 30

Pacific Coast School for Workers, 2, 11,
54, 58-61, 89

Park, Dr. Marion Edwards, 70, 72

Parliamentary law, 28, 41, 46

Pennsylvania, 83

Philadelphia, 16, 55

Philadelphia Labor College, 98

Picketing, 30

Politics, study of, 9

Political parties, 16, 39-41, 55, 62, 107-
112, 116-121, 124, 126, 132, 147

Propaganda, 9, 21

Physical science, 21

Psychology, 8, 9, 21, 95

Public instruction, 7-9

Public speaking, 9, 21, 28, 46

Questionnaires, 12, 76

Radicalism, 9, 76

Radio, 22, 28, 52, 117

Rand School for Social Science, 16, 19,
39-41

Reading, Pennsylvania, 30

Recreation, 21, 22, 29, 33, 35, 39, 42, 95,
108, 114

“Red scares,” 117, 118

Religious groups, 45-47 (see also
Churches )

Resident schools and institutes, 2, 9, 17-
19, 22, 51-63, 67, 143, 144, 148;
changes, 10, 11; coordinating agencies,
51-63; programs, 10, 11 (see also Bryn
Mawr )

Rochester, New York, 42

Scholarships, 76, 78, 79

Settlement houses, 10, 39, 43-45, 48, 49,
55, 62, 99, 108, 117, 135

Simplism, 31

Situation approach, 21

Smith, Hilda W., 37, 56

Social Action, 47, 48

Social animism, 31

Social ethics, 9

Social perspective, 9

Social psychology, 21

Social reconstruction, 28, 30, 40, 47, 62,
63, 67, 144

Social sciences, 20, 21, 94, 143

Social studies workshops,

Socialism, 16, 19, 39, 40

Sociology, 8, 9, 21

Southern Summer School for workers in
Industry, 11, 18, 54, 58-61, 89

Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union, 35

State governments, funds from, 24, 25, 59

Steel and Men, 48

Steel Workers’ Organizing Committee, 48

Strikes, 29, 30, 98, 127

157




PATTERNS OF WORKERS’ EDUCATION

Summer School for Office Workers, 11,
54, 58-62, 85, 89

Summer schools, 2, 12, 41 (see also Bryn
Mawr and other Summer Schools)

“Synthetic view,” 21

Teachers, prerequisites, 7, 23, 32, 100,
101; traveling, 22, 30

Teachers’ Registry, 54

Textile industry, 82, 83, 88

Thomas, M. Carey, 2, 68, 141

“Tool” subjects, 28, 34 (see English; Pub-
lic speaking; parliamentary law)

Trade union colleges, (see Labor colleges)

Trade unionism, study of, 21, 22, 27-38,
40, 43, 94, 108

Trade unions, 10, 15-20, 55, 107-129,
132-138, 142, 147, 148; contributions
from, 23-26, 76, 78; cooperation with,
23-26, 39, 42, 76, 145; education and,
15-17, 39, 62; relationships, inside and
outside, 47-49; students, 86-89; work-
ers’ education within, 27-38, 52, 144

Trade Union Institute, 40, 41

Training for leadership (see Leadership)

Training for trade union service 22, 28-33,
37,398

Traveling seminars, 46

Traveling teachers, 22, 30

Trends, in workers’ education, 15-26, 71

Unemployment, 34, 36, 39, 91, 94, 110,
Peet hES, LLG .11 7s 127

Unions (see Trade unions)

United Automobile Workers’ Union, 32;
women’s auxiliaries, 33, 34

United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and
Allied Workers of America, 35

United Garment Workers’ Union, 60

United Rubber Workers’ Organization, 33

University Settlement, New York, 45

Unorganized workers, 10, 39, 42, 43, 86,
108, 111, 144

Upton, 3, 13, 107-112; communities com-
parable to, 123-127, 137, case study A,
124, 125, B, 126, C, 126, 127

Vineyard Shore School, 18

een workers, 34, 37, 61, 84, 85,
1

158

Wisconsin Summer School for Workers,
2, 11, 18, 19, 54, 58-61, 68, 86, 89
Woerishoffer (Carola) Graduate Depart-
ment of Social Economy and Social Re-
search, 11

Women, 19, 52, 89; exclusion from labor
groups, 39; in industry, location, 85,
86; occupations, trends in, 83-85; trade
unionists, 86-89; in United States econ-
omy, 83, 84; unorganized, 42, 108, 111,
113, 120; and workers’ education, 16

Women’s Trade Union League, 98, 126

Work Projects Administration, 19, 24, 37,
41, 43, 44, 59, 60, 62, 102; educational
projects, 55, 108, 110, 112, 113, 117,
118, 124, 125, 129, 138, 142

Workers’ Alliance of America, 36

Workers, adult, comprehension of simple
facts, 8; concentration, 8; interests, dis-
tinct, 8; reading and speaking ability, 8

Workers’ education, 7-13; local facilities,
9, 10; methods and instruction, 21-49,
58; opposition to, 9, 37; practical prob-
lems, 21, 22; proponents of, 9; pur-
pose, 19, 20, 59

Workers’ Education Bureau, 17, 18, 51-
54, 62

Workers’ Education Committees, 54

Workers’ School (Workers’ Educational
League), 16, 40

Workers’ Service Program (see Work
Projects Administration )

Written composition, 9

os People’s Socialist League, 126, 127,

errs Men’s Christian Association, 39,
11

Young Women’s Christian Association,
18, 19, 39, 41-43, 47, 48, 76-78, 86,
87,99, 101, 108, 121,.123, 125,: 138:
Business and Professional Girls’ Divi-
sion, 41; Industrial Club, 114, 115,
128-137; Industrial Department, 41,
112; National Industrial Council, 43

Zook, George F., 56


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