One of the first things I noticed in this chapter was that the National Association of Manufacturers played a role in purposefully creating a link between democracy and capitalism. I never realized that this was purposeful or planned in such a public manner. I always thought that America just made the two synonymous over time. This leads to the next thing that arose in the chapter. The idea that all things progressive, different, or geared toward an end goal, should be labeled as socialism or communism in schools is ridiculous. The period around 1920-30 involved a lot of turmoil between war and depression, but people held on to their mind state that schools could lead to change and economic stability over time. This however became a “socialist” ideology as soon as war broke loose. In hindsight, it is funny to see how our country response so quickly to crisis by blaming whatever is around them. The same could be said about the flapper or jazz age mentioned in the chapter. Many thought the automobile was the driving force behind this era’s behavior, but it was simply something that may have made it easier—imagine if youth those days were given cell phones, texting, or Facebook. A question I had regarding this is do you think that the period stemming from the war and depression led to a change in roles from teacher’s more toward morality then information based? Could any of the negative effects in youth behavior during the Jazz or flapper age be attributed to schools or teachers directly? Should they be held accountable for leading the way during this time?
Also, the teacher’s struggles from the time period were very similar to today. They discussed how they fought for higher wages, retirement funds/pensions, and an increased social status. I see it as interesting that the same struggles that have lasted so long began as a type of “feminist” movement because it originally was seen as solely a woman’s occupation. Would this have been handled differently if teaching as an occupation began solely with men?
