Unit 5: "Out of Sight, Out of Mind:" Conscientious Objectors in World War II

Grades

• 9-10
• 11-12

Subjects

• History
• Language
• Political Science
• Social Studies

Overview of Lesson Plan

• Students examine the reports of conscientious objectors (COs) on conditions at state mental hospitals and training schools for people with mental retardation during and immediately after World War II.  The lesson plan exposes students to the nature of conditions at state institutions and the treatment of patients and explores how to evaluate the credibility of sources of information.

Standards

• 1. Analyze and explain the ways groups, societies, and cultures address human needs and concerns.
  2. Construct reasoned judgments about specific cultural response to persistent human issues.
  3. Apply modes of inquiry drawn from anthropology and sociology in the examination of persistent issues and social problems.
  4. Systematically employ processes of critical historical inquiry to reconstruct and reinterpret the past, such as using a variety of sources and checking their credibility, validating and weighing evidence for claims, and searching for causality.
  5. Apply ideas and modes of historical inquiry to analyze historical developments and to inform actions concerning public policy issues.
  6. Examine factors that contribute to and damage one's mental health and analyze issues related to mental health and behavioral disorders in contemporary society.

Objectives

• 1. To examine the treatment of people in state mental hospitals and training schools in the 1940s, as reported by COs and others.
  2. To understand the depth of the problems with mental hospitals and training schools in the 1940s.
  3. To make reasoned judgments about humane or inhumane care of people with mental illness and mental retardation.
  4. To understand the difference between description and interpretation when analyzing conditions, activities, or events.
  5. To evaluate the credibility of sources of information and reports.

Questions to Consider

• 1. How can conditions and the treatment of people in state mental hospitals and training schools in the 1940s be characterized?
• 2. What kinds of staff were involved in the neglect and abuse of patients?
• 3. What are the various ways in which patients at state hospitals and training schools were mistreated?
• 4. Were the accounts of COs and others believable and credible?
• 5. What factors make the COs' accounts believable or not believable?

Resources and Materials

• NOTE: Some of these links may lead to external web sites.
  1. Out of Sight, Out of Mind:
     a. Paragraphs 1-13.
     b. Paragraphs 183-198, 320-331, 333-340, 393-412, 475-484, 587-596, 622-639, 690-706, 714-728, 730-740, 792-817, 835-854, 872-877, 909-915.
     c. Figures (photos) 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 16.
     d. Paragraphs 965-982.
  2. Steve Taylor, "Conscientious Objectors at State Institutions."
  3. Steve Taylor, "Evaluating the Credibility of Sources of Information."
  4. Gordon Zahn, "Abandon hope," "State school unnatural, maltreats children," and "Slaves or patients?"
  5. Two photos of COs and allies protesting their lack of pay from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania web site.
     a. http://jeffline.lib.tju.edu
     b. http://jeffline.lib.tju.edu
  6. Photo of COs being trained at Byberry: http://jeffline.lib.tju.edu

Activities and Procedures

• 1. Homework: Students review the materials listed above.
• 2. Review the accounts: Divide students into small groups of two to four.  Each group reviews two of the following accounts from Out of Sight, Out of Mind: 183-198, 320-331, 333-340, 393-412, 475-484, 588-596, 622-639, 690-706 714-728, 730-740, 792-817, 835-854, 872-877, 909-915. The groups make presentations to the entire class in which they describe the account and answer the following questions. Break the class in thirds. Have each group review one of Gordon Zahn's articles and answer the same three questions.
• a. How would you characterize the treatment of patients (e.g., physical abuse, medical neglect)?
• b. Was there anything positive in the account?
• c. What people or conditions were responsible for the treatment of patients in the account?
• 3. Large group discussion: After reviewing accounts of the COs at state institutions, students have a teacher lead discussion in which they identify principles for humane treatment that should be included in a "bill of rights" for people with mental illness or mental retardation.  The principles are listed on newsprint, a blackboard, overhead projector, or computer.
• 4. Small group discussion: students are divided into six groups. Each group is given one of the six photos from Out of Sight, Out of Mind listed above. Students in each group first write one or two paragraphs describing what they see in the photos.  The descriptions should be non-evaluative. Ask students to imagine that they are trying to communicate what's shown in the photos to someone on the phone or a person who cannot see. (Students could be asked to role play describing the pictures over the phone.) Students then write a list of words or phrases that communicate their evaluations or judgments about what is shown in the photo. The teacher either reviews these paragraphs and list, providing feedback to the groups, or leads a class discussion pointing out the difference between description and interpretation. (In preparation for this activity, teachers might break students into small groups to describe something in the school of classroom).
• 5. Short essay: Students write a one-to-two page essay, in class or as homework, on the topic, "Were the accounts reported in Out of Sight, Out of Mind credible? Explain why or why not." Students should review "Evaluating the Credibility of Sources of Information" and paragraphs 965-982 of Out of Sight, Out of Mind prior to writing the essays. (As an alternative, the teacher can divide the class into small groups to discuss this topic. The class comes back together and the groups report on their discussions. After giving their answers to the first question, the groups then list, one at a time, their reasons for their answers.)
• 6. As an optional homework activity, ask students to do a web search under the word, "Byberry." Byberry was one of the names used for  Philadelphia State Hospital, which was the institution at which COs collected accounts that led to Out of Sight, Out of Mind and the 1946 Life Magazine exposé. Students should be instructed to identify web sites that relate directly or indirectly to the institution and evaluate the quality and credibility of information on these sites. Students can either write a brief essay on this exercise or make two-to-three minute presentations in class. (Important note to teachers: You might want to conduct this exercise yourself before assigning it to students. Byberry closed in 1990, and its buildings are now abandoned. A number of young people have developed web sites that contain pictures taken of the old buildings in recent years and provide accounts of visits to the buildings and grounds. Some young people have written insightful pieces on the history of the institution; others describe their exploits avoiding security patrols and their beliefs that Byberry is haunted. A web search should lead students to one legitimate historical web site maintained by Thomas Jefferson University that contains photos of Byberry from the 1930s and 40s from the archives of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The photos show some of the COs at Byberry as well as scenes of the institution itself. The purpose of this activity is to teach students to be discriminating when searching for information from the web. This historical web site can be found at: http://jeffline.lib.tju.edu:8806/photo_archive/owas_photo/photo_archive_search_img2.full_lbr?rest_set_var=2605.

Eras

• 1921-1960

Disability

• Developmental Disabilities
• Intellectual Disabilities
• Mental Illness
• Mental Retardation
• Psychiatric Disabilities

Topics

• Almshouse
• Exposés
• Government
• Hospital
• Media
• Mental Hospital
• Psychiatric Center
• State School
• Training School

Copyright

• ©Syracuse University, 2003.  All rights reserved.

Author(s)

• Steven J. Taylor, Ph.D.

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