Our Schools in War Time—and After

Written in the heat of 1918, this sharp, urgent manifesto argues that America cannot win the Great War with soldiers and ships alone. Arthur D. Dean makes the case that the nation's schools are a front lines no less critical than the trenches: they must mobilize the minds of youth, redirect curricula toward national ends, and forge the citizens the moment demands. Dean traces how America finally awakened to the truth that total war requires total mobilization, industry, yes, but also education, and yes, "woman power." He critiques the educational approaches of other warring nations and charts a distinctly American path forward, one that treats the war not as an interruption to learning but as an opportunity to reinvent it. The book pulses with Progressive Era optimism that schools can solve national problems, that civic duty can be taught, and that the lessons of wartime should reshape classrooms long after the armistice. Essential reading for anyone curious about how America has always struggled to reconcile education with national purpose.