Colleagues: The following summary note includes the first photo novel I have
found used for teaching illiterate and non-English speaking soldiers during
World War 11. The use of a comic strip was also introduced in the Army
literacy programs, and included information about health for soldiers. Hope
this is of interest. Tom Sticht

Paper prepared for the conference of the International Reading Association
in San Antonio May 2005

Paul Witty and Learning to Read With Private Pete in World War II Paul A.
Witty (1898-1976).

Tom Sticht

During World War II the armed services faced the need to utilize hundreds of
thousands of men who were illiterate or poorly literate. Paul Andrew Witty,
with an M.A. (1923) and Ph. D. (1931) from Columbia University in
Psychology, specialized in understanding the process of learning to read
and in developing methods for helping students who were having difficulties
in learning to read. With this background, he was called upon to serve as an
education officer in the War Department.

In his work for the Army’s Special Training Units for litercy instruction,
Witty directed the production of numerous adult literacy education
materials which today would be known as developing "multiple literacies":

(1) The first film media materials including a 1943 film strip entitled Meet
Private Pete which introduced 40 sight words. . In this film strip, soldiers
were introduced to Private Pete, a fictional fellow member of a Special
Training Unit who was also learning reading, writing, and arithmetic. The
idea was that soldier's would be able to identify with Private Pete and
understand what they were reading about him because they shared common
experiences, such as living in the camp, sleeping in the barracks, eating
in the mess hall, and so forth. Witty was apparently the first adult
literacy educator to use this approach of trying to motivate adults
learning to read by providing a fictional counterpart with whom they could
identify.

(2) Witty introduced Army Technical Manual TM 21-500, entitled the "Army
Reader" which provided practice in reading the words used in the film
strip. The Army Reader was divided into four parts, from least to most
difficult, and dealt not only with reading but also writing and arithmetic
for daily camp life and meeting family obligations for insurance,
allotments for spouses, and so forth.

(3) The first systematic approach to assessing progress in learning to read
was introduced by Witty in TM 21-500 by the use of pre- and post-unit tests
for each part of the four part manual to determine if the soldier was ready
to progress from one part to the next, more difficult part of the reading
program.

(4) A comic strip which appeared in a special newspaper for soldiers
learning to read called Our War featured Witty’s Private Pete and his buddy
Daffy in various activities that were frequently aligned with major holidays
such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Day, Valentine’s Day and so
forth.

(5) The first photo novella for teaching adults to read used real people as
models for Private Pete, Daffy, and other fictional soldiers portrayed in
materials for soldiers who were getting ready to be discharged from the
Army but who had missed entry literacy education in the Special Training
Units. In this approach Witty used real people as models for Private Pete,
Daffy, and other fictional soldiers and took photos of them engaged in
various activities as they prepare to get discharged and as they travel
home. The trip home includes a ride aboard a ship that passes the Statue of
Liberty. One photo shows a group of soldiers passing the skyline of New York
City and a second shows a group looking at the Statue of Liberty. One of
the soldiers says, "It is hard to tell how I feel. Everybody has this
feeling when he first sees the Statue of Liberty. She has welcomed many
human beings to this country. She has furnished hope for many men. To some,
she stands for justice. To others, she represents freedom and a kindly
feeling for all human beings." In the final pages of the photo novel
Private Pete, now civilian Pete Smith and back home again, marries his
pre-war sweetheart Mary on Christmas day and they build a home together.

Witty's approach reflected the influence of William S. Gray, one of the
founders of the famous Dick and Jane series for children, which provided a
model for Witty's use of Private Pete in the Army’s literacy programs, and
Arthur I. Gates, a leading reading professor at Columbia University. Both
of these men were advocates of the "meaning emphasis" approach known as the
"word" method. In this method students first develop readiness to read by
discussing illustrations from the readers. Then they learn a basic store of
sight words used in the readiness training. Then they move on to simple
sentences made up of the sight words. In this approach, phonics instruction
is postponed until the student can do quite a bit of reading based upon
discussion and whole word recognition training.

Positive Outcomes From the World War II Literacy Education

Among the major outcomes of the teaching of illiterates in World War II was
the demonstration that hundreds of thousands of adults whom many thought
were not capable of learning to read were, in fact, capable of acquiring at
least rudimentary reading ability in a fairly brief time, generally less
than three months. Furthermore most of them went on to learn and perform
their Army duties in a satisfactory manner.

There are lessons here regarding factors important in teaching reading for
children, adolescents and adults. In World War II the functional nature of
the material, relating as it did to the daily lives and needs of soldiers,
created motivation for learning that may be missed in many instructional
contexts. For reading teachers, the main lesson may be that what makes the
most difference in teaching reading may not be reading methods such as the
so-called "meaning" or "code" methods, but rather an emphasis upon the
interests of the readers and an understanding of the factors underlying
their desire for learning.

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
Email: tsticht at aznet.net