About Harold O. Rugg

AMERICAN witch-hunt began when . a few persons began their current attack on the text books of Harold O. Rugg 'OB. It is a curious fact that this man, whose career has been one of engineering and teaching as well as writing, had written and re-written his famous texts for grade school and junior high school students over a period of ten years, though the present anti-Rugg crusade is less than two years old. More than 2,000,000 copies of his books have been sold, and they are in use in more than 4,000 schools today.

Although the campaign against his books is actively managed by very few men, it has grown to large proportions through the financial support of certain pressure groups which have utilized the press, mails and radio for propaganda—and most effectively, personal pressure among local school boards and parents' \associations. The press has generally declined to give the controversy thorough treatment until recently, when the newspaper PM, New York daily, devoted two pages to a candid story of the malice which Rugg's op position has displayed in its campaign. In this article (PM's Weekly, September 22, p. 54) Rugg's early purpose in text book writing is described as follows:

"In 1922 he set out to clear the stuffiness from the teaching of history and geography. With the help of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, he began writing text books for elementary and juvenile high schools from a new angle. He tossed out the traditional division into subjects, which he considered an obstacle to pupils' understanding. In his books history, geography, civics, etc., became a unified study, its scope indicated by the general title of the series, Man and His Changing Society."

Apparently the books, which PM says were "just as attractive as story books and sold like hot cakes," annoyed no one until they had been proven and adopted in thousands of schools more than eight years after their first appearance. Mr. Rugg's baiters now charge that his work is "treason," "Marxism," "undermining American life," "destroying our children's faith" and "following the path of Russia."

The DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE, interested in the controversy surrounding this distinguished alumnus on whom Dartmouth has conferred an honorary degree, has sought the facts of the case from both sides, has examined the texts themselves, and has concluded that Harold Ordway Rugg is the victim of an attack which may, if ignored, do the man and his work a grave injustice, With this conviction, we asked Mr. Rugg to contribute the accompanying article.

The Editors.