DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 349 475 CE 062 065

AUTHOR Fleming, Louise E.; Saslaw, Rita S.

TITLE Rockefeller and General Education Board Influences on
Vocationalism in Education, 1880-1925.
PUB DATE Oct 92
NOTE 42p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
Midwesterr Educational Research Association (Chicago,
IL, October 1992).
PUB TYPE Historical Materials (060) Speeches/Conference
Papers (150)

EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO2 Plus Postage.

DESCRIPTORS Career Choice; Donors; *Educational Finance;
*Educational History; Influences; *Philanthropic
Foundations; Postsecondary Education; *Private
Financial Support; Secondary Education; *Vocational
Education; Youth Programs
IDENTIFIERS *General Education Board; *Rockefeller (John D)

ABSTRACT
Through philanthropic donations, Joh. D. Rockefeller
and the General Education Board (GEB) encouraged vocationalism in
education during the years 1880-1925, the Progressive Era. Evidently,
Rockefeller believed that the best education for poor youth was
vocational, presumably so they would be able to maintain occupations
in their adult lives. This precedent set by Rockefeller was continued
by the GEB after its founding in 1903. The GEB was known for its
expenditures that rescued schools from desperate circumstances. Yet
the programs they recommended time and again advocated vocational
offerings for students who would not attend college. The problem with
this approach was not with opening doors to poor children, as the
philanthropists viewed their donations, but with closing doors to any
other area a student might choose to pursue. They believed a
student's destiny was known and there the future lay. Actual program
changes under GEB auspices showed that vocational education was both
the goal and a result of their involvement. For example, to stimulate
agriculture in the South, GEB insisted that young people's education
should consist primarily of agriculture and domestic science. GEB
members were greatly concerned with the good of society, which would
benefit from trained farmers and workers to serve it. (The three
sections of this paper contain a total of 64 reference notes.)
(YLB)

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 ROCKEFELLER AND GENERAL EDUCATION
BOARD INFLUENCES ON VOCATIONALISM

IN EDUCATION, 1880-1925

Presented at Midwestern Educational Research Association

October, 1992

Louise E. Fleming

Ashland University

Rita S. Saslaw

The University of Akron

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1
 Introduction

The purpose of this study is to examine the roles of John D. Rockefeller

and his established Board. the General Education Board (GEB), in encouraging
vocationalism in education during the years, 1880 to 1925. Vocationalism, in this
study, refers to what generally was regarded as the basic purpose for education.
It does not refer to offering supplemental manual courses, but it refers to the
substitution of education for itsown sake for education for future role in the job
market. This major change in definition occurred during the Progressive Era
when many of society's institutions were being questioned and redefined.'
This change in what schools were expected to do was brought about by
many factors. The changing student populace was a major factor, as more and
more children filled and over-filled classrooms and as more and more of the
children came from poor families. many of them immigrants. Therefore, some
changes occurred as a result af the humanitarian impulse, as people and
organizations sought to make education understandable and meaningful. However,
not all of the people advocating changes had the interests of the children in
their hearts. It will be seen that some business people systematically and
deliberately acted to stimulate vocationalism in schools. particularly for children
who were rural or poor. This study focuses on the role of Rockefeller and the
General Education Board in influencing the reworking of course offerings for
youths who appeared to be destined for manufacturing or agriculture.
 Part One
Personal Influences: Contributions of
John D. Rockefeller to Vocationalism in Education

The John D. Rockefeller family gained a reputation for educational

contributions, beginning with the elder Rockefeller. John D. In 1903 he
established the General Education Board to handle his educational
philanthropy. At the same time, he maintained control over the GEB and
its use of his money. Rockefeller established a precedent for giving in
the years before its foundation. One precedent he set was to endow
programs that encouraged vocational training, especially for poor youth.
This precedent was then continued by the General Education Board.
As the story unfolds it is evident that Rockefeller believed that the
best education for poor youth was vocational, presumably so that they
would be able to maintain occupational positions in their adult lives.
The difficulty with philanthropy directed toward vocational programs is
that although, in the eyes of the benefactors, the young people were
being given a chance. that chance was severely limited to whatever
training program the students took.
This period. 1880 to 1925, represents the Progressive Era, an era
of great changes in the social and political arenas. One extraordinary
change took place in the redefinition of school from an institution for
those who did not have to work to an institution for all children. As

laws began enforcing this expectation, the backgrounds of the students

who attended schools began changing. More and more students from
immigrant families flocked to school. seeking a better life than their

4
parents had had. More and more of these students were oppressively
poor. The first part of this study will examine examples of donations to
vocational schools and programs by John D. Rockefeller in the early
years, continuing into the years of the GEB. Before the mass move of
children into schools, many children did not attend school at all, forced
to seek a living at an early age. It was to these types of young people
that many of Rockefeller's donations were aimed. One of the better of
these endeavors was the New York School of Applied Design. This
elementary school trained girls as architects. interior decorators,
jewelers, illustrators. and wallpaper and cloth designers. This school
was noted for being a pioneer in vocational training for women.
Rockefeller was not the only industrialist backing this school; also
enclosed in a correspondence was a clipping th noted a similar gift of
money from J.P. Morgan.'
Another educational concern to which Rockefeller contributed was
the Public Education Association (PEA). PEA programs were not solely
vocational; yet they, like many other programs of their time period,
distinguished between poor and rich children and the education they
should receive. Rockefeller gave sums annually to this group from 1913
to 1930. Sums ranged from $500 to S5000. These donations appear to
have begun with a request in 1913 to underwrite the publishing of the
Hanus Report, a report on New York City public schools. one of whose
recommendations included expanding vocational training. Later letters
offer clues to some of PEA's concerns. In 1924 Howard W. Nudd,
director of PEA from 1914 to 1940, wrote that for five years they had
been "grading" children according to intelligence and physical ability

3
and adapting courses of study to them. In 1927 he boasted further of a
program at Public School 61 in Manhattan which adapted schooling to
the abilities of the children they served. In this school children were
grouped according to "mental measurements."3
Previous to the Hanus Report, the PEA, like many of its
progressive counterparts. began to view education as a panacea for most
of society's ills. Early in the twentieth century they advocated mans,
educational reforms, such as vocational education and vocational
guidance. This they based on a belief in the intrinsic abilities and
inabilities of the individual, expecially those of the immigrant. They
pursued vocational education even into the lowest grades. 4
The PEA president from 1909-4925, Charles P. Howland, had
connections with the Rockefeller famely and served as a trustee of the
Central Education Board (GEB). Also Abraham Flexner of the GEB was a.
leader in PEA, as were Leonard P. Ayres of the Russell Sage Foundation,
Clyde Furst of the Carnegie Foundation, and George D. Strayer and
Nicholas Murray Butler of Teachers College."
Another connection that involved Rockefeller with vocational
education was Pratt's Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Rockefeller
himself established it as a technical institute for poor children. A letter
from T.D. Kellogg states, "I learn of your establishment of Pratt's
Institute, and the intelligent ideas you are seeking to work out in
providing practical educational training for the poor."6 Rockefeller also
donated small amoants to the Wilson Industrial School and the
Educational and Industrial Union. A donation to the latter was offered
upon condition that they raise an agreed-upon sum from other sources.

6
This school was run by Emily Huntington. It began in 1874. Huntington
was responsible also for founding "Kitchen Garden" classes, later to
become the Kitchen Garden Association which featured domestic
industrial education for poor and working girls.' Rockefeller also
served as a stockholder of Cleveland Manual Training School for several
years. On January 4, 1892 E.P. Williams wrote to Rockefeller asking for
his signature deeding the school to the city of Cleveland. Rockefeller
signed the document but dated it December 28. 1891. However,
Cleveland refused to accept the school. 8

Apparently, Rockefeller also served as a trustee of the First Ward

Industrial School in Nev. York. This school operated both a day and
night program and served those who were "too poor or too disregarded
to attend public schools." The first correspondence. in 1885, notes that
he had been elected unanimously as a trustee and requests permission
to use his name on their literature. Athough no answer is filed, one
can infer his acceptance because another correspondence of 1894
announces his election as director of the school. Again no answer
evidences his acceptance.'
Another school to which Rockefeller donated was the Manhattan
Trade School for Girls. This school trained poor girls who were forced
to work at ages 14 or 15. These girls, boasted V. Everett Macy, lacked
earning capacity when they came. Then the school obtained positions
for them in factories and trained them in trades. They learned such
subjects as trade math, trade English, and knowledge of materials,
design. and color. Additionally, they learned physical training and
hygiene, art. millinery, pasting, dress making, and machine operating.

5
Rockefeller promised $25,000 on condition that they raise $200,000. This
promise lapsed, presumably because they failed to raise the designated
sum. He pledged again in 1908 and 1910. The 1908 pledge was fulfilled.
This school was also funded in its early years by two officials of the
Public Education Association.1 0
Rockefeller also contributed annually to the Industrial Education
Association. Its founder, Grace Hoadley Dodge, daughter of a wealthy
industrialist, began a long, charitable career in 1874 by teaching Sunday
School classes (which she organized into a sewing and health club),
sewing classes, and classes with the Industrial School of the Children's
Aid Society (CAS). The latter was provided for children who were too
poor to attend public schools. They were immigrant children. and CAS
supplied food and clothing for them. These classes emphasized sewing,
cooking, and handwork."
In 1876 Dodge was invited to participate in teaching "Kitchen
Garden" classes, a take-off on the concept of "kindergarten." These
classes were offered to young girls, and in them, they were taught work
through play. They learned about such topics as cleanliness, mending,
cooking, baking, scrubbing, and ettiquette. The ladies organized these
classes into the Kitchen Garden Association in 1880. Their purpose was
to promote domestic industrial arts among the laboring classes and to
promote uniform teaching methods. These classes spread throughout the
world. 12
In 1881 Dodge began meeting with girls who worked at a silk
factory. These meetings were organized into a society in 1884. Others
were founded later: This society offered classes for working girls in

8
practical skills such as dress making and machine operation. Dodge also
facilitated "talks" on topics of interest, including wages and health.13
In 1884 ige and others dissolved the Kitchen Garden Association
and founded the Industrial Education Association (IEA). Its broader
principles included, "To study, devise, and introduce methods and
systems of domestic and industrial training into schools" and "To form
special classes for technical training." The members were anxious to
develop "hand power" as well as "brain power." The organization
offered classes in sewing, cooking, and manual training while Dodge
actively promoted the cause. They were very successful, and people
began clamoring for industrial education. Dodge was appointed as a
commissioner of education for New York City in 1886.14
With a donation IEA hired Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia
College as their president. The IEA's work grew in the area of
preparing teachers for industrial education. They developed into the
New York College for the Training of Teachers which was given a
permanent charter as Teachers College in 1892. Dodge served as
treasurer. She actively pursued funds, making friends with many
young philanthropists, such as V. Everitt Macy and some of whom
attended school with John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 15

Apparently, Dodge was also an acquaintance of the Rockefellers;

she wrote to both Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller and met with them personally
at times. Dodge was a fervent advocate of her organizations, as is clear
in her correspondence. She effusively thanked them for their gifts,
using such phrases as it was "a pleasure to know that your sympathies
were with us. . ."; you are "kind and interested in our efforts"; the

7
exhibition has been a .:;uccess in making our association known. Some of
the objects she listed were eliminating overcrowded classes, beginning
vacation schools, and expanding the organization into other cities. Her

statement of purpose for the IEA was to promote manual and industrial
training, to disseminate information, to secure its introduction into
schools, and to train teachers and organize classes in "special
branches," for example domestic training in schools and orphan
asylums. It
Some of her plans she listed for 1888 included teacher training
and improved salaries for teachers in cooking, sewing, industrial
drawing and modeling, mechanical drawing, and wood working. "The
demand is great," she states. She continued to ask and receive yearly
donations from Rockefeller. In 1889 she reported that she had only
received 565,000 in pledges. J. Pierrepont Morgan and H. McK Twombly
47
had each pledged S10,000, she stated."
These are a few examples of donations that John D. Rockefeller
made. indicating a continuing interest in providing vocational and even
industrial training for children who were to go on to manual and factory
jobs following or during their schooling. That there was rampant
poverty among families of working children is known. That many of
these children were from immigrant families and lacked the basic skills
to make a living is also known. Therefore it is understandable that
many philanthropists sought to help such young people acquire
vocational skills. What remains remarkable is that they were not taught
a liberal education or expected to go beyond manual occupations.
Obviously. the accepted belief was that the poor and immigrant children

10
were inferior and that a technical training was sufficient. These
examples provideinsight into some of the philanthropic activities that
occurred in education. They richly illustrate that John D. Rockefeller
and other philanthropists influenced the expansion of vocational
education in the Progressive Era.
This precedent set by Rockefeller was continued by the General
Education Board after its foundation in 1903. The second part of this
study will examine some examples of GEB philanthropy directed at
spreading vocational education. The GEB is known for its expenditures
that rescued schools from desperate circumstances. Yet the programs
that they recommended time and again advocated vocational offerings for
students who would not attend college. Again, the problem is not with
opening doors to poor children, as the philanthropists viewed their
donations, but with closing doors to any other area a student might
choose to pursue; it is with the belief that a student's lot was known
and that there the future lay. The GEB continued their influences
beyond their first 20 years. but much of the foundation for vocational
education, for training to specific ends, was laid within this very short
period of time.

9
 NOTES

1. Louise E. Fleming, "Liberal Arts to Vocationalism: Changes in the

Function of Secondary Education 1880-1920, and Certain Issues Surrounding
Those Changes" (Ph.D. diss., The University of Akron, 1990), 3-5.
2. Starr J. Murphy, to Mrs. Hopkins, 5 February 1906; ? to John D.
Rockefeller, 2 March 1916; Elihu Root, to J.D.R., clipping enclosed: "Morgan Gift
to Art School," 8 March 1916; W.S. Richardson for J.D.R., to Frank Tilford, 6 May
1916. Rockefeller Family Archives. RG 2. Educational Interests series. Box 32.
Folder 175. Rockefeller Archive Center.
3. ? to John D. Rockefeller, 3 July 1913; J.D.R., to W.K. Brice, 13 May 1914:
J.n.R., to W.K. Brice, 31 May 1916; J.D.R., to W.K. Brice, 8 March 1917; Howard W.
Nudd, to J.D.R., 9 November 1917; Howard W. Nudd, to J.D.R., 4 December 1917;
J.D.R., to Abraham Flexner, 23 April 1919; N.W. Davis, to J.D.R., 21 May 1919;
J.D.R., to W.K. Brice, 28 June 1920; J.D.R., to Nudd, 30 March 1921; J.D.R.. to Nudd,
16 February 19t.2; J.D.R., to Nudd, 14 March 1923; Howard W. Nudd, to W.S.
Richardson, 15 March 1924; W.S. Richardson, to Nudd, 31 March 1924; W.S.
Richardson, to Nudd, 26 March 1925; W.S. Richardson, to Nudd, 29 April 1926:
Howard W. Nudd, to W.S. Richardson, 19 April 1927; Richardson. to Nudd 12 May
1927; Richardson, to Nudd, 19 May 1928; Richardson, to Nudd, 1 May 1929; John
D. Rockefeller, Jr., to Nudd, 15 May 1930. Rockefeller Family Archives. RG 2.
Educational Interests series. Box 3. Folder 93. Rockefeller Archive Center. Sol
Cohen, Progessives and Urban School Reform: The Public Education Association
of New York City, 1895-1954 (New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.
1964), 83, 126.
4. Cohen, 8, 67, 72-74.
5. Cohen, 81-84.
6. T.D. Kellogg, to John D. Rockefeller. 8 March 1887. Rockefeller Family
Archives. Box 23. Folder 176. Rockefeller Archive Center.
7. M.A. Stone, to John D. Rockefeller, 26 April 1887: M.A. Stone. to J.D.R.,
16 December 1890. Rockefeller Family Archives. Box 45. Folder 33G. Elizabeth C.
Scofield. to John D. Rockefeller, 21 August 1889; Elizabeth C. Scofield, to J.D.R..
27 August 1889. Rockefeller Family Archives. Box 37. Folder 293. Rockefeller
Archive Center. Abbie Graham, Grace H. Dodge: Merchant of Dreams (New York:
The Womans Press, 1926), 61-62, 64.
8. E.P. Williams, to John D. Rockefeller, 4 January 1892; ? to John D.
Rockefeller, 20 May 1892; E.P. Williams, to J.D.R., 27 September 1892. Rockefeller
Family Archives. Box 49. Folder 366. Rockefeller Archive Center.

10

Iti
9. George De Ferrel Leed, to John D. Rockefeller, 3 February 1885. Rockefeller
Family Archives. Box 23; Henry M. Alexander, to J.D.R., 5 June 1894. Rockefeller
Family Archives. Box 1 New York City. Rockefeller Archive Center.
10. Starr J. Murphy, to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 13 March 1906; John D.
Rockefeller, to ?, 4 April 1906; John D. Rockefeller, to ?, 8 April 1908; John D.
Rockefeller, to ?, 1 February 1910. Rockefeller Family Archives. RG 2. Educational
Interests series. Box 31. Folder 175MI. Rockefeller Archive Center. Cohen, 72.
11. Biozraphical Dictionary of American Educators. 1978 ed. v. 1. "Dodge,
Grace Hoadley." Graham, 48-50, 63).
12. Graham, 62-65.
13. Graham, 69-70, 83-90.
14. Graham, 121-124, 127-134, 159, 163-164.
15. Graham, 164, 166, 169. 178. The alternate spelling of Macy's first name
is due to different spellings in different sources.
16. Grace H. Dodge, to John D. Rockefeller, 10 April 1886; Grace H. Dodge,
to J.D.R., 18 January 1887; Grace H. Dodge, to J.D.R., 26 March 1887; John D.
Rockefeller, to Grace H. Dodge, 26 March 1887. Rockefeller Family Archives. Box
12. Folder 87. Other letters were also written to the Rockefellers soliciting funds
for the IEA, presumably by a secretary or a treasurer. The following letters
pertain to that category. ? to John D. Rockefeller, 13 May 1885; ? to Mrs.
Rockefeller, 3 July 1886; John S. Bussing, to John D. Rockefeller, 15 March 1887.
Rockefeller Family Archives. Box 6. Folder 47; Milbarb B. Cary, to John D.
Rockefeller, 21 February 1889. Rockefeller Family Archives. Box 6. Folder 51; J.
Cattell, to John D. Rockefeller, 3 July 1886; J. Cattell, to JDR, 1 December 1886.
Box 7. Rockefeller Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center.
17. Grace H. Dodge, to John D. Rockefeller, 23 January 1888; Dodge, to
J.D.R., 6 February 1888; Dodge, to J.D.R., 8 February 1888; Dodge, to J.D.R., 4
January 1889; Dodge, to J.D.R., 4 December 1889; Dodge, to J.D.R., 20 November
1890; Dodge, to J.D.R., 27 November 1890; Dodge, to J.D.R., 17 December 1891.
Rockefeller Family Archives. Box 12. Folder 87. Rockefeller Archive Center.

11

13
 Part mwo

Board Influences: Contributions of the General Education Board

Toward Vocationalism in Public Schools, 1905-1925

John D. Rockefeller, a nineteenth and twentieth century

philanthropist, founded the General Education Board in 1903 in

order to direct his educational contributions. This study

addresses their programs that led to the growth of vocationalism

in public education during the early period of their development.

It will be seen that their spirit of philanthropy greatly

enhanced the development of vocational programs, especially for

young people who, in their opinion, would seek manual employment,

especially agricultural. Three problems are central to this part

of the study and will be examined. The first is John D.

Rockefeller's control over the GEB. The second is the GEB's

control over their programs (although they often insisted that

they had none.) Finally, the third is to document actual program

changes under GEE auspices that show vocational education as both

a goal and a result of their involvement.

First, it is significant to note that the activities of the

GEB had to reflect that of its benefactor, John D. Rockefeller:

In making my recent gift to the General Education Board

. . I provided that two- thirds of the gift should be
.

applied to such specific objects within the corporate

purposes of the Board as either I or my son might from
time to time direct.-

While the Board members also developed their own philosophy

regarding Board endowments, Rockefeller and his son, John D.

14
Rockefeller, Jr. oversaw its activities. Sometimes Rockefeller,

Jr. participated on a committee; other times he stamped his

approval at the end of a report or memo. On still other

occasions he wrote a follow-up memo expressing his approval. A

more subtle way that they maintained control was by hiring

personnel whose agendas matched theirs.

An example of the relationship between board and benefactor

can be seen in the 1914 report of an "in-house" committee. The

committee was formed to recommend the most "fruitful" areas for

educational investigation. Serving on the committee were Jerome

Greene, Wallace Buttrick, and Abraham Flexner, friends of the

Rockefellers and members of the board of the GEB. Their report,

confidential to Board members, described the two directions of

GEB programs: extensive, to extend educational facilities where

they had not been before, and intensive, to make existing

programs more responsive to needs. The former included two

Southern programs, Professors of Secondary Education and Rural

School Supervisors. The latter included experiments to

perpetuate what the Board termed the "ideal rural school." This

report corroborates their interest in promoting vocational

education, and it further indicates special interest in effecting

programs in areas, such as rural schools, where they could make

an impact.-

The committee report suggested that surveys be done in all

the states. The states would pay for these surveys, while the

Board would provide the support staff. They envisioned emulation

13

15
 14

between the states that would result in educational

"improvements." They also wanted the GEE to help the states

select counties in which to develop model educational systems,

including agricultural clubs and county training schools. They

expected that these models would influence other counties and

reshape other schools; thus "the ideal rural school, pictured by

the chairman and authorized by the Board, could be realized more

effectively. . " Their part, according to the report, would

be to support county industrial teachers and to contribute

industrial eauipment. They also recommended five "important

phases of educational experience" to investigate and publish,

including city school surveys, training of teachers, and

industrial education. Furthermore, they added four areas that

they termed "urgent." These included organizing county and state

surveys which would recommend educational changes. John D.

Rockefeller, Jr. stated in a follow-up memo that he appreciated

and valued the report.?

Another example of Rockefeller control and GEB interest in

vocational education is a 1915 committee whose recommendations

regarding "educational research" included a study of the Gary

Schools. Rockefeller served as the chair of this group.

Abraham Flexner, second secretary of the GEB, addressed their

findings: "Following this, I hope very much that we can enter

upon the larger problem of industrial and vocational training in

the public schools." In fact another committee was formed later

that year, in order to study industrial education. This

16
 15

committee reported that states had been working to foster

industrial education, both within and outside of public schools,

and that a national commission had been formed to propose that

the federal government fund vocational and industrial schools.

The Board selected Leonard Ayres, the efficiency-minded educator

who had written Laggards in Our Schools in 1909, to conduct the

industrial survey.
Although Wallace Buttrick, appointed by Rockefeller as the

first secretary of the GEB stated that the GEB's "one policy is

to have no policy,' it would appear that the Board operated

under many predetermined policies. For example, under their

auspices, many educational programs turned from largely academic

to largely vocational, with an emphasis upon agriculture and

domestic training in rural areas. The problem was not so much
the addition of vocational courses but the replacement of

traditional curricula, that they expended significant amounts of

money and energy in order to offer vocational subjects but none

to increase or improve academic offerings. The GEB, as a group,

tended to view education as preparation for future employment,

which, in turn, hinged on the family's employment and economic

status. For example they believed, and did not question, that

rural children needed agriculture and domestic science to prepare

them to be farmers and wives of farmers. In the curriculum, they

manifested this belief by simply not encouraging academics for

these children while they applauded efforts to vocationalize

their programs.

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 16

Also, although in correspondence GEE personnel never forced

their agents to follow their dictates, remarkably agents

always seemed to agree with their employer. One way the GEB
influenced their agents was by conferences. For example, a

series of letters between Henry Pritchett of the Carnegie

Foundation and members of the General Education Board

demonstrates that they met with their agents privately before the
conferences began. They requested:

A rather private conference with these men [the high school

inspectors] so that we may get at real things and not waste
time and opportunity at a more public meeting where the
friends would talk to the galleries.'

GEB officers also distributed tentative recommendations

which the supervisors usually accepted. Evidence indicates that

this move was intended to exert more control over conference

results. For example, following a conference in 1924, two of the

GEB's field agents reported to the president of the GEB that the
proposals had paralleled exactly the recommendations of the
GEB.'

The GEB sponsored conferences for Rural School Supervisors

who acted as agents for the GEB in Southern elementary schools.

A 1914 conference statement included a proposal that rural

schools be the center of community life. This same report

suggested that each principal be trained in agriculture and that

each school have at least one teacher trained in domestic science

or household economy. Following the report, Abraham Flexner

confirmed the GEB's interest in the "entire rural school

problem."5

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 17

Another conference of Rural School Supervisors in 1917

proposed simplifying the elementary curriculum and, in both

subject areas and textbooks, omitting "minor facts" and

"secondary matters." Additionally, they recommended that school

facilities include classrooms, a library, laboratories,

classrooms for domestic science and farm mechanics, a school

garden, and a demonstration plot. Their suggestions included

courses such as "home building," "farm life," and "rural

economy. n o
'

Background letters for this partiCular conference also

provide insight regarding GEB control over their programs and

hired agents. The Rural School Superisors had planned to attend

another conference which they had attended annually. Upon

learning of their decision to attend this conference, the GEB

gave them permission to attend but informed them that the GEB
would not provide the funds to do so. One rural school agent

summarized his correspondence with the GEB regarding this

conference, that the GEB officers "were not inclined to favor"

the planned meeting. As a result, the rural school agents did

not attend the conference, but the Board scheduled another one
for later in the year.

One issue discussed at a 1919 conference which GEB officials

was, "What Forms of Industrial Work Can Be Profitably Introduced
into Country Schools?" Thc account included such projects that

were already in progress as farm mechanics, cooking and sewing,

woodworking, "practical" agriculture, and industrial work.

 8

Attendance at conferences was only one way the GEE

popularized their ideas. Other examples that illustrate GEE
interest in promoting vocational education abound. For example,

Board members expressed their personal beliefs about education in

articles and "Occasional Papers." Occasional Papers were
developed to provide GEB members a platform from which to

disseminate ideas. They were distributed in large numbers and,

in some cases, Abraham Flexner sent them to selected people and
requested a response.
Occasional Paper Number One was The Country School of

Tomorrow, by Frederick Gates, a member of the board of trustees.

In it Gates called for dropping educational traditions: to teach
students not to be philosophers, men of science, lawyers,

doctors, or politicians but to meet the "lowly" needs of rural

life. He suggested that educators teach "every industry in the

district," such as would be found in the kitchen, barn, dairy,

and shop. According to Gates students should learn health, how
to make clothing, how to cook, and what and how to eat, and they

should learn in model kitchens and model homes. Further, he

addressed the importance of scientific farming, and he envisioned
a community of young workers producing in agriculture, sewing,

the kitchen, the dairy, the orchard, and the lawn. He minimized
the importance of the "three R's" and suggested they only be
taught within the realm of the child's experience.-3

In a letter to Charles Eliot, former Harvard president and

member of the GEE upon his retirement, Abraham Flexner addressed

20
 19

Gates' proposal, stating that the Board had been authorized to

promote such an experiment in rural education. Eliot's response
referred to a surgeon who had been compelled to study Latin and
Greek:

He believed that he got as much appropriate mental

training out of the languages as he would have out of
natural history and mechanical studies. He was of course
deluded; but he did not know that.
Flexner's return letter agreed with Eliot."

Charles Eliot wrote Occasional Paper Number Two, Changes

Needed in Secondary Education, in which he supported practical

courses, elimination of memory work, and use of concrete

experiences.:` The GEB issued a press release approving Eliot's

paper, reiterating that the best knowledge came from observation

of the senses. They recommended for poor children more hand,
ear, and eye work, such as drawing, carpentry, turning, music,

sewing, cooking, and the sciences of observation (chemistry,

pi;yi&ulture and work in a school garden.

Occasional Paper Number Three, A Modern School by Abraham

Flexner, also dealt with subject matter in schools. He supported

the need for the rudiments of education but not for courses whose

purpose it is to "train the mind." Rather, he maintained that a

"man educated in the modern sense . . . will be contentedly

ignorant of things for learning which no better reason than

tradition can be assigned." He preferred studies that served
"real purposes," which he divided into four fields: science,

industry (including learning a manual skill and work in

21
 20

industry), aesthetics, and civics. Although he recommended

algebra and geometry for those who would later attend college,
for those "who would not need it," he recommended industry.-

In addition to the Occasional Paper, Flexner wrote some

articles that appeared in a popular magazine. In one article he

stated that mental discipline did not carry over to other

subjects, except in particular categories. Virgil is just as

valid as learning to bake a pumpkin pie, he declared: either

task should only be performed for enjoyment or for a purpose.

According to the article, if a student was not planning to attend

college, he should not study Latin. He further maintained that

formal grammar and arithmetic should not be studied beyond a few
basics if one did not need them. Another article proclaimed that
schools should concern themselves with what children naturally

do, offering vocational and purposeful subjects, replacing Latin,

math, ancient history, and "bookish" science.-

A fourth member of the GEB, Wallace Buttrick, discussed the

poor state of agriculture in the South. His report called for
agricultural schools, one in every consolidated district, and
practical textbooks to teach agriculture. He warned that "nature

study," such as it was known then, was too cultural and not

practical.-

These directly-stated philosophies of Board members informed

the programs which they established. In keeping with their

interest in vocational and agricultural education, they

appropriated funds and hired personnel who fostered these aims in

 21

public schools, particularly in the rural South. The GEB

undoubtedly chose the South because it was the most fertile

ground for their ideas on vocational education. At the time,

their systems were new, disorganized, highly rural, and did not

ehibit the independence of midwestern schools. In this light

the GEB adopted a program in 1905 which involved hiring

professors of secondary education to represent them in improving

high schools in the South. These professors served as catalysts

to expand offerings in practical courses such as agriculture,

sewing, and carpentry."

Early reports by the professors would indicate that most

existing schools offered highly academic programs, with such

electives as agriculture, manual training, domestic science,

school garden work, and bookkeeping. These same reports also

seem to indicate that the professors supported these curricula.

However, as time progressed the professors expressed urgency for

vocational education, particularly agricultural and domestic.

For example, Professor of Secondary Education, Joseph S. Stewart

of Georgia recommended a highly academic program in his reports

until 1906. This attitude changed following a visit to a private
industrial school. He boasted to Wallace Euttrick about the work

which he had observed at the school, in the home, dairy, garden,

barns, and woodworking shop. This visit led to his recommending
higher taxes to support schools. Furthermore, that Fall, the

Georgia legislature passed legislation to build an agricultural

high school for every congressional district. Stewart had
 22

assisted in formulating the curriculum for these schools:

English, mathematics, history, science plus agriculture, shop

work, laboratories, and farm plots. Buttrick advised him to

oversee these schools, to get the best men to run them, and to
write him monthly reports.22

Another professor of secondary education, Charles G. Maphis

of Virginia wrote to a superintendent in 1912 blaming him for his

high dropout rate. He accused him of placing too much stress on
preparing students for professions; he then recommended parallel
courses of study, equally emphasized: classical, business,

agricultural, domestic arts, and so forth. He stated, "Your

schedule administers practically the same diet to all alike,

though their tasks may be different and their needs may vary."
He urged the superintendent to require less homework, to

strengthen the commercial courses, and to add manual training,

domestic science, and homemaking. "Your attendance is far too
low," he concluded.21

This example illustrates what the other participating

professors seemed to think, that academic requirements turned

away students. As Gates, Flexner, and Eliot had rejected the
idea that certain subjects were more worthwhile than others, and

had stated that the curriculum ought to reflect what the child

needed for his or her future occupation, these professors seemed

to embrace the belief that students should attend school to

prepare themselves for a future vocation. According to a third

professor of secondary education, L.L. Friend of West Virginia,

ra
 23

agriculture was not offered seriously as it should be. Not many

schools offered domestic science and manual training, he

reported, but where these courses had been introduced, high

school instruction was in closer contact with life. He also

recommended practical application of chemistry, hygiene,
geometry, and drawing. Furthermore, he reported that several
high schools were offering commercial courses and emphasizing

practical English. Other professors reported similar results in

vocational expansion. Some oversaw the building of agricultural
high schools or the addition of industrial and household arts in
more schools. All indicated that these courses represented
"progress" and that the changes were welcomed."

Another way that GEB members advanced their philosophy

regarding vocational education was by working through state
boards of education in the South. They often gave money to these
boards to help them establish certain programs, with the idea

that the state would eventually fund the entire program. They
hired agents to represent the state in stimulating better
schools. One of these agents, a state high school inspector for

the GEB in South Carolina, reported in 1920-21 that 33% of South

Carolina's secondary pupils were in vocational courses, making up

11.2% of the total teaching time in the state. Another of

their agents recommended that one school district reopen its

manual training shop. A third agent reported that one department

of home economics had been "made right," "a full time teacher
well qualified having been employed.""

25
 24

The GEB also appointed rural school supervisors, referred to

earlier regarding conferences, in order to expand rural education

in the South and to back such programs as consolidation,

increased tax suppert, organization, salary and training of

teachers, and length of school terms. In addition to their

involvement in these categories, the supervisors backed expansion

of vocational education.- Many of the rural school supervisors

expressed the belief that it was the job of public educators to

assure the future of agriculture and domestic science. For

example, school people often officiated at fairs where children's

agricultural and domestic products were displayed. One such

exhibit was described by the Kentucky rural school supervisor.
He saw "real dresses, and real canning,. . .real plows, real

gates, and real axe-handles" in both "the regular school work and
the work in manual training, domestic science, agriculture, etc."

Another supervisor wrote about student contests and

demonstrations in baking, sewing, and agriculture. :n another
state a county fair included competitions in physics, writing,

maps, drawing, spelling, music, culinary arts, needle work,

manual training, farm and garden work, and club work.

Many other examples evidence involvement of the rural school

supervisors with vocational agriculture and domestic science.
The rural scho81 supervisor of South Carolina sent a letter to

his county supervisors, encouraging them to read two pamphlets

regarding vegetable growing and preserving. He urged them to
promote manual training, cooking, homekeeping, and agricultural

.2
 25

clubs in schools. A workshop provided by another supervisor in

South Carolina emphasized manual training for boys and domestic
science for girls; in addition, he recommended that industrial

work be taught in every sconl and that home and farm

demonstration work be closely allied with school. Another of the
state supervisors reported that his "progressive teachers" gave

regular and systematic instruction in agriculture to boys and

tomato growing and canning, home gardening, cooking and sewing,

home making, and house keeping to girls. He, as other rural

school supervisors, worked to expand county demonstration schools

to instruct teachers in proper methods for teaching cooking,

sewing, music, and practical agriculture in order "to increase

the professional efficiency of the teachers."23

All of the supervisors, at one time or another, reported

"progress" in expansion of agriculture, gardening, home economics

and domestic science, and manual training in schools): Other

"progress" involved a gift of $7,000 for a domestic science

department in Charleston, South Carolina. The rural school

supervisor from South Carolina later wrote Frederick Gates of the
GEB, complimenting him on his Occasional Paper on rural schools.

He cited some examples of domestic science and agriculture in

schools of South Carolina, including one school in which the

teachers taught on farms and in homes of the community.

Furthermore, to dispense with "boring" curricula, this supervisor

established a school in an old farmhouse, with a workshop for

boys and a kitchen for girls. He did not teach academics but had
 26

the students grow vegetables and make wooden articles. Students

learned from measuring gardens, dividing profits, and reading
recipes and books about birds): GEB responded to him by asking
him to participate in studying "interesting and significant
experiments" in rural education. Two major topics he chose were
agriculture and homemaking.32

A different source pertinent to this discussion of rural

southern educational projects is an article that praised GEB

involvement in farm demonstrations and building dormitories for

county high schools. Their activities included introducing the
teaching of domestic science and aiding agricultural and
demonstration work.
Southern education was not the GEB's only target of
influence. They also acted upon the surveys, referred to earlier
in a Board report. These were conducted nationally, both

statewide and locally, and were comprised of a committee and a

chair who was selected by the GEB. They conducted a survey of
Maryland schools in 1915 and paid three quarters of the cost from
Board funds. "Shake-up Expected" read the headline that preceded
the Board's final report. The recommendations included
vocational training in industrial sections and agricultural in
farming areas. In 1916 the State legislature accepted the GEB
report and enacted many of their recommendations into law.34

The GEB also surveyed the famous schools of Gary, Indiana.

These schools attempted to become the epitome of redefined

education: social services, recreation, adult education, and

26
 27

manual training. Believing that children had different

abilities, interests, and employment opportunities that must be

recognized, they also offered vocational courses. Boys regularly

took courses in shop work, carpentry, electrical work, plumbing,

and painting, while girls participated in domestic science,

restaurant work, and secretarial skills. Many people expected

that Gary schools would prepare skilled laborers for the mills of

Gary. Although the survey was conducted in 1916, the reports

came out in a series beginning November 1918. The GEE found, not

that the program was deficient but that the administration was.

In fact, they praised the "genuine life activities."3C

Another survey, in 1919, took place in Tarrytown, North

Tarrytown, and adjoining districts in New York. The GEE found

that Tarrytown High School met college entrance requirements but

did not "neglect the needs of students who desire to pursue the
commercial course or to work in the area of industrial and

household arts." They commended North Tarrytown Junior High for

adding a vocational course to the regular courses and for

endeavoring to give a "practical turn" to regular courses and

adding manual training for boys and cooking for girls. But they

recommended that both the junior high and the high school broaden

"the practical opportunities . . . certainly in commercial work

and in the household arts for the girls and in the industrial

arts for boys."3"

An inheritance of $1,650,000, left for the education of the

poor in Winchester, Virginia, prompted a request to the GEB for a

29
 28

survey. A news clipping of 1920, published by the Winchester

Chamber of Commerce, explained the outcome of the GEB's study.

They planned an athletic stadium, auditorium, art-history museum,

dispensary and center of hygiene instruction, swimming pool,

gymi2asium and shower baths, domestic science and home economics

laboratories, cafeteria lunch facilities, open air classroom for

anemic or convalescent children, vocational and pre-vocational

shops for agriculture and industry, library-study room, and an

agricultural laboratory and experimental orchard.'

A GEB survey in Indiana, 1921 to 1922, concluded that

vocational education was inadequate and limited. They

specifically recommended agriculture for all boys and home

economics for all girls, as part of their regular education

program. In fact, a news paper report stated that the study

favored vocational education "beyond all other forms of

education."13

When considering the influence of the General Education

Board, their activities are educational, as well as the outcomes
of their programs. Additionally, other sources address the
impact of their programs on schools: "It is difficult to
overestimate the value of the several general studies in public

education financed by the Board," concluded an in-house

report.' The report praised the "far reaching" effects of

Professors of Secondary Education, which had taken place in

twelve states, and Rural School Supervisors. Among GEB successes
the report included a two-year demonstration of rural supervision

30
 29

in Indiana, which had resulted from the Indiana Survey. Other

successes included "helping" southern secondary education by

extending the cooperative farm demonstration movement and by

improving facilities, teachers, attendance, legislation, and

"suitable" courses of study:

They emphasized the importance of placing in the

curriculum subjects which would prepare boys and girls
for living a useful life--for example such subjects as
agriculture and home economics. As a result some of the
southern states established farm life or agricultural
schools . .Reform of curriculum remains,as one of the
.

major problems facing educational leaders.'

Not all of their programs achieved their desired ends,

however. A later memorandum bemoaned that those surveys which

they had funded had been publicized as General Education Board

surveys. This had caused political problems for them, it stated,

making it hard for their representatives to put their

recommendations into effect.42

Another source that supports the thesis of Board control of

program outcomes is a policy statement by GEB officials: "The

Board, however, has the right to terminate its support if the

essential purpose of the Board in making the appropriation is no
longer being carried out." The statement then cited examples of

personnel hired and fired in such a manner. Although this policy

was not directly stated until 1932, the implication was that this
policy had been in effect for a long time, as the examples

referred to past experiences.43

These examples, expressed by Board members themselves,

indicate that the GEB wielded much greater control that they had

31
 30

admitted to previously. An excerpt from an article by another

source attests to the influence that the GEB wielded in the
education community. Although the quote addresses a more general
problem than vocational education, it does illustrate that

Rockefeller and other industrialists influenced public education

in many areas and with powerful results:

We view with alarm the activities of Carnegie and

Rockefeller foundations, agencies not in any way
responsible to the people, in their efforts to control the
policies of our state institutions; to fashion after their
conception and to standardize our courses of study, and to
surround the institutions with conditions which menace true
academic freedom and defeat the primary purpose of democracy
as [Link] preserved inviolable in our common schools,
normal schools, and universities.

Of course GEB officials denied such motives but chose not to

respond publicly.

A final area, relating indirectly to the topic of

Rockefeller and General Education Board influences on

vocationalism, provides evidence of activities corresponding to

education according to expected vocational destination. Two

psychologists, Lewis M. Terman and Robert M. Yerkes, wrote to the

GEE, seeking support for a program of vocational guidance for

young people leaving school and for businesses hiring them. They

also wanted to diagnose children with intelligence levels near

the borderline of "mental deficiency" and to introduce a three-

tiered educational format for public schools. These ideas

stemmed from tests that they had developed for the military and

which had separated and trained personnel according to "ability."

Yerkes claimed that it was not undemocratic to base training upon
 31

test results, but rather, he stated that his program gave a "man
a proper chance to learn." He said that he had been bombarded by
requests for such tests to use in schools.*- 1-

Yerkes attacked the present educational system because it

"ignored individuality" and was undemocratic. Instead, his

proposal tracked students, according to test scores, into three

separate schools which educated for professions, industry, or

manual jobs. What would normally be kindergarten through 5th
grade would be a three year program for the high track, four for
the medium track, and six for the low track.4

Abraham Flexner received letters expressing approval for

Yerkes' proposal from two men whom he had consulted. To his

credit, Flexner approached Yerkes cautiously. He suggested that

the proposed program made schooling too complex, but he also
suggested some trial programs. Yerkes sent a pamphlet which
explained the Army program, enumerating his complaints about
education: "low grade" children receive far too much attention,
he stated, while "high grade" children are sacrificed. Finally,

Fexner notified Yerkes that the GEB was donating $25,000 for them
to develop intelligence tests for school childrenj

This illustration ties into the study, as evidence that the

GEB did influence outcomes within public education. Perhaps, in
this case, the climate was right for testing and it would have

made its way into public schools with or without GEB support;

nevertheless the GEB did get involved and did fund what turned
out to be controversial at best, even in today's schools.
 32

Likewise, perhaps vocational education would have worked its way

into the curriculum, given the culture and social constraints of

the time; yet GEB influence cannot be denied.

To summarize this study, the three central problems must be

reviewed. John D. Rockefeller and his son did maintain control

of the money and programs which the GEB directed. This control

was financial as well as by presence on committees, approval of

decisions, and hiring of personnel. Also the GEB maintained

control over its own programs. GEB officials funded conferences

for their field representatives, presented them with an agenda,

met with them privately as a group, and influenced the

conclusions accepted. Regarding outcomes of their programs-

Professors of Secondary Education, Rural School Supervisors, and

state agents--although Board officers appeared not to interfere
with the field work or recommendations, all of these programs

took a vocational turn, strongly advocating agricultural and

domestic education.

In surveys as well, GEB findings included praise for

vocational programs and expressions of urgency where they did not

appear to be strong. Additionally, publications by Board members
stated their desires'to see vocational education emphasized,

academics deemphasized, and agricultural education glorified.

They, as well as other sources, corroborated the influence that

GEB programs wielded in the public arena.

Finally, the donation to develop testing for school children

crystallizes the thesis that the GEB and its founder and mentor,

34
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
 33

John D. Rockefeller believed that children ought to be educated

according to what was supposed to be their occupational outcome.

Rockefeller, himself, funded several programs to this end,
providing vocational training for poor children. Yet the fact

that they assumed children would take jobs based on their own
social and economic backgrounds is also obvious in their

statements and their donations.

The most extraordinary and obvious inference that can be made

from the entire study is that John D. Rockefeller and his agent,

the General Education Board, acted as if people's destinies were

set and that education should parallel these destinies and

prepare people to meet them. Further, it may be stated that the

destiny of the children of the South was closely tied to the

rural nature of their environment and the lack of a highly

formalized school system. Apparently, for example, it bothered

GEB members not the least that, in order to stimulate agriculture

in the South, young people's education should consist primarily

of agriculture and domestics. It must also be remembered that

the members of the Board were greatly concerned with the good of

society which would benefit from trained farmers and workers to

serve it.

Further study needs to be done concerning other industrial

philanthropies. In addition, exploring the individual states in

which the GEB had its progams would be enlightening and may

indicate specific influences. Also, numbers of students involved

in vocational programs may be compared with such personal

 34

statistics as family income and occupation.

The benefit of this study lies not in placing blame or

praise, but in observing actions. Again, the problem is not that

they tried to help but that the "help" assured that the poor or

rural young people who received the benefactions would serve

society in particular ways and that doors to other life styles

were closed. Whereas urban schools did need to change many of

their practices in order to welcome immigrants, and whereas rural

schools, especially in the South, were extremely poor and needed

money and attention to better their programs, the changes that

ensued may not have been the blessings that were publicized.

can be concluded that John D. Rockefeller and the General

Education Board did exert a powerful influence on the growth of

vocational education during the years, 1880 to 1925. However, it

can be questioned that this growth of vocational education helped

the field of education to serve children or, rather, to serve the

structure of society.

36
 35

NOTES
1. John D. Rockefeller, to General Education Board, 15 August
1907. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 345. Folder
3569. Rockefeller Archive Center.

2. Jerome Greene; Wallace Buttrick, and Abraham Flexner, to members

of the GEB, October 1914. General Education Board records. Series
1. Box 346. Folder 3586. Rockefeller Archive Center.
3. Ibid. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to Jerome Greene, 24
November 1914. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 346.
Folder 3586. Rockefeller Archive Center.
4. Abraham Flexner, GEB, to Henry Pritchett, The Carnegie
Foundation, 23 June 1915. General Education Board records. Series
1. Box 207. Folder 1991. Judson, Frissell, Rose, and Flexner, GEB
Committee, to GEB, report, 27 October 1915. Judson to Abraham
Flexner, GEB 18 December 1915, General Education Board records.
Series 1. Box 353. Folder 3650. Rockefeller Archive Center.

5. Abraham Flexner, I Remember: the Autobiography of Abraham

Flexner (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1940), 217.
6. E.C. Sage, GEB, to Henry S. Pritchett, The Carnegie
Foundation, 6 March 1909. General Education Board records. Series
1. Box 207. Folder 1990. Rockefeller Archive Center.

7. "Report on Conference held in Baltimore, April 22, 23, and

24, 1919, with the State Agents for Rural Schools and the State
Agents for Negro Schools, and at Old Point Comfort, April 25, 26,
and 27, 28, 29, and 30, 1919, with the Professors of Secondary
Education and the State Superintendents," and "Detailed Reports of
Conference of State Supenintendents, Old Point Comfort Virginia,
April 28, 29, and 30, 1919." A.A. Murphee and John W. Abercrombie,
to Wickliffe Rose, GEB, 27 December 1924. General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 267. Folder 2779. Rockefeller Archive
Center.

8. William Knox Tate, "Statement of Proposals adopted by

Southern Education Council and Special Committee of the Conference
for Education in the Sounth, Louisville, Kentucky, April 8, 1914,"
to Wallace Buttrick, GEB, 25 April 1914. General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 201. Folder 1910. Abraham Flexner, GEE, to
R.H. Wilson, Oklahoma, 8 March 1915. General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 300. Folder 3135. Rockefeller Archive
Center.

9. J.B. Brown, Tennessee, "Declaration of Principles Prepared

by Rural School Agents," to Wallace Buttrick, 2 July 1917. General
Education Board records. Series 1. Box 275. Folder 2862.
Rockefeller Archive Center.
 36

10. C.J. Brown, Louisiana, to Abraham Flexner, GEB, 3 April

1917, and Abraham Flexner, GEE, to C.J. Brown, Louisiana, 4 April
1917 and 11 April 1917. General Education Board records. Series 1.
Box 88. Folder 782. Rockefeller Archive Center.
11. "Report of Conference of State Agents of Rural Schools,
April 22-24, 1919," to GEB. General Education Board records. Series
1. Box 275. Folder 2863. Rockefeller Archive Center.

12. Wallace Buttrick, GEB, to Leon S. Merrill, Maine, 11 May

1915. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 275. Folder
2864. Rockefeller Archive Center.

13. Frederick T. Gates, The Country School of Tomorrow,

Occasional Papers, No. 1 (New York: General Education Board, 1924),
6-11.

14. Abraham Flexner, GEB, to Charles Eliot, GEB, to Abraham

Flexner, 24 July 1916. Abraham Flexner, to Charles Eliot, 27 July
1916. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 270. Folder
2797. Rockefeller Archive Center.
15. Abraham Flexner, GEB, to Professor Paul Shorey, Chicago,
29 January 1917. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box
275. Folder 2864. Charles H. Judd, Chicago, to Abraham Flexner,
GEB, 30 November 1915. General Education Board records. Series 1.
Box 261. Folder 2700. Rockefeller Archive Center.
16. "Defects in American Educational Methods," press release,
GEB, 6 March 1916. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box
261. Folder 2700. Rockefeller Archive Center.

17. Abraham Flexner, A Modern School. Occasional Paper No. 3,

April 1917. General Education Board recoras. Series 1. Box 352.
Folder 3636. Rockefeller Archive Center.

18. Abraham Flexner, "Parents and Schools," The Atlantic

Monthly, July 1916, 29-30. "Education as a Mental Discipline," The
Atlantic Monthly, April 1917, 452-462. General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 268. Folder 2770. Rockefeller Archive
Center.

19. Wallace Buttrick, GEB, report, date? General Education

Board records. Series 1. Box 303. Folder 3169. Rockefeller Archive
Center.

[Link] E. Fuller, The Old Country School (Chicago:

Universiy of Chicago Press, 1982).

21. William A. Link, A Hard Country and a Lonely Place:

Schooling, Society, and Reform in Rural Virginia (Chapel Hill: The
University of North Carolina Press, 1986), 117-118.
 37

22. Joel C. Dubose, Alabama, to Wallace Buttrick, GEB, 19

August 1907. "Rules and Regulations for the Government of the
County High Schools of Alabama with Course of Study and List of
Textbooks for These Schools," June 1911. General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 13. Folder 109. W.H. Hand, South Carolina,
report to GEB. 18 October 1906. Report to Buttrick, 3 October 1907.
General Education Board. Series 1, Box 128, Folder 1173. Joseph S.
Stewart, Georgia, to Buttrick, GEB, 3 July 1905, 15 November 1905,
8 May 1906, 3 September 1906, 10 November 1906. General Education
Board records. Series 1. Box 57. Folder 505. Rockefeller Archive
Center.

23. Charles G. Maphis, Virginia, to Superintendent (copy to

GEB), 23 May 1912. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box
180. Folder 1686. Rockefeller Archive Center.

24. L.L. Friend, "Annual Report of the State Supervisor of

High Schools of West Virginia for the School Year 1911-1912," to
GEE. November 1912. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box
190. Folder 1782. Rockefeller Archive Center. McHenry Rhoads,
Kentucky (copies to Buttrick, GEB), 2 September 1913, 3 October
1913, General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 77. Folder
674. B.W. Torreyson, Arkansas, "Education Progress in Arkansas,
June 1914-June 1915, to GEB. General Education Board records.
Series 1. Box 22. Folder 192. Jno Thackston, Florida, to E.C. Sage,
GEE. 14 April 1914. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box
35. Folder 318. Thomas P. Bailey, Mississippi, report to GEB.
December 1908. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 93.
Folder 829. Rockefeller Archive Center.

25. B.L. Parkinson, South Carolina, "Annual Report of B.L.

Parkinson, State High School Inspector for 1920-21," 25, 28.
General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 129. Folder 1183.
Rockefeller Archive Center.

26. H.M. Ivy, Mississippi, Report to W.E. Bond, Mississippi,

30 October 1920. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 94.
Folder 836. W.S. Cawthon, Florida, Report to GEB, 5 October 1920.
General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 32. Folder 290.
Rockefeller Archive Center.

27. Fosdick, Adventure in Giving, 65-69. James D. Anderson,

The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill: The
University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 86. W.F. Feagin,
Alabama, to Abraham Flexner, GEB, 21 April 1916. General Education
Board records. Series 1. Box 18. Folder 155. Abraham Flexner, GEB,
to J.N. Powers, Mississippi, 1 July 1914. General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 8. Folder 868. Rockefeller Archive Center.

28. "Summary of Reports of Mr. T.J. Coates--State Agent for

Rural Schools in Kentucky, July 1, 1915 January 1, 1916." General
Education Board records. Series 1. Box 81. Folder 710. "Report of

39
 38

L.C. Brogden--State Agent for Rural Schools for North Carolina,

November 1915." General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 275.
Folder 2863. "Third Annual School Fair, Monroe County, October
1915," pamphlet. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 26.
Folder 232. Rockefeller Archive Center.

29. W.K. Tate, South Carolina, to GEE, 18 September 1912.

"Summary of Reports of Mr. Lueco Gunter, State Agent for Rural
Schools in South Carolina, July 1, 1915-November 1915." General
Education Board records. Series 1. Box 131. Folder 1198. L.C.
Brogden, North Carolina, to Wallace Buttrick, GEB, 13 February
1915, Report of 11 February 1915 enclosed. L.C. Brogden, to E.C.
Sage, GEB, 19 December 1917, Report of Conference. General
Education Board records. Series 1. Box 113. Folder 1028. Rockfeller
Archive Center.

30. J.T. Calhoun, Mississippi, to Abraham Flexner, GEB, 20

September 1916. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 98.
Folder 868. M.L. Dougan, Georgia, to Wallace Buttrick, GEB, 12 May
1917. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 69. Folder
601. J.L. Bond, Arkansas, to Wallace Buttrick, GEB, 31 December
1914, and to Abraham Flexner, GEE, 2 October 1915, and to a county
superintendent, DATE? General Education Board records. Series 1.
Box 26. Folder 230. J.B. Brown, "Brief Statement of Progress in
Rural Schools of Tennessee, 1915-1916." General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 157. Folder 1463. Rockefeller Archive
Center.

31. William Knox Tate, South Carolina, to Wallace Buttrick,

GEB, 16 May 1908. Tate, to Frederick Gates, GEB, 12 July 1912.
Wallace Buttrick, GEB, to W.K. Tate, South Carolina, 16 July 1912.
General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 201. Folder 1906.
Rockefeller Archive Center. Fosdick, Adventure in Giving, 73.

32. Abraham Flexner, GEB, to W.K. Tate, South Carolina, 14

September 1916. W.K. Tate, to Flexner, 14 October 1916. General
Education Board records. Series 1. Box 353. Folder 3647.
Rockefeller Archive Center.

33. Mrs. John D. Eammond, "The Work of the General Education

Board in the South," The South Atlantic Quarterly, October 1915.
General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 353. Folder 3647.
Rockefeller Archive Center.
34. "General Board to Do It," Baltimore, Maryland Sun, 23
December 1914. "Shake-up Expected," Baltimore, Maryland News, 22
November 1915. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 276.
Folder 2882. Copy of legislation, Maryland State Legislature, 1916.
General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 276. Folder 2886.
Frank Bachman, GEB, to Abraham Flexner, GEB, 4 Decomber 1914.
General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 207. Folder 1991.
 39

Rockefeller Archive Center.

35. Ronald D. Cohen, Children of the Mill: Schooling and
Society in Gary, Indiana, 1906-1960 (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1990), 37-38.

36. The following clippings explain GEB findings: Tristram

Walker Metcalfe, "Gary Plan an Experiment; Administration
Defective," The Globe and Commercial Advertiser, 4 December 1918.
Tristram Walker Metcalfe, "Pupils Do Just About as They Please in
Schools of Gary," The Globe and Commercial Adveriser, 6 December
1916. "From current issue of Manual Training and Vocational
Education," newspaper? December 1918. Boston Evening Transcript,
clipping 26 May 1919. "School Life," Departmentof the Interior,
Bureau of Education, 10 (16 December 1918). General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 297. Folder 3098. Rockefeller Archive
Center. Henry W. Holmes, "The Gary System Examined," The American
Review of Reviews, 612-613. Charles R. Richards, "Industrial Work
of the Gary Public Schools," Industrial-Arts Magazine. General
Education Board records. Series 1. Box 297. Folder 3099.
Rockefeller Archive Center.

37. "The School Situation at Tarrytown, North Tarrytown, and

Adjoining Districts," report to GEB, 1919, 3,8. General Education
Board records. Series 1. Box 268. Folder 2772. Rockefeller Archive
Center.

38. R. Gray Williams, Virginia, to Wallace Buttrick, GEB, 28

February 1917. Wiliams, to Abraham Flexner, GEB, 5 June 1917.
General Education Board records. Series 1 Box 305. Folder 3179.
Winchester, Virginia Chamber of Commerce, article in The Apple
Core, 27 October 1920. General Education Board records. Series 1.
Box 305. Folder 3184. Rockefeller Archive Center.

39. "Chapter VII, Vocational Education," rough draft of GEE

survey report, date? "High Spots in the School Survey," The
Indianapolis News, 23 November 1922. General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 311. Folder 3249. Rockefeller Archive
Center.

40. Report on Public Education, GEB, 24 June 1924. General

Education Board records. Series 1. Box 313. Folder 3275.
Rockefeller Archive Center.

41. "What the General Education Board Has Done to Encourage

Secondary Education in the South," 11 December 1926. General
Education Board records. Series 1. Box 313. Folder 3275.
Rockefeller Archive Center.

42. "Memorandum RE: Surveys and Field Service," 6 May 1927.

General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 313. Folder 3275.
Rockefeller Archive Center.
 40

43. Jackson Davis, GEB, to Trevor Arnett, GEE, "General

Principles in Dealing with State Superintendents of Education," 8
December 1932. General Education Board records. Series 1. Box 269.
Folder 2777. Rockefeller Archive Center.

44. "Final Draft of Reply to Resolution of National Education

Association," July 1914. General Education Board records. Series 1.
Box 329. Folder 3463. Rockefeller Archive Center.

45. Lewis M. Terman, to Abraham Flexner, GEB, 18 January 1917

and 31 January 1917. Robert M. Yerkes, to Abraham Flexner, GEB 19
January 1917 and 17 January 1919. Yerkes, "The Mental Rating of
School Children," to Flexner, 31 January 1919. General Education
Board records. Series 1. Box 308. Folder 3223. Rockefeller Archive
Center.

46. Robert M. Yerkes, "The Mental Rating of School Children,"

to Abraham Flexner, GEB, 31 January 1919. General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 308. Folder 3223. Rockefeller Archive
Center.

47. Abraham Flexner, GEB, to Dr. C.M. Campbell, 30 January

1919. Flexner, to Dr. Harry M. Thomas, 30 January 1919. Campbell,
to Flexner, 4 February 1919. Thomas, to Flexner, 6 February 1919.
Flexner, to Yerkes, 5 Febuary 1919. Yerkes, to Flexner, 13 Febrary
1919. Flexner, to Yerkes, 1 March 1919. General Education Board
records. Series 1. Box 308. Folder 3223. Rockefeller Archive
Center.