21-3 Education and Popular Culture
pp. 624-629
EQ: How did America develop a popular* culture in the 1920s? * = popular here means "of the people" or widespread. It's a little different than "she's such a popular teacher, all the kids like her class best." :- )
Subquestions:
a. How were shifts in school enrollment important in American culture in the 1920s? Be specific.
b. Did mass media promote a uniform culture? Explain. Was there evidence of a backlash against this?
c. How did America chase new heroes and old dreams at the same time? Why did the textbook authors label this section in this way?
d. What was significant about changes in theater, art, music and literature at this time?
Remember, to get maximum credit, you need to cite Danzer (with page number) and a primary source. You can do it!!
Challenge: There is an explosion of cool audio and video sites, plus thousands of images from this era. Can you find files or clips that deepen points made by Danzer?
Subquestion a)
ReplyDelete- from 1914 to 1926 school enrollments quadrupled(4x).
- Sparked by good economic times and by higher educational standards demanded for jobs.
- modern high school emerged.
- teachers faced a challenge of teaching immigrants.
- specialized programs were developed.
- many of the immigrants didn't speak english.
- mid 1920's american cost for education was 2.7 billion a year.
- widespread education increased literacy, which led to mass media.
I think that with more people going to school they had more of a chance to mingle and interact with other students and share and develop culture. That was important but i think that having the immigrants in the school was very important. America had a ton of different cultures in it. Many of these cultures didn't speak english. To spread or even change culture a little americans would have to be able to communicate to the immigrants which are now part of our country. I think it united the country a little more and developed a culture not 5 or 10.
sources:
The americans by danzer
http://books.google.com/books?id=CecCHiI95dYC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=school+enrollment+in+1920s&source=bl&ots=6rcrwHyqEc&sig=NNiQYiQXpEBguebT8OLqrtOz_dk&hl=en&ei=STPcTfbWK8fcgQem1IzqDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=school%20enrollment%20in%201920s&f=false
Subquestion C:
ReplyDeleteChanges in theatre:
Before this era, most plays in American theaters were about European melodrama (Danzer 628). But that changed when the first American playwright, Eugene O'Neill, wrote plays like "The Hairy Ape", which involved modern ideas, like isolationism. The plays became more concerned with, and reflected, modern American ideas and conflicts, rather than those of foreign countries.
Changes in Music:
Music moved away from traditional European in the 1920s, and were more like jazz. For example, George Gershwin's "Rhapsody" in Blue and "Concerto in F", were the first classical-American jazz combo. Jazz was another form of art, Americanized and influenced more jazz from then on.
Changes in Art:
American painters recorded an America of dreams and realities (Danzer 628). Artists like Edward Hopper conveyed the loneliness of America through his art, while others, such as Georgia O'Keeffe, reflected on the American Dream, and represented the feelings that many Americans of the time had towards life. They had just sacrificed so much for WWI, and they wanted to live a little and enjoy the new technologies. She painted tall buildings and street lights, like "Radiator Building - Night".
Changes in Lit:
Much of the work they produced was despairing or critical of a society with few ideals or avenues to personal fulfillment (Danzer 628). F. Scott FItzgerald wrote about the American Dream and the Jazz Age, and wealthy people leading empty, dead-end lives. All these new forms of art reflected the popular idea(l)s in modern-America.
EQ
ReplyDeleteI think one of the major ways that America developed their popular culture was the invention of the radio. According to Danzer (625) the "radio was the most powerful communications medium to emerge in the 1920s."
Not only were people able to listen to news and entertainment live, it also allowed for companies to put their products out to the public. What better way to take advantage of this new shaping of America then to put your product's advertisements straight into the homes of your consumers?
Sources
The Americans
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug00/3on1/radioshow/1920radio.htm
Hey guys, think about the cultivation of a Mainstream Culture with the forces you're talking about: expansion of public education (and textbook companies), radio and newspapers...with better communication between cities, so reporters could cover events quickly. For the average person, America was probably starting to FEEL more like a nation, like individual persons could share in a national experience. Does that make sense??
ReplyDeleteWow James, sweet investigative work!
ReplyDeleteoh, my comment posted before yours did...how did THAT happen???
ReplyDelete