World War 1 Public Education Essay

Words: 1169
Pages: 5

War was an influential time for America. Public education was shaped due to economic depression and war. World War I was focused on Americanism and supporting America. The Great Depression brought cuts in public funding so public education was focused on getting students educated as cheaply as possible. Lastly, World War II thanked to our troops by helping them gain their life back. World War I was fought from 1914 to 1918. Before and during World War I, America was suspicious of those who showed no patriotism to the United States. Cain (2011) wrote: “University of Michigan leaders began enforcing a particular form of patriotism by investigating and removing numerous employees for their alleged support of Germany”. In many cases, there was no evidence to support the firing of employees. For example, with the case of assistant professor Carl Eggert, someone claimed he was using his classroom to advocate for German beliefs. While the claims had no evidence to back them up, Eggert was still fired. Rather than focusing on the claims themselves, the University of Michigan fired faculty to show their patriotism. Public education was changing structurally due to the changing definition of Americanism, and that meant downsizing faculty who were not on the same page. …show more content…
According to Cain (2011), “students were to be protected from controversial and potentially divisive ideas”). The University of Michigan banned controversial and political speakers from coming to school to protect the school’s reputation and minimize conflict. To protect the school’s reputation and minimize conflict they “refrain[ed] from any speech that did not link neutrality to patriotism” (Cain, 2011). Since the United States was neutral until 1917, schools wanted to ensure their beliefs were following the