THE TRADESMAN
| Volume 10 No. 1 | -- A NEWSPAPER by and for DIMAN STUDENTS -- | March, 2006 |
A 1935 Alum Talks of Diman ... during the Great Depression
By Angela Durfee
Tradesman Staff
I received an email from Mr. Aubin on a graduate of Diman from a time period few of us were alive for - the Great Depression.
Mr. Raymond Clement graduated from Diman in 1935. Back then the school was totally different compared to now. I asked Mr. Clement such questions as, "What was Diman like in the 1930s?" He replied, "School in the 1930s was tough." He also told me that the teachers didn't have a lot of work to give to their students. Mr. Clement explained that if they needed wallpaper or anything they had to go to the store themselves and buy it. He said, "The city was going through the depression, and didn't have the money to buy the school supplies."
He explained how there were only 48 people in the entire school. There were only sixteen people in his class. They didn't have a shop break. There was only one teacher in the class to teach everyone. The school days would start at eight in the morning and end at two thirty in the afternoon, but that soon changed. The student only had classroom work an hour for three days a week. The classroom teacher was the principal. The principal at the time was Mr. Rendell. Later the school day changed to having classroom work from 8 a.m. to noon. Then they had shop work from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
There really weren't shops in the '30s. Mr. Clement said he learned how to paint. He would paint ceilings. They had a book of stencils and were allowed to make designs on their work. They were also allowed to take the stencils home and decorate their homes.
When Mr. Clement went to Diman there really wasn't a dress code. You were only required to wear a pair of overalls in shop.
The school year was the same -- it went from September to June just like now. The school was located on the southeast corner of Bank on Durfee Streets. It was right across the street from Bradford Durfee Design School.
In order to get to school you had to walk no matter how far you lived from the school. If there was bad weather you took a trolley.
Mr. Clement told me that when you graduated back then you only got your diploma -- no yearbook or anything.
In conclusion we need to realize that we get a better education than in the 1930s. We should appreciate what our teachers teach us because back in the day the teachers didn't teach much about trade or class work. Just be thankful for going to an awesome school like Diman. Mr. Clement told me that he wishes he got the education we do now and then maybe he would have stuck with painting.
