Hanover College Triangle on

Choosing Classes and "Dream Girls"

January 24, 1930

At the beginning of the twentieth century, an increasing number of men and women were starting to attend college. Young people were beginning to see a college education as necessary for finding a job with a decent income. In 1929, an estimated 71 percent of families had an income of less than 2500 dollars. A college education was an integral part of getting ahead. The proof that America was experiencing a change in the nature of work is Calvin Coolidge's 1925 quote, "The business of America is business." College at this time was not only for men, but for women as well.

According to Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, women attending college were divided into two distinct groups. The majority of middle-class women attending college were looking to have fun and find husbands for "proper marriage." Theirs was a social purpose, and they were largely unconcerned with grades and more concerned with fashion. This contrasts heavily with the "strong-minded" women who made it to college. These women were from "modest backgrounds," "identified with professors," and were "preparing themselves for paid work." While the women serious about their college education were viewed as outsiders, the middle-class women were generally accepted in so far as they fit into male competitions. "College men reworked their code to incorporate into it sexual play and conquest." - Kelly Eckstein, '09

Sources: Judith S. Baughman, ed., American Decades 1920-1929 (New York: Gale, 1996), III, 82, 79; Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, Campus Life. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987), 193, 201-2, 200, 127.

N.B. The text below is transcribed verbatim, including the occasional typographical error.

Choosing That Course

As this is almost the end of the semester and time that the student may sign up for his next semester course it is a suitable time for him to be deciding what he will take for the next semester. It is the custom by the great majority of the students to take the easy subjects and let the ones of real worth go by. The type of students that come to college either come for the primary purpose of preparing themselves for some particular vocation or profession or to gain a broader and more comprehensive education in order to find himself fit to combat the worries and trails of the life after the commencement.

To be in a position to fight the world which is what you will find more evident in the world of today where there are three applicants for each position, you will find that a substantial education and especially a college education will be your best asset. An ignorance of the true values of the higher education you worst liability. It is up to you to decide into which category you shall fall in the days to come. In the group of those who went to college and graduated or those that went to college and came out with an EDUCATION. As far as the education part is concerned we realize that there is even a greater possibility in Hanover for that type of student. The subjects of real worth are here and is up to the individual to choose those that will help him.

Now is the time to constructively plan your college course with a certain view ahead so that we may be fully equipped to follow or [sic] chosen life work, whether it is the ministry, the law, or the rest of the professions invaluable to mankind.

So when the time comes to sign up for the next course choose those that will be of benefit to YOU rather than those that are considered easy spots in the curriculum.

The College Dream Girl

"She is very beautiful and has shiny black hair and brown eyes. Our dream girl is versatile. She is not one of the slly [sic], giggling, sentimental types. On the contrary, she is intelligent, cultured and a good conversationalist. She does not use cosmetics excessively and neither smokes nor drinks. She chooses those frocks which are suitable to her own type of beauty and she dreams faultlessly. She likes dancing, golf, tennis and bridge, plays the piano and sings well." Butler Collegian, Indianapolis, Ind.