How were children in the United States affected during the Great Depression?

23LbJtHeKiNg23: How were children in the United States affected during the Great Depression?
How were children in the United States affected during the Great Depression? What was Education like?

Answers and Views:

Answer by stew1213
Screwed, crappy. That sums it up.

Answer by Best chocolate person
Poor kids were starved, because they didnt have enough money. People were killed. Jobs were lost.Education? They didnt have mush school, they had to try to survive on there own, with dieing parents.

Answer by mEetShaRi
Education During the Great Depression:

How the Depression Affected Children:

Try a Google search for more sources!

Answer by lartor
Oh wow, good question, my father went at 4 years old to the gold fields of Nevada in a model t to make money. The whole family worked every day to earn a living. He also got a penny a tail to kill gophers since they were overrunning the farming community.

Answer by jyarv
they suffered from malnutrition, had weak bones, less education, stress problems later in life, some had mental health problems.

just a lot of problems

Answer by V
I feel a little ashamed because I am a History minor and I should def know this answer.

I am thinking that education did not become as important. Working and helping provide for your family would seem more important.

But if you look at it from the point that there was no jobs available to work, children had no other things to do, but go to school. It makes sense that education would become more important because there are less ways for the child to contribute economically.

Answer by jake
Education was top notch where I lived, in a small steel town.
I can only speak from 1934-1940. Those were years of the Great Depression in my memory.
We had dedicated teachers who loved what they did, without Unions.
When I was in the 3rd grade, I broke an arm with complications. Lost lots of school. My teacher worked with me before school began, on lunch hour, and after school. Later in the year, I contracted chicken pox, then whooping cough, then measles.
That teacher worked with me and gave me the best foundation that anyone could have. I never had college, although my avg through high school was 98. No gov handouts, no money, very few scholarships.
Only the fairly wealthy could afford college.

We were all poor, but didn’t know it. We had loving families and were taught morality, honesty, and integrity. More than taught, we learned by example by our parents.
We learned how to have fun with our peers, how to set aside time for school studies, and entertain ourselves with whatever free time we had.
No play grounds or pools, until much later in the ’30s.
Radio, reading books, and a few movies when we had a dime.
We picked junk and sold it, metals, rags and bottles to earn a few cents.

I vividly recall milk and groceries, delivered before stores opened, and none were ever stolen, even with the difficult times. My parents had 6 children and my father worked for whatever someone would pay. Usually $ 1 per day, occasionally $ 2. He also raised vegetables and my mother canned.
We learned to live with what we had, not whine because of what we didn’t have. This stays with you. Trust me.

Government gave every school child 1/2 pint of milk every day. In addition, 1 teaspoon of cod liver oil every day, to prevent scurvy.
We could not afford milk for 6 kids.

This recession is not panics-ville for old timers. We saw worse.

Answer by augie6_1
There was clear economic devastation. Many job losses. Families couldn’t eat and many were thrown out of their homes.

From Shmoop/Great Depression