History 476

Devine

Fall 2013

Study Questions: Youth in the Great Depression

 

Hine, The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager, Chapter 11 “Dead End Kids”

 

1.   Why does the author see the economic conditions of the 1930s and the emergence of high school as the common experience of young Americans as coming together to create a paradox?

 

 

2.  How did the New Deal play a key role in the creation of the teenager? Why does the author argue that the NYA was a response to problems the New Deal itself had created?

 

 

  1. Why did many American adults believe they had good reason to fear young people during the 1930s?  Were such fears warranted?

 

 

  1. Radicals hoped that bleak economic conditions would turn American young people into revolutionaries.  Why didn’t this happen?

 

 

  1. Why could one argue that the Scottsboro Boys incident had as much to do with class as it did with race?

 

 

  1. What was the purpose of the CCC?  How did those who joined the CCC respond to the program? Why does the author argue that the value of the CCC was “limited”?

 

 

  1. What challenges did schools face during the Depression?  Why does the author argue that educators dealt poorly with working-class students?

 

 

  1. According to Hine, why was “hanging around the filling station” a “more effective educational experience than going to high school” for many male teens? (219)  How did the “car culture” prepare teens for their future?

 

 

  1. Why did a distinct youth culture become less visible during the 1930s?  Why did young people no longer drive popular culture?

 

 

  1. How did dating and attitudes toward sex change between the 1920s and 1930s?

 

 

  1. How did portrayals of youth in the movies change between the 1920s and 1930s?  How did adults interpret these portrayals differently than young people?  How did the movies and comic books reinforce young people’s image of themselves?

 

 

Palladino, Chapter 3 “A New Deal For Youth”

  1. Why did “transient youth” become a cause for concern?  What short- and long-term crises did this social problem threaten to create?

 

 

  1. How did the NYA work?  What opportunities did it offer unemployed and disadvantaged teenagers?

 

 

  1. How did the NYA transmit values to young people?  Was this a good idea?

 

 

  1. Why does the author say the NYA both “accomplished its mission” and “failed dismally?”

 

 

  1. How did the NYA attempt to fight the “culture of poverty”?  Were its methods effective?

 

 

Palladino, Teenagers, Chapter 4 “Swing Shift”

 

  1. How did swing music impact social life and high school style in the early 1940s?

 

 

  1. Why was creating a teen market a “path of least resistance” for advertisers?

 

 

  1. Were “bobby soxers” typical American teens?  Why did advertisers try to portray them as typical?

 

 

  1. Why did parents find teen stars like Mickey Rooney (Andy Hardy), Deanna Durbin, and Judy Garland attractive and reassuring?

 

 

  1. How did real teenagers differ from the teens portrayed in the movies in both their values and preferences?

 

 

 

  1. How did the style and behavior of the Mexican-American “pachucos” and “pachuquitas” contrast with that of the “bobby soxer”?  In what ways were the two groups similar?

 

 

  1. How did the coming of the Second World War affect teen life and adult expectations for teens?