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America saw a drastic increase in youths enrolled in higher education in the 1920s and 1930s. It is estimated that college enrollment increased by 469% between 1900 and 1938 (Nash and Romero). By the 1930s, at least 14% — and perhaps as high as 20% (Fass) — of college-aged Americans were enrolled in some kind of educational institution (Nash and Romero). Surprisingly, college enrollment increased during the Depression, even as finding paying jobs became crucial for youths charged with supporting their families. ​

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The increase in college enrollment throughout the 1920s and 1930s created a distinct culture of leisure-oriented, extended adolescence. The college campus — “dense, isolated, and middle-class” (Fass) — shaped American youth culture primarily by promoting peer-intensive activities. Paula Fass breaks down the social activities of college students into three categories:

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(1) activities controlled by the formal structure of school (e.g., class, required chapel, laboratories, etc.) (see, for instance, rule #6 under "Administration Building" in exhibit b. Student Handbook: "All students are expected to attend chapel each school day, being in their seats promptly.")

(2) activities only loosely associated with the formal school structure (e.g., literary societies — Jane was a member of the Phila Retian Literary Society — debate teams, sports teams, journalism clubs, and theater groups like the ASTC Playcrafters, whose performances Jane often attended)

(3) activities governed only by the students, outside of the reach of the school’s authority (e.g., informal friendships and dating relationships)

 

I like Fass’ categorization of these three types of social activities because it provides a way of understanding how the control extended by authority figures shaped student behavior — in particular, students’ acceptance and rejection of rules. For instance, in exhibit j. Student Strike we see how Jane and her fellow ASTC students resisted the school's authority over afterschool activities like basketball games and social hours (i.e., dates). The ASTC student strike demonstrates how Fass’ second category of extracurricular social activities was a hotly contested ground between students and school officials in the 1930s.

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College students viewed many school rules that regulated extracurricular events as an invasion their social experience. This sentiment was not specific to ASTC as students in colleges all across the country pushed back against paternalistic rules that governed their social lives. Students achieved varying degrees of success in these endeavors. For instance, a petition by MIT students was successful in gaining permission for women to smoke at social functions. On the other hand, schools like Vassar and the University of California at Berkley imposed new anti-smoking rules in the mid-1920s that further restricted the behavior of women students (Fass). (For more on smoking among students, see exhibit m. Cigarettes.) Success in overturning what students viewed as “outdated” and “narrow-minded” social regulations (exhibit j., student strike newspaper article) varied entirely from institution to institution, depending on geography, political alignment, religious affiliation, etc.

However liberal or conservative the school’s regulations, it is clear that college students across the board valued social experiences as an integral part of their lives — potentially more important than both school and religious obligations. In a 1931 survey conducted by Daniel Katz and Floyd Allport at Syracuse University, women overwhelmingly designated “daily social contacts” as the most significant part of their college experience. Syracuse students further said that they would sacrifice scholarly goals if they interfered with extracurricular activities or social achievements. Katz and Allport concluded that what it meant to “go to college” differed drastically between professor/administrators and students.

 

Fass suggests that for college students in the early 20th century — especially young women— visibility was essential in the “race for dates, contacts, prestige, and competitive popularity” (203). Popularity was something students (again, especially women) worked at by attending as many social events and joining as many extracurricular clubs as possible. Jane, for instance, was a member of multiple literary societies and church groups, and she attended athletic events, drama productions, and other school exercises at ASTC on a weekly basis.

 

On the college campus, popularity was primarily determined by how many people one knew rather than personal attributes like appearance, talents (e.g., athletic ability), or family background. This view of popularity is especially evident in Jane’s scrapbook. (See in particular, exhibits a., d., and e.) When Jane attends a party or school event, she consistently writes down everyone who is there, as well as who dated whom during the event. For instance, in exhibit a. Week with Evelyn, Jane writes, “Had a date with Gettys Mon. night. Marjorie was with Marion— Evelyn was with Lindsay.” The sheer abundance of names of acquaintances mentioned throughout Jane’s scrapbook seems to confirm the notion that teens in the 1930s based the quality of their social lives primarily on the number of people they knew.