Student Project Profile

“Dating Do’s and Don’ts,” or “How to Be Popular”: Tracing Reactions to Conformity in Post-WWII Social Education

Project Title

“Dating Do’s and Don’ts,” or “How to Be Popular”: Tracing Reactions to Conformity in Post-WWII Social Education

Faculty Mentor(s)

Project Description

Diana in the library

In the immediate post-WWII period, American public schools taught classes on social, personal, and family life education, with topics such as how to go on a date, how to make friends, how to choose a marriage partner, and how to raise a family. Although presented as helpful, this curriculum had strict standards of values and behavior, to the point that students were graded on how they personally adhered to these ideals. This curriculum is a lens through which to see broader strokes of conformism within American society in the post-WWII and Cold War period. My research will focus on how students responded to this conformism in this curriculum and in society at large, and how these responses shaped what American society valued through the end of the 20th century into the present day. 

Why is your research important?

This curriculum is a representation of what mid-century American society — or what the people who led and influenced American society — valued, and the values they wanted future generations to value too. However, it only represents the lives and ideas of suburban, middle-class, white Americans, excluding any other demographic or experience, especially those of the LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and low-income communities. My research focuses on how these communities responded to this social pressure and conformism, both inside the classroom and within the larger social sphere. Additionally, I will trace how the values depicted in this curriculum changed over time, demonstrating what society accepted from previous generations and what it reshaped or discarded. 

What knowledge has your research contributed to your field?

There has been almost no research done about this curriculum, especially research that centers the personal experiences of students in these classes. I am conducting extensive interviews with these students, generating an archive of their experiences that will both honor their (often never shared) stories and create opportunities for future study of social conformism and resistance in post-WWII America.