Molding Beverly’s Youth into Model Citizens: Character Education Curriculum, 1890-1930

This paper illustrates the character education curriculum as it relates it to Beverly’s public schools. It shows the transformation from ethical education to moral education and finally character education. Documents such as the National Education Association Journal of Proceedings and Addresses were used to compare various cities and their use of character education. Municipal Documents were valuable in showing what character education was, its importance to the curriculum in Beverly as well as the years it was popular. Other primary documents include a Beverly High School Program of Studies and an article written in the B.H.S. News. Articles were used to show what characteristics were valued for the molding of youths into model citizens. There has been much research done on the evolution of character education, especially when compared to the curriculum used today in public schools. This type of research has never been done in Beverly. Character education has been researched in various cities and Beverly is an interesting addition because of its vast education archives, which date back to the beginning of the Beverly Public School System. Character education is significant because it changed the people who attended public schools as well as the way students are taught today. Beverly has been linked to the many cities, which used character education through this paper. Research was done to see if Beverly follows the same trends of character education in other cities or if Beverly was different in their use of character education curriculum. This information can be valuable in proving the significance of character education in the history of education.

As millions of immigrants, including many children, poured into the United States between the Civil War period and the 1930s, they tended to crowd into urban neighborhoods. These youngsters would fill public schools and were often forced to take up many diverse “street jobs”. Many cities in America declared a “youth crisis”. According to some social reformers, young newsies, boys who sold newspapers on the streets, often spent their money on gambling and other unethical activities. As more adolescents began to fill high schools in the 1920s, there was a movement in classrooms known as character education. [1]   Character education was seen as a way to combat the juvenile delinquency that was common in urban areas. Churches and families were seen as failing in controlling the youths. [2] A new curriculum was created to mold the youths into model citizens during the period 1890-1935.

The idea of moral education is thought to be a representation of the American notion of a virtuous republic. Moral education in public schools comes from Horace Mann’s idea of training pupils in proper laws of health and morals as well as the new perception of a need for moral training to instill a respect for authority and law and order. Schools along with the church and the home taught moral training. [3] Some social philosophers saw moral education as a way to rid the country of poverty, disease, crime and disunity, while churches saw the possibility of salvation.

Felix Adler started the movement of ethical education by starting the Ethical Culture Society in New York in 1876. This new movement brought together diverse groups including radicals, atheists, deists, and agnostics. There was stress for the American ideal of unity. [4] Adler felt it was important to unify immigrants. Purity was another important concept in the idea of a perfect society. The Ethical Culture Society maintained the values of purity in women, celibacy before marriage, and good deeds. The Ethical Society worked with the poor to make them useful members of society. It provided them with useful working skills to use in the urban environment. Manual training was also seen as a way to help delinquents become better people. By use of manual training, Adler hoped to unify the social classes and show the dignity of labor. This is seen as a concept of respect. [5]

Beginning in the early 1900s, the National Education Association took a prominent stand in placing an emphasis on character development through education. According to the NEA, there once was a time when public schools, church, home and the wholesome atmosphere of community life could be trusted to educate a child’s character. But by 1907, those assumptions could not be trusted. Those days were before what the NEA called “industrial war”, when cities conquered the country. Teachers saw social and economic changes as parental influence was weakened, religious influence lessened and children were almost thought to be wards of the state. As a result, teachers broadened curriculum through the development of moral training and good citizenship. Moral education enforced rules such as: obedience to authority, punctuality, good behavior and consideration for others. [6] From this movement stemmed the use of student government, music, manual training and domestic science. [7]

It is evident that the development of character education was popular in Beverly as well as most American cities. The 1924-1925 Program of Studies for the high school includes a forward given to parents.  It states that students’ moral qualities such as courage, perseverance and the will to study were often considered while evaluating students. Addressing the curriculum, the program of studies states that the school will aim to provide a preparation which will make pupils useful members of society and enable them to cope with problems they may encounter in life. [8] The 1933 B.H.S. News included an article about a speaker who visited B.H.S. to give a speech about character development in school. Cameron Beck, the personal director of the New York stock exchange gave Beverly students a similar talk four years ago.  Mr. Beck pointed out the qualities of character, which lead one towards success. During the assembly Mr. Beck asked the students, “What kind of trade marks are you stamping upon your lives this year?” His message has become a strong force for better character development among young people. The school felt his latest talk would do much towards building the bigger and better tomorrow. [9]

The municipal document’s annual reports of the school committee are vital for researching character education in the Beverly Public School System.  The 1924 school committee report included the many educational opportunities made possible by a new high school building. A curriculum was carefully formulated to meet the abilities, aptitudes and interests of the diverse students who hoped to benefit from a high school education. During this year the Beverly School committee focused on students’ work ethic, health and character. Here we see the development of character education in Beverly: [10]

The new building will also offer opportunities for extra curricula activities, the value of which in character building, determining aptitudes and interests, and training in good citizenship cannot be over-estimated. (Beverly School Committee, 1924) [12]

In the development of character education, Beverly followed many of the trends seen in other cities. In 1928, because of a survey taken in New York City, the Beverly School Committee had differing theories about character education . The Committee felt that schools could not change students’ characters; only the home could mold a child’s character. The 1928 report proved there were tendencies in education to have the schools usurp more and more the functions of the home. The Beverly Public School administration made an important observation.

The home is the greatest influence for good in character building, and while the school, with exceptional teachers, may do great things in molding the character of our young people, still without the basis of a good home, there is not much material upon which to work. (Beverly School Committee, 1928 ) [13]

At one point, some curriculums used visiting teachers, which would go into houses to deal with possible parental difficulties and behavior problems. Programs often recommended education for parenthood. Eventually other schools created policies that differed from Beverly’s. In Atglen, Pennsylvania, the school board gave parents the right to review curricula and withdraw their students if the programs contradicted the parents’ beliefs. The policy stated that, “parents have the right to assure that their children’s beliefs and moral values are not undermined by the schools.” [14] By the mid-1930s, other schools became less interested in character education. In the 1930s two Yale psychologists, Hugh Hartshorne and Mark May, conducted a research project of 10,000 high school students, which they concluded that the character education techniques used in schools had little significance on pupil’s moral conduct. [15] Although character education classes declined, Beverly schools were still concerned with developing the character of students. It was important to emphasize character development, and to teach students, “to do better the desirable things that they are quite certain to do anyway.” rather than “aim for the stars”. [16]   This proves that character education has its ups and downs during different trends of popularity, rather than a rise and fall.

As character education became popular in the mid 1920s, distinct curriculums were created. Each teacher was given a teacher’s manual. One Catholic school’s teacher manual describes the importance of the curriculum.

“In this splendid manual, as well as in the character work book, Sister Anthony has produced a catholic atmosphere. Not only is her work founded on Christian principles, but it exemplifies all the new modern methods and all the new discoveries in the field of character education.” (Teachers Manual for the Workbook in Character Education )

Each student was given a workbook, which was broken up into different trait studies . There were activities for many traits, including honesty, gratitude, and courage. In Beverly and other public schools, a similar curriculum was used, excluding the religious aspects. To give the student a brief picture of each unit, progress graphs were used. Teachers used graphs and written comments to summarize progress.

An important aspect of character education is the quantification, objectification, and standardization of character traits. Psychologists turned to the study of character because IQ tests were seen to have been inconclusive in the prediction of one’s success in life. Tests were developed to measure honesty, deceit, submissiveness, and cooperation. [17] The Downey Will Temperament Test was a way of measuring personality factors of an individual. It is evident that this test tried to reveal racial differences between whites and blacks. Blacks were reported to have a higher tendency to motor impulsion, finality of judgment and motor inhibition. While whites had higher scores, in any area where blacks were superior, it was explained as negative. [18] In other tests, children of Northern European parents were found to be more honest, cooperative and charitable, while those of Irish or Italian parents were at the bottom of the list. [19] As seen in report cards, Beverly students were often given I Q tests in middle school. Mental maturity test results as well as home influences were also represented in these report cards as a way of measuring character influences. Each student was given a scholarship and citizenship grade for each subject. The citizenship grade was a conduct grade. It was called a citizenship grade to make students feel like they weren’t good citizens if they didn’t behave properly.

Character education as a movement took place in America from 1890-1935. For the most part, the popularity trends of character education that took place in Beverly are very similar to its national development. Character education declined for various reasons, including new ideas of public schools’ responsibilities and research that proved character education didn’t make students better people. Character education comes and goes in various forms, looking at it through history, shows how it can predict the future.

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Works Cited

Barnes, Clifford W., “Moral Training Thru The Agency of The Public School”, working paper, Proceedings of The NEA, Lake Forest Ill., 1907.

Beverly High School Program of Studies for the year 1924-25. Beverly Education Archives.

“Cameron Beck Speaks at First Assembly of Year” . B.H.S. News, Volume 7 Number 1. September 29, 1933. Beverly Educational Archives.

“Character Education.” <http://coe.unk.edu/gicohort/smiths/b5c9doc.htm> (29 January, 2003)

Eastman, W. Dean. “Character Education”. In The Influence of Immigration on the Development of Civic Education in the United States from 1880-1925, 1999.

Nineteen Twenty-Four Municipal Documents of the City of Beverly, Report of the School Committee. North Shore Press, Inc., Manchester, Mass. Beverly Education Archives.

Nineteen Twenty-Seven Municipal Documents of the City of Beverly, Report of the School Committee. Deschamps Bros., Salem, Mass. Beverly Education Archives.

Nineteen Twenty-Eight Municipal Documents of the City of Beverly, Report of the School Committee. Deschamps Bros., Salem, Mass. Beverly Education Archives.

Teachers Manual the Workbook in Character Education. Gutman Special Collections.

Munroe C. Gutman Library. Harvard University.

“Teen Timeline”, Chicago Historical Society, <http://www.chicagohs.org/info.html> (29 January, 2003).

Titus, Dale N. “Values Education in American Secondary Schools.” September 1994. < http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/taku77/refer/titus.htm> (29 January, 2003)

Yulish, Stephan M., The Search For A Civic Religion: A History Of The Character Education Movement In America, 1890-1935. Washington D.C.: University Press of America, Inc., 1980.

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