The Eastland Disaster and Public Education Reform: A Lesson from 1915
In my ongoing research into the ripple effects of the Eastland Disaster, I’ve uncovered yet another forgotten piece of the puzzle—this time, from an unlikely source. While digging through historical publications, I stumbled upon a 1915 issue of The Arizona Teacher, which was the official publication of the Arizona State Teachers’ Association. And in it, the Eastland Disaster appeared in a way that ties the event to public education reform.
The publication highlighted the disaster as a catalyst for rethinking how schools could better prepare students for real-world dangers. One of the key takeaways was the suggestion to introduce swimming lessons in public schools, driven by the tragic loss of life in the Eastland’s capsizing. While knowing how to swim would not have saved many victims who were crushed by the ship’s capsizing, it still speaks to how the event was used to push for practical safety skills in education.
Chicago, in response to the disaster, was reportedly considering building swimming pools in every public school, with an estimated cost of a million dollars. This shows how the tragedy spurred action on a larger scale and shows how public institutions attempted to respond, even if the solutions weren’t always directly applicable to the core issues.
The article also touched on the broader debate of the time: what should be included in public school curriculums? Along with swimming, suggestions ranged from military training to folk dancing and life skills like churning butter or setting the table. The article highlighted concerns about schools being asked to do too much, stretching their resources thin, much like the Arizona farmer analogy mentioned in the piece.
What’s fascinating here is that this is yet another important detail often overlooked in the broader historical narrative. The impact of the disaster went beyond Chicago, influencing public policy and education discussions across the country. And this forgotten publication provides us with a window into how the Eastland was used to advocate for change in unexpected places.
It’s a reminder that the stories and lessons of history aren’t limited to the events themselves—they echo through the years, affecting policies, shaping attitudes, and influencing how societies think about safety and education. We have much to learn from these ripple effects, but only if we take the time to look beyond the surface.
So, next time you think about the Eastland Disaster, remember that it wasn’t just a tragic event isolated to the Chicago River. Its impact stretched far beyond the shores of that fateful day, influencing everything from school curriculums to public safety debates.
What other untold stories are still out there, waiting to be uncovered?
Source: Family Search.
Arizona Teacher Magazine Cover, October 1915
Arizona Teacher Magazine, October 1915 - Table of Contents
The Curriculum of the Grade Schools (and the Eastland Disaster)
Arizona Teacher Magazine, October 1915. "How it Grows" (transcript below)
**THE ARIZONA TEACHER**
**THE CURRICULUM OF THE GRADE SCHOOLS**
By S. C. NEWSOM.
City Supt. Schools, Tucson.
**HOW IT GROWS**
When the "Eastland disaster" and the appalling loss of life resulting therefrom once had time to sink into the public mind, there was, as is usual in such catastrophes, a long list of measures suggested which would obviate, in some degree, the deadly toll of such accidents. Among these was one that lessons in swimming be introduced into the public schools, and so urgently was it made that the school board of Chicago has been considering, more or less seriously, the establishment of swimming pools in every public school building of that city at an estimated cost of one million dollars.
The suggestion of swimming lessons is paralleled by another, recently made, that military training should be taught in every grade of the public schools from and including the third; it was stated with emphasis that military training is unexcelled both as a physical and mental discipline, and that its practice in early youth would, furthermore, lay a much needed foundation for a trained citizen soldiery, should the United States ever find it necessary to recruit and quickly train a large standing army.
There are other subjects suggested from time to time as deserving a place in the curriculum of the grades of the public schools; some of these are taught in many cities, such as, folk-dancing, elementary sociology, rug weaving, basketry, art metal, clay-modeling, printing (type setting), tooled leather, sign painting, etc., and the usual vocational subjects equal in number to the various trades practiced in our large industrial centers. There seems to be no end to the number and kind of activities that the schools should and are being required to assume. Instances of this are not wanting which hardly escape, in the minds of many, being ridiculous. One young pedagogue strictly "up-to-date" and progressive without limit is moved to say that one trained in our modern normals and colleges can be of invaluable help to parents by getting books and bulletins on the different subjects which are put out by experts, and by giving credit toward graduation for the following:
One credit for building fire.
One credit for milking a cow.
One credit for feeding and watering chickens.
One credit for gathering the eggs.
Five credits for churning and caring for the butter.
Two credits for blacking a stove.
One credit for making one bed.
Ten credits for making and baking bread.
Five credits for making and baking cake, pie, etc.
Six credits for getting an entire meal.
Two credits for washing and drying dishes.
Two credits for setting the table (correctly).
One credit for sweeping one floor.
Two credits for scrubbing one floor.
Two credits for dusting the furniture.
One credit for brushing the teeth.
The Curriculum of the Grade Schools (and the Eastland Disaster) - part 2
Arizona Teacher Magazine, October 1915. "How it Grows" page 2 (transcript below)
**THE ARIZONA TEACHER**
**THE CURRICULUM OF THE GRADE SCHOOLS** (continued)
**Three credits for harnessing and hitching team.**
Six credits for study one hour at home.
Ten credits for attending Sunday school or church.
One credit for one time at school.
Such a plan, the reader is assured, would surely eliminate many “would-be failures, according to our inadequate marking system,” and promote great interest in the schools both on the part of parents and children. On the other hand, it occurs to many that to assist parents in these direct and specific ways is beyond the function of any public institution; the intimate and delicate province of rearing children in the home around the fireside has not, so far, been surrendered to aliens, and it is probably true that parents would resent, in a very emphatic manner, such interference on the part of public school officials or anyone else.
The motives for thus extending the scope and complexities of public instruction are without doubt, in most cases, praiseworthy: parents wish their children provided with the means of making a living; the mastery of a good trade in early youth will insure a happy, independent manhood and womanhood; success nowadays depends more than ever before upon expert knowledge of the details and practices of some one occupation; the professions are crowded—preparation for them leads to disappointment and discontent, unfitting the student for work that he will probably have to do when he faces the world on his own account. Military training is not only a fine discipline, but has behind it the spur of patriotism; and none questions the pleasure and value of the accomplishment of knowing how to swim. Teachers are sympathetic and wish to co-operate with the parents.
Notwithstanding, however, the good faith and sincerity of those who would thus expand and radically change the work of the public schools, there are many friends of the system who would like to see a reduction in the number of things now attempted, a simplified method in teaching what remains, and for many years to come a somewhat decided check to proposed additions. Many of these new subjects are excellent in themselves, but there is a limit to what a child as well as any one institution can successfully do. Taking into consideration all the innovations suggested for the schools, nearly every activity of a civilized community is included; if we attempt it all, we shall be much like the inexperienced Arizona farmer who had sufficient water to irrigate one acre, but persisted in spreading it over ten.
**THE TEACHER'S DILEMMA**
A teacher in a large Middle West city, in a recent letter to a friend, says, “My work is pretty heavy, but I don’t mind that if they would only give me time to do it; yesterday there were two supervisors in my room and one special teacher; they took nearly half the morning; the teacher of Nature Study had the class, a fifth grade, for a double period and among other inanities tried to show the pupils, none over eleven years old, why water runs down hill. One of the supervisors talked for twenty-five minutes on hygiene, using terms and saying things that I myself did not understand.
Go to FamilySeach.org to read the complete issue of The Arizona Teacher, October 1915
