Children of the Coalfields: Classroom or Breaker? Part II
Eventually, access to education began to change for the better for children of the coal fields. Newly formed unions pushed for better education and for state laws that would require the certification of miners. The coal companies began to realize the necessity for better educated workers. Various writers cite a variety of reasons for that concern. One believed that the coal companies thought battling ignorance through education could help preserve the socioeconomic order and thus eliminate a major source of strikes. Other observers believed the coal operators saw the link between schooling and socioeconomic stability. "In the coal field schools, the miners' children were taught the social roles that suited the company and were molded to assume the economic tasks of their parents -- only to perform them better."
In 1914, one West Virginia school began teaching courses related to mining. About 1930, the West Virginia State Board of Education added a course in coal mining to the public school curriculum. Around the same time, in Kemmerer, Wyoming, the State Board of Vocational Education and the U.S. Bureau of Mines, with cooperation from the local mining industry, opened a two-year trade preparatory course in coal mining and related courses for mine workers in the area. Much of the specialized equipment needed was loaned by the coal companies, and instructors from industry taught the classes. By the 1940s, West Virginia had full-fledged mine training programs in some high schools. By that time, coal miners were among the highest paid workers in American industry, and young men were anxious to enter the mines. However, laws restricted those under the age of eighteen from entering the mines, even to be trained. The coal industry, in cooperation with the state, set up above-ground 'mines' at vocational high schools in three counties. Those 'mines' possessed most of the machinery and simulated the problems encountered in real mines.
After World War II, conditions changed rapidly in most places. One writer claimed in 1945 that the "greatest boon that has come to the miners is an increase in educational facilities. The days of the illiterate miners are passing. The younger, the oncoming generation of miners, must by law have attended school through the age of 16 in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky."
Other improvements were made. Today there are strict child labor laws, and these are enforced. Company-owned and controlled educational facilities belong to the past. Improved transportation means better opportunities.
Latest Articles