The Army Goes to School

When the first raw conscript soldiers drifted in last fall at Fort Jackson, S.C., Major General Henry D. Russell, in command of the post, was appalled at the number of them who could neither read nor write. Before long he had on his hands some 600 total illiterates. General Russell got in touch with WPA. Result: at Fort Jackson last week elementary classes, taught by WPA teachers, were going full blast, and an Army education program had spread from coast to coast.

In World War I, 25.3% of the first 1,500,000 U.S. citizens examined for the Army were illiterate. The average soldier had only half completed the seventh grade of grammar school. No figures were available last week on the number of illiterates in the draft, but the average soldier has finished his third year of high school.

But modern armies require a much better-educated personnel than was needed in 1917, and there are still too many ignoramuses in uniform to suit Army leaders. So WPA, which has taught some 2,000,000 illiterate civilians to read and write in the past six years, last week had 82 teachers on the rolls in 16 Army camps.

Some of their activities:

> WPA has published an elementary textbook, First Days in the Army, for soldiers learning their ABCs. First lesson: "I ate in the mess hall. I ate and ate. I ate with the company. The company ate in the mess hall. We ate in the mess hall. ..." Other lessons stress the benefits of Army life--good food, clean barracks, etc.

> Candidates for appointment as flying cadets (who must have the equivalent of two years of college credits) learn algebra, trigonometry, history and other academic subjects at a number of Air Corps bases.

> At Fort Des Moines, Iowa, noncommissioned officers study shorthand.

> Ohio's National Guardsmen are taught to read maps.

> All commissioned officers in the Air Corps (about 10,000 men) have signed up to learn Spanish. This will put some 250 more jobless pedants to work.

> At four defense bases in Puerto Rico classes in English have been started for island recruits.

Classes are usually held in mess halls or recreation buildings. But at several Southern posts, including the Savannah, Ga. air base, soldiers assemble at night for instruction at local high schools which by day are filled with giggling girls in socks and sweaters.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.