A History of Wartime College English Instruction in the United States, 1941-1945
Open Access
- Author:
- Stimpson, Shannon
- Graduate Program:
- English
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 14, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Cheryl Jean Glenn, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Cheryl Jean Glenn, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Stuart Selber, Committee Member
Debra Hawhee, Committee Member
David Post, Outside Member
John L Selzer, Committee Member
David Andrew Loewenstein, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- World War II
WWII
scholarly journals
functional literacy
composition history
college English
English teaching
military English - Abstract:
- In the United States from 1941-1945, wartime teachers of English faced public and institutional pressure to evaluate, prioritize, and demonstrate the value of English education to the war effort and to higher education’s commitment to the nation’s defense program. During this time, college English teachers published hundreds of articles that focused on how English instruction, including disciplinary aims and curricular priorities, should change in response to wartime. Drawing on articles published in six scholarly periodicals that covered the institutional function and praxis of college English in American higher education between 1941-1945, this dissertation addresses how English teachers reacted to, resisted, and reshaped values of disciplinary identity and purpose during a period of national and educational crisis. The transition of postsecondary institutions to war oriented American higher education toward a goal of national survival, including intense productivity. Broad changes in higher education and wartime adjustments created a climate of distrust towards a liberal education model and academic subjects deemed non-essential to the war. The inclusion of English in the ASTP and V-12 training programs secured a utilitarian function for English instruction during the war, but one that resulted in two different visions about how English teachers could contribute to the cause of national defense: to produce functionally literate soldiers or to strengthen civilian morale by upholding the cultural tradition and heritage of American democracy. The exigencies of wartime America called for mass productivity and efficiency at all levels of American society. Such intensity created a psychological need for release from these demands, a need that led college English teachers to argue for the value of leisure reading as an antidote to wartime fatigue and stress. A historical understanding of wartime college English in the United States carries implications for how college teachers in the present day engage with crisis.