COLD WAR ERA1930’S TO 1960’S

Political Economy

Ideology

Schooling

James Conant

Political Economy

1920’s Businesses making large profits Food, clothing, new advances Agriculture, new low Urban areas-Poverty increased Racism continuing-Blacks denied decent livings,

menial and low paying jobs1929-1934

Collapse of the Stock Market ¼ adult population unemployed/lost jobs Wages slashed Standard of living reduced Wealthy became poor

1945 End of World War II War had created many jobs More consumerism

Demand for single family housing, cars, household appliances

Unemployment never exceeded 7% in 1950’s Little sympathy shown for poor or dispossessed

Fear of Soviet Communism Afraid that communism would spread Threat of spread led to policy of containment

Containment-US declared they would take any economic and military means necessary

Doctrine of First Use-Prerogative to initiate nuclear bombing whenever enemy forces threatened American military

Political Economy cont…

Political Economy cont…1940’s-1950’s Fear of Soviet communism reached hysterical

levels. Joseph McCarthy accused people of belonging to the Communist Party

Mid 1950’s Less hysteria Foreign policy based on the ideological split

between the two superpowersRacism

Since emancipation, African Americans had been deprived of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Slow steps taken toward the elimination of discriminationArmed forces desegregatedBrown vs. Board of Ed.Playwrights and film makers focused on discrimination

Political Economy cont… Resistance

Parents of white children in some areas battled black people and government authority to forestall integration of public schools

Zoning ordinances were devised to keep African Americans out of white neighborhoods

Banks redlined black business district

Civil Rights Movement Affirmative Action helped to develop a new

and larger class of black professionals and entrepreneurs

Public school officials called on schools to halt the vicious cycle of poverty that plagued many African American families

Ideology Classic liberalism had given way in the Progressive

Era to faith in scientific methods Progress considered achievable through science and

technology Experts and centralized decision making was linked

to progress. Workers were managed by a few elite Democracy had come to be regarded as a form of

government that was properly administered by experts

Leaders from all walks of life assumed that only a few individuals had superior intellects and that the welfare of the US depended on locating these individuals—placing them in positions of authority

CLASSIC LIBERALISM VS. NEW LIBERAL CONCEPTIONS OF FREEDOM—CHART-PAGE 222

Schooling Support for Social Efficiency

Social Stability Employable Skills Meritocracy Equal Education Opportunities

GI Bill—read independently-p. 226 James Conant

Doctorate at 23 in chemistry from Harvard Instructor, then Professor and finally President of Harvard

University (after great depression) Great Universities must recruit researchers of the first rank

who were acknowledged experts in their field Felt Harvard’s mission was to educate best and brightest

students, regardless of their social or economic backgrounds

Schooling cont… James Conant cont… Saw the need to develop a valid measure of

academic aptitude to ensure objectivity in determining scholarship eligibilityWanted to eliminate barriers of only elite

being admittedAllow scholarship to those that were

academically giftedDecided on SAT (Mid 1930’s)Believed exams such as the SAT would be a

nearly fool proof method of ascertaining academic promise

Do you think the SAT would be a fool proof method back then? Now?

Schooling cont… James Conant cont..

Preached Meritocracy—advancement based on own ability talent---

Favored Vocational Education Believed primary purpose of schooling should be not the

growth of every individual (Dewey), but instead the national interest

________________________ Modern comprehensive high school brought together

all students, vocational and academic, under one roof. Tracking system ensured that all students took courses best

suited to their needs Forge closer relationships among future professionals, crafts

persons, engineers, and labor leaders. Education must match talent to occupations. Through

testing, must select and sort students to prepare for different occupational roles.

Schooling cont…

Liberal Education suited only for a few students Conant compared goals of Vocational Education

to Gifted Education 1957-Soviets launched Sputnik report alarming the

American Public 1983-Nation at Risk equated a failure to teach

math and science as equivalent to universal disarmament

Progressive Era’s focus of education being for the best interests of the child and a curriculum to match, Conant reformers moved back into schooling to be for the political, economical and social stability of the country