John C. Meadows

1931-1937

John C. Meadows, who had joined the UGA faculty by 1930, was destined to lead the College in the years ahead. He had previously taught at Northwestern University and Shorter College in Rome, Ga. Meadows had a Ph.D. from Peabody School for Teachers in Nashville. He was hired to teach Woofter’s philosophy of education and history of education courses sine had had been advised by his physician to drop all teaching responsibilities. Woofter remained as dean.

As the university opened for the fall term of 1932, one unit had a new name. The Board of Regents had approved of the College of Education which was made up of the Georgia State Teachers College (formerly the Normal School), the Peabody School of Education, and the education units of the Georgia State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts.

John C. Meadows was Dean of the College of Education. Woofter was made Dean Emeritus of the Peabody School of Education. The education professors from the Georgia State Teachers College became professors in the College of Education or were placed in its laboratory schools. Its teachers of academic subjects were combined with the faculty of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The Department of Sociology and the Department of Philosophy, which had both been in the Peabody School of Education, were transferred to the College of Arts and Sciences. The Department of Extension, which had also been in the Peabody School of Education, became the Division of General Extension for the University System of Georgia. This Division took over the management of the correspondence courses and extension work offered by the College. Plans were made for a Department of Adult Education to be created and placed in the College of Education.

The Department of Home Economics Education was combined with the Department of Rural Education and made a part of the College of Education. These two departments had been in the College of Agriculture. The Department of Physical Education for Women was also transferred from the College of Agriculture to the new College of Education. A new Department of Physical Education for Men was created and placed in the College of Education.

The Regents renamed the College of Education to the Peabody College of Education in 1934 and many changes were made as a result of a reorganization, some by faculty and others by the Regents. Hard decisions had to be made in the wake of the profound effects of the Great Depression. The Peabody College of Education was the named used until 1942.

An indicator of the continuing leadership role of the Peabody College of Education in the affairs of public education in Georgia can be found in the first systematic statewide plan for the study and revision of the public school curricula ever made by the State Department of Education.

State Superintendent of Schools M.D. Collins and Chancellor Phillip Weltner started the project in 1934. The study was done under the direction of Paul R. Morrow, a professor in the Peabody College of Education. Both elementary and high school curricula were revised as a result of this work. Other professors were asked to do far-reaching studies: E.D. Pusey was asked to direct a study into developing a school code for Georgia. Horace Ritchie was asked to determine what percent of the university’s graduates remained in the profession for which they were trained.

By 1936, the Summer School could no longer be considered, as it had been earlier, virtually synonymous with the College of Education. Although its director was from the College and the education students far outnumbered other students, the Summer School was considered just one of the university’s four quarters. In 1936, more than 1,500 were enrolled in the first short session and over 800 for the last five weeks. More than 1,000 of these students took education courses.