[Education in Wartime]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

EDUCATION IN
WARTIME
A Manual for Education Committees of Local Defense Councils
OCD Publication 3628
November 1943
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction________________________________________________ 1
The Local Committee on Education____________________________ 1
Organization_________i__________ _ ¿2_______________________ 1
Membership of the Committee_______________________ 1
Chairman of the Committee_________________________ 2
Inter-Committee Relations_________________________ 2
The Committee in Smaller Communities______________ 2
c
Functions of the Committee___________________________________ 2
Program Responsibilities__________________________________1 _	3
Responsibilities in the Training and Use of Volunteers______	7
Sources of Help for the Committee -  _______________________ 8
The State Committee on Education____________;_______________	9
Local Community Responsibility______________________________ 9
References_________i _ _ z ,_____________r__________________ 9
Published by U. S. Office of Civilian Defense in cooperation with U. S. Office of Education of the Federal Security Agency
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1943
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington, D. C. - Price 5 cents
INTRODUCTION
There is no time in the life of a community when a sound educational program is more essential than during wartime. The war demands—and rightly so—certain adjustments. It calls for new services, special concessions, and changes of emphases.
Educational programs must be created for the young men who failed to secure the basic education required for service in our armed forces; for workers needing special skills for jobs in war industries; * for adults who are eager to learn to read and write English in order to become American citizens. The schools should extend school feeding projects, more essential now than ever before; they should insure all-day supervision for the children of mothers working in war plants; and they should plan to bring their students into extra-curricular activities on a volunteer service basis that will give boys and girls the satisfaction of feeling that they, too, are playing a vital part in their country’s war effort.
The war calls upon every community to meet these needs in its educational program. Children, whose lot it is to spend their childhood amid the uncertainties and horrors of war, must not suffer from a slackening on the home front of the effort to give them full opportunities for an education that will adequately prepare them to face, as participating citizens, the problems and responsibilities of the postwar period.
Local Defense or War Councils are responsible for organizing and mobilizing communities in the Nation’s war effort. Education, as one of the bulwarks of the home front, is of vital concern to these councils.
This manual aims to suggest briefly ways in which the local Defense Council can fulfill its obligation to the community’s educational programs by establishing a Committee on Education as a planning group in its Civilian War Services Branch.
THE LOCAL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
ORGANIZATION
Membership of the Committee
In larger communities a separate Committee on Education should be appointed as part of the organization of the Civilian War Services Branch of the local Defense Council. The committee should be representative of the educational interests of the community. It should
(1)
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include representatives of the board of education; the superintendent’s office; elementary and secondary schools; private and parochial schools; college (if there is one); educational associations; library associations; parent-teacher organizations; organized labor; adult education council; other service groups interested in education; the churches; and outstanding public-spirited citizens. In communities where there is a large number of Negroes, representative Negro leaders should be included in the committee membership.
Chairman of the Committee
Since the Committee on Education represents the community as a whole its chairman should come from the ranks of citizens not immediately associated with any of the municipal departments or educa- e tional agencies of the community. He should be ready and able to serve impartially as a leader of a consulting and planning committee.
INTER COMMITTEE RELATIONS
Since many of the problems considered by the Education Com-, mittee are of concern also to the committees working in the fields of health, child care, welfare, recreation, nutrition and manpower, it may be desirable to include representatives of these committees on the Education Committee. Otherwise joint meetings of these committees should be arranged for cooperative consideration and planning.
THE COMMITTEE IN SMALLER COMMUNITIES
In smaller communities the appointment of a separate Committee on Education may not be necessary or advisable. In this case, the local Defense Council can handle the functions of the committee in either of two ways:
1.	By appointing a joint Committee on Education, Health and Welfare to be responsible for all phases of these programs.
2.	By handling the work of the Committee on Education through the War Services Board serving as a committee of the whole.
In either case the local superintendent of schools as well as a representative of the board of education should have a part in the meetings and actions of the group.
FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMITTEE
The Committee on Education is a planning and coordinating group. It is not an operating agency. It analyzes the many educational problems which the war has brought to the community and the needs they present. It then stimulates action through the existing channels of operation within the community.
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Briefly, it reviews the facts, advises with the schools, and presents to the community and its public bodies its foldings. The Committee should:
1.	Inform itself as to the wartime educational problems of the community.
2.	In consultation with educational leaders, analyze these problems carefully and plan ways and means to improve or adapt the programs of the community’s school system and of other educational agencies to meet these problems.
3.	Encourage and support the local school authorities in making effective established courses of action to meet these problems.
4.	Use the services of other committees of the local Defense Council to aid in the total wartime educational program of the community.
5.	Avoid duplication of effort by the closest possible coordination and cooperation among all agencies interested in educational programs.
6.	Help the educational agencies to avoid exploitation created by too many calls upon their facilities and manpower for special services. There should be a careful weighing of the facts on each call for service so that the important things that need to be done for the war effort are accomplished and the less important are not overemphasized.
PROGRAM RESPONSIRILITIES
Every community will have evidence of some wartime educational problems that call for special program planning. What the Committee on Education can do about particular problems that arise will depend upon many local factors. Some of the major responsibilities of the committee, however, can be outlined in general terms.
1.	Develop pre-induction informational programs for inductees
Between the time men are classified 1-A and the time they leave their home community to join the armed forces there is an opportunity to give them helpful pre-induction information. They need to know something about the process of entering the different branches of the service, something about the nature of military life and training, and how their many immediate personal and family problems can be handled. It has been helpful to have the family and friends of the inductees attend these pre-induction sessions.
The Army and Selective Service, realizing the value of this kind of pre-induction program, have worked out suggestions as to how communities can best perform this service for inductees. This material is being published by the Office of Civilian Defense. The primary responsibility for doing the job, however, rests upon each community.
Here is an extremely worth while job for the Education Committee. In cooperation with local Selective Service officials and utilizing the
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suggestions of the Army and Selective Service, this committee can arrange and publicize regularly scheduled pre-induction meetings for those men who are about to enter the armed forces.
2.	Develop educational opportunities for illiterates of military age
It is estimated that there are approximately 500,000 physically fit young men who by Army standards are not able to serve in the armed services because of illiteracy. These men have not had the required basic education to meet the minimum educational requirements for the Army. Through educational opportunities many of them Can be taught, within a reasonably short time, enough to fit them for induction.
The Committee on Education should recognize this problem, get the facts, and plan action accordingly. How many illiterates of military age are there in the community ? How many of them can be made literate? How can the schools provide the necessary instruction? How can interest of the potential inductees be aroused and maintained ? These are some of the questions on which the Committee on Education can gather data. Then, it will want to consider a program of action based on these facts.
3.	Study the need for vocational and technical training in mar industries," work with the Manpower Committee and established community agencies for the organization of needed training -
Of immediate concern to the nation’s war effort is the number of well-trained persons available for the many war jobs that need to be done. The Army and Navy train men and women for military duty, but the training for industry and technical services must be provided by civilian agencies and industry itself.
In many communities there are already agencies cooperating with the schools to determine the need for such training as well as to advise in the operation of the programs. The Committee on Education may help such agencies. It can do a great deal in organizing and developing additional courses for both pre-employment and in-service job training.
If the local Defense Council has a Manpower Committee or a Committee on Labor Supply and Training, the Committee on Education should have a cooperative part in planning programs that affect the schools. If there is no such separate committee, then this is the responsibility of the Committee on Education.
4.	Encourage maximum, job training for the physically handicapped and mentally retarded
There has been no time in the history of the Nation when manpower and womanpower were so urgently needed. Yet the potential re
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sources of handicapped persons have by no means been realized—in fact, scarcely explored. Performing jobs within their capabilities, these persons can release able-bodied men for active armed service. There is probably no community which does not have untapped resources of labor among this group.
The .Committee on Education can help the Manpower Committee in finding out how many physically handicapped persons there are in the ©ommunity who appear able to do some type of useful war work.
Thewmmittee can also cooperate in collecting data on the mentally retarded—particularly those of border-line intelligence who are capable of performing routine tasks. Many of these will be found among young people at school. An intensive program of training, carefully planned, in simple mechanical and agricultural skills while they are at school will make them ready to do their part as workers.
5.	Study the need for and promote Americanization and citizenship training.
Hundreds of thousands of aliens desiring to become American citizens must first learn to read, write, and speak good English. Opportunities should be provided for them. The Committee on Education, in cooperation with the Department of Justice and the U. S. Office of Education, should help to promote locally the National Citizenship Education Program where there is a need for it.
6.	Make every effort to overcome the teacher shortage caused hy the war	-
The Committee on Education can accomplish a valuable service by carefully analyzing and evaluating the teacher supply situation in its own community. In consultation with the educational authorities it can review the personnel needs of the schools and then plan ways of meeting those personnel needs. Can the living conditions for teachers be improved ? What steps can the Committee take to help in securing and retaining an adequate teaching staff for the school system ? The Committee in helping to solve these problems can do .much in overcoming the teacher shortage caused by the war. It is one of the most critical problems facing the educational systems of every community.
7.	Advise teachers and students on opportunities for volunteer war service
The elementary and high schools have eagerly sought ways for aiding in the war effort. Two organized devices for providing these are in operation in many communities—the High School Victory Corps and the Junior Citizens Service Corps. To the community war services program of the Victory Corps, the Committee on Education can
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be useful in effecting liaison between the high school and the war service planning of'the Defense Council. In its advisory capacity the Committee can point out to teachers and students the areas in which volunteer services are needed, and encourage those over 16 to register at the Civilian Defense Volunteer Office.
The Education Committee has been indicated as an effective sponsor of a local Junior Citizens Service Corps. If the Committee assumes this responsibility, it will have several additional functions. These are fully outlined in the JCSC manual (OCD Publication 3623), page 4. Where another group takes charge of the Junior Service Corps (the Recreation Committee or a specially appointed JCSC Advisory Committee) the Committee on Education should maintain close association with it. This is important for the reason that school groups are specifically included in the Junior Service Corps plan.
In communities where neither the Victory Corps nor Junior Service Corps has been established, and where there is no Defense Council committee primarily concerned with youth, the Committee on Education might well interest itself in the leisure-time problems of boys and girls and study the resources of the Defense Council in relation to possible war services by young people.
8.	Encourage and facilitate the full utilization of the school plant
During wartime many children are the victims of unhappy home situations—crowded living quarters, family life broken by fathers and brothers going to war, unwholesome amusement. Boys and girls not having interesting, constructive things to do during their leisure time, often get into trouble. Wartime juvenile delinquency feeds upon the lack of provision for wholesome activities in the community.
Schools often have fine recreational facilities that are used only 5 or 6 hours of the day, and not at all during vacation periods. The wise use of this equipment would help to prevent or reduce delinquency by providing boys and girls with good leisure-time activities yet it lies idle when it should be in use.1
The Committee on Education, in cooperation with the Committee on Recreation, can analyze the number of hours that school grounds and equipment are in use for wholesome youth activities. It can study the possibilities for extending their use. It can bring before the War Services Board the necessity of financial aid or other necessary provisions to make the full usage of the school plant a reality.
In cooperation with school authorities the Committee on Education can help to plan for the use of school buildings for public meetings, conferences, and volunteer training groups.
1 See article entitled “Summer Time in the All-Day School Program,” in Education for Victory, published by the U. S. Office of Education, May 15, 1943. ,
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9.	Stimulate programs of extended school services for children of working mothers
As the demand grows for womanpower to fill essential jobs in war plants, the urgent necessity for all-day school services increases. The nursery school and kindergarten for the younger children must be kept open before and after what has in normal times been the regular school session. For the older children recreational programs and extracurricular activities must be scheduled.
Encouraging the organization and planning the development of school services to meet the needs of working mothers are immediate concerns of the Family and Children’s Services Committee of the local Defense Council. However, the Committee On Education can cooperate in surveying the need. It can also serve as the focal point to coordinate the school’s participation in such programs. Educational administrators should be stimulated to bring the school facilities of the community into full use in this important program.2
10.	Promote a well-organized school feeding program
The school lunch has come to be a recognized feature of the school’s activities. The all-day program for children of working mothers will inevitably give rose to problems of feeding the children who are at school at any mealtime, whether in the'early morning for breakfast, at noon, or in the early evening for supper.
The Nutrition Committee of the local Defense Council is concerned with all community feeding programs, including that of .the schools. The Committee on Education, however, can help in solving many problems that arise in connection with the school feeding program. It can assist in planning financial aid; in finding supplies of necessary equipment; in locating the proper and desirable space. As a planning and advisory group, it can be of material aid to the school authorities in the conduct of the program. The actual execution of the plans will, of course, rest with the school administration.
RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE TRAINING AND USE OF VOLUNTEERS
The responsibilities of the Committee on Education in relation to volunteers are so important that they are discussed in this separate section.
2 For further information regarding programs for children of working mothers, see “Services for Children of Working Mothers in War Time,” OCD Publication 3625, June 1943. Also the U. S. Office, of Education series of leaflets on School Children, and the War, as follows :
Ne. 1, School Services for Children of Working Mothers.
W. 2, All-Day School Programs for Children of Working Mothers.
No. 3, Nursery Schools Vital to America’s War Effort.
No. 7, Recreation and Other Activities in the All-Day School Program
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Volunteers are needed to carry on many phases of the community’s educational programs. This is especially true now due to the critical shortage of teachers. Suggestions of suitable activities for volunteers as well as methods of meeting their training needs are discussed in the handbook, “Volunteers in the Schools,” Office of Civilian Defense Publication 3619, December 1942.
The Committee on Education should take the lead in planning the training and use of volunteers in this field. The Committee should work closely with the Volunteer Office, which serves as a clearing house for volunteers and volunteer work, the Training Office and the Executive of the Citizens Service Corps.
In larger communities there maybe a subcommittee of the Committee on Education to handle all appropriate matters having to do with the use of volunteers, in which case the subcommittee would handle the details outlined above.
The responsibilities concerning the training and use of vounteers may be summed up as follows:
1.	To study th© personnel needs of the schools and other educational agencies.
2.	To determine which of these needs may be suitably met by volunteers, either by those having professional training or by untrained personnel.
3.	To aid the Volunteer Office in developing plans for securing the . necessary volunteers and to aid in organizing special recruiting campaigns where this is indicated.
4.	To determine what kind of training is needed for volunteers in the field of education and to develop suggestions with respect to training, whether it be supplementary training suitable for professional volunteers or basic and special training suitable for untrained volunteers.
5.	To develop standards concerning the use of volunteers in the field of education, including' their orientation, training, and supervision.
6.	To produce materials to guide agencies in wise use of volunteers.
7.	To arrange for the admission of volunteers in the field of education to membership in the Citizens Service Corps.
8.	To assist the Family arid Children’s Services Committee in seeing that the assistance of the schools is obtained in training volunteer child care aides.
SOURCES OF HELP FOR THE COMMITTEE
The Committee will find help from other committees and other sections of the local Defense Council such as the Information Center and the Volunteer Office in carrying on its job. For effective planning and efficient result-getting service the War Services Board necessarily must coordinate all actions taken.
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The Education Committee looks to the State Defense Council’s Education Committee, the State department of education, and the State library agency for advice and assistance. Technical materials and consultation may be obtained from the United States Office of Education and the War Manpower Commission; and from such national private organizations as the Educational Policies Commission of the National Education Association, the American Council on Education, the Progressive Education Association, the American Library Association (if not available through local or State libraries), and the United States Chamber of Commerce.
THE STATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
A State Committee on Education may be found to be useful as part of the State Defense Council structure. The membership of a State Committee should follow the same lines as those indicated for local committees and should work in close collaboration with the State Department of Education. The functions of the State Committee would be to interpret programs and policies of Federal, National and State Agencies, to provide stimulation and guidance to local committees, and to act as a state-wide clearing house for information, resources, and personnel relating to education in wartime.
LOCAL COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY
It is the responsibility of the local community acting through its educational agencies and Defense Council to decide on the wartime educational programs which meet its own needs. No over-all nationwide program can be developed in detail that will prove applicable to every local situation in the country.
One of the major responsibilities of the Committee on Education is to organize citizen participation and leadership within the community to make certain that educational opportunities are available for everyone who wants to take advantage of them.
REFERENCES
Civilian War Services—An Operating Guide for Local Defense Councils, OCD Publication 3626, August 1943.
Volunteers in the Schools, OCD Publication 3619, December, 1942.
Volunteers in Library Service, OCD Publication 3616,1942.
Services for Children of Working Mothers in War Time, OCD Publication 3625, June, 1943.
Recreation in War Time, OCD Publication No. 3624, May, 1943.
The United States Junior Citizens Service Corps, OCD Publication 3623, 1943.
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“Summer Time in the All Day School Program,” in Education for Victory, U. S. Office of Education Publication, May 15, 1943.
Community War Services and the High-School Victory Corps, U. S. Office of Education Publication, October, 1942.
U. S. Office of Education series of leaflets on School Children and the War :
No. 1. School Services for Children of Working Mothers.
No. 2. All-Day School Programs for Children of Working Mothers.
No. 3. Nursery Schools Vital to America's War Effort.
No. 4. Food Time—A Good Time at School.
No. 6. Training High School Students for Wartime Service to Children.
No. 7. Recreation and Other Activities in the All-Day School Program.
'No. 8. Juvenile Delinquency and the Schools in Wartime.
“The Teacher Shortage—Are We Meeting It?”, in Education for Victory, U. S. Office of Education Publication, August 2, 1943.
“The Contribution of Education to the War Effort,” in Education for Victory, U. S. Office of Education Publication, July 15, 1943.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 9134
Amendment of Executive Order No. 8757 of May 20, 1941, Establishing the Office of Civilian Defense
“* * « There is established within the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President the Office of Civilian Defense, at the head of which shall be a Director appointed by the President.
“The Director shall * * *:
“* « * Keep informed of problems which arise in States and local communities from the impact of the industrial and military efforts required by war, and take steps to secure the cooperation of appropriate Federal agencies in dealing with such problems and in meeting the emergency needs of such States and communities in such a manner as to promote the war effort.
“* * * Consider proposals, suggest plans, and promote activities designed to mobilize a maximum civilian effort in the prosecution of the war, and provide opportunities for constructive civilian participation in the war program; assist other Federal agencies in carrying out their war programs by mobilizing and making available to such agencies the services of the civilian population; review and approve all civilian defense programs of Federal agencies involving the use of volunteer services so as to assure unity and balance in the application of such programs; and assist State and local defense councils or other agencies in the organization of volunteer service units and in the mobilization of community resources for the purpose of dealing with community problems arising from the war. * * *”