The Roaring Twenties has a reputation for being a decade of drinking, dancing, and debauchery, but it wasn’t all fun and games. During the 1920s, college enrollment exploded. Young soldiers returning from World War I and boys who recently graduated from high school viewed college as a viable option, rather than taking menial, low-skill jobs.
Colorized version of a 1925 photo of college students hitting the books. (VintageImages/GettyImages)
It wasn’t just young men either. More and more young women also enrolled in college in the years after World War I. Prior to the war, girls were expected to devote their lives to caring for a husband and children. Young men and women seized the opportunity to further their education by attending college. College in the 1920s looked a lot different than life at today’s universities, as these colorized photos show us.
Hitting the Books
U.S. colleges and universities came into their own in the 1920s. (time.com)
In the 1920s, most college curriculums emphasized general studies, such as history, mathematics, science, and English literature, as well as classic studies in Latin. In the 1920s, business programs at colleges and universities were added. To appeal to their female students, colleges offered classes in secretarial studies to help young women gain the skills they needed to enter the business world. College students could also major in medical fields to become doctors or nurses.
Making the Grade
Cramming for exams in the 1920s didn't include pizza and Red Bull like it does today. (badgerherald.com)
College students in the 1920s weren’t all serious scholars. Social activities were just as important to coeds. In the 1920s, colleges introduced athletics and clubs to give their students a chance to interact with their classmates and get the full college experience. The students may have had an eye to improving their futures, but they also wanted to have fun in the here-and-now. That meant that, when midterm and final exams rolled around, the students had to knuckle down, study hard, and make the grade.
Rites of Passage
Course work in the 1920s was rigorous. (pinterest.com)
Before the 1920s, young adults just out of high school were suddenly plunged into adulthood. Boys were expected to secure jobs. Girls were expected to get married. With the rise in popularity of colleges and universities, we see a new transitional period between the teen years and adulthood emerging. College students were living away from home without being married. And, for the first time, impressionable young adults were living outside their traditional circles of influences – their families, communities, and churches. This allowed the students to develop their own core values, beliefs, and ideals.
C’s Get Degrees
Female college students were becoming the norm in the 1920s. (coolcleveland.com)
Colleges and universities in the 1920s offered rigorous courses that challenged students. Sure, the coursework was tough, but many of the students neglected their studies in favor of parties and dances. The average grade was a solid C. It was enough to pass, so they didn’t care. In fact, 1920s college students teased the studious nerds for spending all their time studying and trying for A’s. They called them “grinds”.
Dressed to Impress
Lettermen jackets made their debut in the 1920s. (paw.princeton.edu)
Today’s college students roll into class in ragged t-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, and pajama pants, but both male and female college students of the 1920s dressed to impress. Female college students were prohibited from wearing pants. They had to wear skirts or dresses. Trendy college girls of the twenties wore rain galoshes with their skirts and bandanas in their hair. Male college students wore suit jackets to class every day. When they weren’t in class, they might wear a new piece of collegiate apparel … the letterman jacket.
A Whole New World
Everyone wanted to emulate the collegiate style. (uc.utoronto.ca)
Without intending to, the students of the 1920s developed a new lifestyle with its own slang words, fashions, and mannerisms. It was called the collegiate style. It was such a popular fad, that young adults who were not in college and younger teens who were still in high school copied the look and the lingo.
Laying the Foundation
College students of the 1930s, 1940s, and beyond owe their opportunities to the 1920s college students. (sites.udel.edu)
The college students of the 1920s set the stage for the college students in subsequent decades, like the 1940s grad students shown in this colorized photo. They created the college experience – a blend of academic pursuits with a healthy social life – that students today still seek when they look for their next step beyond high school.
