Teaching With Documents, Volume 1

Contents:

A Questionnaire on Moral Problems
and Discipline, c. 1924

The Children’s Bureau was established in 1912 to investigate and report on matters pertaining to childhood in America. Among these concerns were maternity care and infant mortality, the conditions of working mothers, juvenile delinquency, desertion of children, child health, and state and local administration of child welfare laws. Now a part of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Bureau was, at the time these records were created, part of the Department of Labor.

During the 1920s the Bureau began to take an interest in social movements in the United States concerned with morality and social behavior. In 1924, its publication Child Welfare Summary News carried an article on crime and the punishment of criminals. In response to the article, numerous religious and sectarian organizations with a similar concern submitted proposals and plans for improving the morals and behavior of American youth. One such organization was the Pathfinders of America, which was founded in Detroit, Michigan, in 1914. Its members described themselves as follows:

The Pathfinders of America is an organization sponsored by Detroit business and professional men, with the approval and cooperation of the judges, prison officials and school authorities. Early in the history of this organization it was discovered that the prison work to which they had confined their efforts hitherto was not the most effective way of stemming the tide of crime; in fact it was found that this was very similar to trying to purify a stream at its mouth instead of its source. Consequently the work was introduced into the schools, giving moral instruction to the children without the use of the Bible and permitting no religious discussion whatsoever. The efficacy of their work is best proven by the fact that it is growing by leaps and bounds and is spreading rapidly in the schools and prisons of the country.

The document is from general file 9-6-0, box 213, in Records of the Children’s Bureau, Record Group 102.

Suggestions for Teaching

Before having students complete the exercise below, discuss with them the nature of public opinion surveys.

1. What type of document is this?

2. Who wrote it?

3. What kind of information does it contain?

4. This document was distributed in 1924. How might you describe that year in American history? Using any clues found in the document and information you have about the 1920s, explain why you think the questionnaire excerpt was developed.

5. What student attitudes and/or behaviors are emphasized in the excerpt?


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6. Is there information in the document that supports the note at the bottom of it?

7. Does the excerpt indicate that the questionnaire was sexist? Why or why not?

8. Does the excerpt indicate whether or not the questionnaire was "scientifically" developed? Why or why not?

9. What does the word "edit" mean? Does it appear that Professor Davis was more concerned with editing for content than for style? Why or why not?

10. Why do you suppose the Pathfinders submitted the document to the Children’s Bureau?

Final Exercise

Have students work in groups to develop questionnaires that seek to make recommendations for resolving issues related to discipline, using whatever meaning of the word they choose. Have the class criticize the questionnaires before they are distributed to the student body.

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Chicago: "A Questionnaire on Moral Problems and Discipline, C. 1924," Teaching With Documents, Volume 1 in Teaching With Documents: Using Primary Sources from the National Archives, ed. United States. National Archives and Records Administration and National Council for the Social Studies (Washington, D.C.: National Archives Trust Fund Board, 1989), 122–125. Original Sources, accessed March 29, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=JIMQNCHAB9YEJ8L.

MLA: . "A Questionnaire on Moral Problems and Discipline, C. 1924." Teaching With Documents, Volume 1, in Teaching With Documents: Using Primary Sources from the National Archives, edited by United States. National Archives and Records Administration and National Council for the Social Studies, Vol. 1, Washington, D.C., National Archives Trust Fund Board, 1989, pp. 122–125. Original Sources. 29 Mar. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=JIMQNCHAB9YEJ8L.

Harvard: , 'A Questionnaire on Moral Problems and Discipline, C. 1924' in Teaching With Documents, Volume 1. cited in 1989, Teaching With Documents: Using Primary Sources from the National Archives, ed. , National Archives Trust Fund Board, Washington, D.C., pp.122–125. Original Sources, retrieved 29 March 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=JIMQNCHAB9YEJ8L.