In the Shadow of Fascism: Curriculum, Conservation, and the New Deal State, 1935–1942

• In Event: 14.018 - Educational Policy and Its Implications for School Choice, Access, and Curriculum

Abstract

By the late 1930s, calls from the Left for ‘social reconstruction’ through schooling had become overshadowed by the rise of fascism and authoritarianism in Europe, East Asia, and Latin America. While the utopian and collectivist visions promulgated by the social reconstructionists had some allure earlier in the decade, the prospects of a new American social order now seemed both possible and extremely dangerous. This paper examines the emergence of a curricular compromise during the dark days of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Instead of envisioning schools as capable of producing a new social order, progressive University faculty, school teachers, and representatives of the New Deal state aimed to inculcate a vision of social, economic, and environmental “conservation” through curriculum.

Author

• Michael Bowman, Iowa State University