Fads, Frills, and Basic Subjects: Special Studies and Social Conflict in Chicago in 1893

Abstract

In 1893 there were conflicts among the citizens of Chicago over drawing, music, German, physical culture, and other special studies in the public schools. Opinions were divided along lines of class, ethnicity, and political party. Opponents of special studies were businessmen, nativist Anglo Americans, and Republicans. People who supported special studies were principally working men and women, progressive educators, immigrants, and Democrats. The reasons for opposing or supporting special studies varied. Businessmen saw subjects such as drawing and music as being frivolous and costly, while nativists were concerned with issues of social cohesion and common culture. Among those who supported special studies, German Americans held that special studies were part of a well rounded liberal education. Progressive educators argued that special studies made schooling more enjoyable. Working men and women saw special studies as means of social empowerment. Why is art often positioned as a marginal subject, rather than a central or basic part of school curricula? Historical research can offer important insights into the marginalization of art and other subjects, especially when stories about the past interpret public schooling as a site of social conflict. Historians of education have long acknowledged that different classes, cultural groups, and political parties have had different, conflicting expectations for schools in the United States (e.g., McClellan & Reese, 1988; Spring, 2001; Tyack & Cuban, 1995; Violas, 1978). Schools have never been neutral institutions based solely on subject matter or the nature of children. Nor has there ever been a consensus across American society about the socially constructed forms of knowledge or the purposes that should prevail in schools. From the 19th century to the present, conflict and cultural dominance have shaped the character of public schooling as much as social consensus. Schooling in art has been shaped by social conflict as much as any other aspect of American education. The history presented in this article is a story of conflict over drawing, music, German, physical culture, and other subjects that occurred in Chicago in the spring of 1893. The incident is especially noteworthy because a broad spectrum of citizens across the city was involved. Working men and women, businessmen, clubwomen, politicians, members of the press-all expressed an opinion, one way or the other, about the value of special subjects in Chicago's public schools. Public debates on the issues were seldom calm. Opponents of subjects such as drawing and music called them and frills in the school curriculum, and referred to people who supported special studies as faddists. Attacks on special studies were so forceful that contemporary observers sometimes characterized the conflict as a war against fads