Dramatic Activities and Workers’ Education At
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DRAMATIC ACTIVITIES AND WORKERS’ EDUCATION AT HIGHLANDER POLK SCHOOL, 1932-191^2 Anne W» Petty A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY March 1979 ABSTRACT This research, examined the dramatic activities con ducted for and by resident students at Highlander Folk School, a private independent institution in Monteagle, Tennessee, between 1932 and 1942. Highlander's major objectives were to help meet the current needs of worker- students and of a developing southern labor movement and to prepare the worker-students to formulate and execute actions which would effectively meet their future needs. The dramatics program reflects the flexibility inherent in these objectives in the diversity of dramatic activities and variety of immediate goals evidenced over the ten-year period. The purpose of all Highlander dramatic activities, however, was to educate, for the present and future. Since preliminary research revealed a significant similarity between Highlander's educational philosophy and theory and that of John Dewey, relevant aspects of Dewey's philos ophy and theory were utilized to examine and explain High lander's program. Dramatic activities at Highlander Folk School were an organic part of the school's curriculum because their methods of implementation were determined by basic philo sophical and theoretical educational concepts. Drama, a cultural approach to education, was theoretically a means ii Ill of educational experience. The results of this research indicate dramatic activities provided students with two types of experience: one which led to a greater under standing of subject matter, and, at one time, one which gave them the opportunity to gain an implicit understanding of basic principles of effective and efficient problem solving. This latter type of experience occurred when worker-students improvised original plays because this act is equivalent to solving a problem, as efficiently and effectively as possible, as defined by John Dewey. ACKNOWLEDGMENT S Many people, who are in no way acknowledged in the text, have freely given of themselves so that this dissertation might be completed. Some of them are listed below, and I am very grateful for their help. Harold Obee Bruce Cook Highlander Research and Education Center Staff Vicki Jennette May Justus Larry Lowe Middle Tennessee State University Library Staff Cindy O’Brien Cassie Petty Anne and Al Romasco Deborah Shaw Dave Wellwood iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL: DRAMA AS A MEANS OF EDUCATION-BY-EXPERIENCE ................................................ 1 CHAPTER II. HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL AND THE SOUTHERN LABOR SCENE ............................................................................. 13 Introduction . ......................................................................................13 The Southern Labor Scene ......................................................... 17 Workers' Education and Highlander Folk School . 31 CHAPTER III. THE HIGHLANDER DRAMATICS PROGRAM, 1932-1942 .......................................................................................................... 56 Introduction...................................... 56 1932-36: Education-by-Experience-as-Spectator . 66 1932-34 ............................ 67 1935-36 ....................................................................................... 80 1937-42: Education-by-Experience-as- Participant.......................................................................................... 96 1937-Spring 1940 102 Fall 1940-1942 128 1943-: A Period of Maturity and Transition .... 132 CHAPTER IV. HIGHLANDER DRAMATICS AND PROBLEM SOLVING, 1939-.............................................................................................147 Introduction........................................................................................ 147 Highlander Dramatics as Problem-Solving Experience.............................................................................................167 v VI Highlander Dramatics as Meaningful Problem-Solving Experience ............................................ .187 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION................................................................... .220 Summary....................................................................................... 220 Conclusion.............................................................................................224 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................. 227 ILLUSTRATIONS Page 1. Comparison of the Sequence of Events in the Pattern of Inquiry to Those Associated with Conventional Plot Development ............................. .195 CHAPTER I HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL: DRAMA AS A MEANS OF EDUCATION-BY-EXPERIENCE Highlander today is known as the Highlander Research and Education Center and is located near Knoxville, Tennessee. It is and always has been a private, independent institution preferring to affiliate with social movements rather than organizations. At present the center is primarily interested in the social and economic development of Appalachia. Advertising itself as "an educational resource for the people who are working to build a new and democratic South,"''' the center offers short-term residential workshops on topics such as strip-mining, land reform, music and poetry, community health and Appalachian history. These work shops are conducted either by Highlander's small staff or by specialists in various subjects. They feature informal discussion sessions which rest on a belief that people can solve their problems by talking about them, -'■"Highlander Center: A Gathering Place in Appalachia," current Highlander brochure, n. d. 2 formulating solutions, and organizing to carry-out the solutions. Highlander staff receive room and board and occasional subsistence pay in lieu of salary. Students and staff share daily house-keeping chores. This informal, communal approach to education in which teacher and student live, work, and study together has been a consistent Highlander policy throughout the institution's history. For many the Highlander Folk School has come to symbolize the spirit behind the movement of the American working people. Yet it is much more than a shining ideal. Through it countless men and women have learned how to work and live cooperatively. Characterized as "a focal point for the new labor forces gathering in the South," the school has reached thousands of unionists of all colors and creeds--a rarity in the south. To many thousands more it has given training for some form of leadership in the labor movement. A large proportion of its students hold important offices in their local unions; many have served significantly on grievance committes, negotiating commitees, on Interracial, safety, housing, transportation, and education committees; still others have served as delegates to city councils and state conventions. So the record continues, one of the most significant in recent educational history. It is, says John Dewey, "one of the most important social-educational projects in America."2 This appraisal appeared in a 1949 volume on education in the twentieth century. At that time Highlander Folk School was one of the several resident workers' education 2 Adolph E. Meyer, The Development of Education in the Twentieth Century, 2nd ed. (New York: Prentice- Hall, Inc., 193^-1949), p. 551. 3 institutions of the thirties and forties dedicated to elevating the life of the common American worker. Others were Brookwood College in New York, Commonwealth in Arkansas, School for Workers at the University of Wisconsin, and Pacific Coast School for Workers in California. These schools differed from the typical adult education institution in that they were directed toward solving the particular problems of the industrial worker and were often union affiliated. Their curricula therefore offered courses in labor history, economics, and union organizing. The schools also offered courses in art, music, and drama. This research is concerned with the dramatic activities conducted by Highlander Folk School during its association with the labor movement, which lasted from 1932, when the school was founded, until the early 1950’s. The focus here, however, is on Highlander's first decade because the school's dramatics program developed and matured during this time. The major purposes of this research are to provide an explanation of the development of the dramatics program for resident worker-students and to offer an explanation of how the dramatic activities, at one time, were an appropriate instrument for helping to achieve one of the school's major goals: helping people learn how to solve problems more effectively. 4 Drama was an accepted part of workers' education programs before Highlander was established. Many of the labor schools advertised classes in dramatics. The type of theatre practiced at these institutions was very similar, in form and production, to that labeled "agit-prop." The major goals of school-related workers’ theatre were, however, different from those which research has generally assigned to this category of theatre. For the most part, emphasis has been on the political aspects of workers' theatre as the following titles suggest: Drama Was a Weapon,3 The Political Stage Stage Lef t,5 "A History of the Radical Theatre in the United States from 1930 to 1970,and "The