The Great Depression affected so many things worldwide. It came from behind and caught us when we weren’t ready for it. No one was ready. But there were three things that were damaged the most and those things were Sports, Unemployed Canadians, and Education. The Depression started because of the Deadly Stock Market Crash on the one October day that no one will ever forget. At this time, Sports were huge. Sports were the things that people looked forward to do. Until the Great Depression hit. Teams were cut out of the picture due to the lack of money they were making. To Americans, Canadians and any other country migaters, were just like another mouth to feed, so this led to even more people unemployed. Once the Depression hit, schools took a huge toll in less hours and increase in class sizes due to not enough money being produced. Many things were affected during the Great Depression, but I believe that these things were affected the most because of the fact that they were pretty new to our country and they didn’t really get time to grow and develop.
To start off, the Great Depression affected the United States worldwide. During the Depression, children were affected greatly. Children before the depression were able to go to school without a problem. They went to school for how long it went for, and then went home. But when the Depression came, things changed. School times were changed and some children weren’t able to go to school anymore. According to an article written on Children During the 1930s, it states,“…forcing them to come up with creative ways to keep schools running or close their doors altogether.” This evidence shows how these schools had to come up with creative things to do because they really didn’t have the money like they use to have. They didn’t have the money to buy more textbooks or even simpler things like keep the lights on or air conditioning. Schools really struggled during this time, and it affected children big time because they really didn’t have an education. At this time, schools were not as mandatory as they are today. Children weren’t forced to go to school. This was a time when education was at an all time low, mostly because of the money they were losing. In some areas of the world, children’s families were affected so much by the Depression that they chose to take their child out of school for some more help. This is demonstrated in an article on School During the 1930s, stating,“Some children had to leave school to take jobs and help support the family.” This evidence displays how the families of children that attended schools were affected so much by this deadly time, that they chose to take their children out of school to work. This decision was actually chosen a lot because families were not making enough money just on the parents working. With no education for these children, they grew up knowing nothing, unless they went to a later school like high school or college. This tough time affected some families so much that they chose to take their children out of school, just so they could produce more money for the family. With the help of this money eating-time period, schools that were still going hours were cut back by a lot. An author wrote on a website named Medium.com, “…prompting budget cutbacks that led to reductions in school hours, increased class sizes, lower teacher salaries, and school closings.” The evidence above shows how with people not making enough money, they had to reduce school hours. This means, they had to jam all the children into one class, cut back the money teachers were making, and sometimes they had to shut down the schools. The Depression affected schools so much, that they were either barely still running, or they would already be shut down. So many children were taken out of school just to get money for the family. This took such a huge toll on the world that schools were so limited that they could hardly pay to have the lights on or even the air conditioning. Nowadays, 14.9 million young adults are attending 9th to 12th grade. The majority of children today are going to school in a functional classroom with air conditioning and spread out classes with up to 30, more or less children in each class. This just shows how tough they had it back then when they had to jam everyone into one small class. We should realize how lucky we are to have standard classes that aren’t jammed up. To have a perfect education system with teachers that have been to college for many years is a pleasure. Back in the 1930s, children might not have noticed it, but they would have died for the education we get today. This is why the Great Depression affected Education during the 1930s very badly.
During the Depression, Major League Baseball was hit hardly. Americans loved baseball. Baseball was the thing to do when you wanted to take your mind off things. The fun part of the day. During this time period, things changed. Baseball teams went poor. Fans no longer attended games. Everything was going downhill. Major league baseball took a huge hit from the Great Depression and this is shown in an article by New York Times, stating, “Attendance fell 16 percent in 1931…” This evidence reveals to us how the Great Depression came out of nowhere and really hurt the Major League Baseball Association. During this time period, the professional stage of baseball was totally driven out of the way and was no longer the thing you looked forward to. No one had the money to go sit down and watch a baseball game. The lack of people having enough money to go and watch the professional baseball games hit every team extremely hard. With no one having enough money to purchase a ticket for the game, teams struggled at paying their star players. Even the richest of teams had a hard time. The Great Depression was a tough time for everyone and everything in the world. The MLB was affected so much because it didn’t have the center of attention anymore. No one focused on going to the games. The Depression led many teams to decisions they didn’t want to make. Many teams in the MLB cut coaches to save more money. This is shown in an article by New York Times, which states, “…kept costs down by reducing the number of coaches, or by eliminating them and employing player-managers.” This evidence shows how MLB teams cut coaches to save up more money during this time. During the Depression, the MLB was at a tough time. The teams barely had the scraps to pay their players. Many Major League Baseball players lost their job due to the Great Depression. The sport of baseball was just not at a good stage. When the teams can’t pay their players, then the players aren’t going to be happy. If the players aren’t happy then they will want to leave and that will force the games to be not as popular because of no good players. During this time, many players were cut and some players were welcomed to a team. People just weren’t as interested in baseball at this time. It wasn’t the thing people were focused on. During this terrible time, players salaries were reduced big time. This is shown in an article by the New York Times, “Players’ salaries fell by 25 percent on average, yet nearly every team, including the wealthy Yankees, lost money for at least a year or two in the decade.” This evidence discusses how the Great Depression really hit Professional baseball hard. It shows how the players of the popular sport were cut back on payday. Everyone on the professional level of baseball was affected by losing money from this deadly time. People during this time just didn’t see baseball as interesting as it was at the start. They didn’t see baseball as their top priority. Most people were focused on getting food for themselves or their families. This hard time struck out of nowhere and caught people with surprise. Baseball was no longer the center of attention for citizens in the US, and people focused on other things. The Great Depression affected many things worldwide, but I believe that it affected the MLB more than the others because of how people didn’t need it for a short period of time. Lastly, I believe that the top stage for baseball was affected the most because it was not citizens top priority to sit down and watch a baseball game during this very sad time.
During the Great Depression, everything was hit really hard and no one was expecting it. One of the things that got hit really hard were Unemployed Canadians. During the time of the depression, everyone was struggling. No one had a job. You could walk down the street in a popular city and you would see a line out of the door just for a job interview. Canadians were affected the most from this because other country immigrants were not the top priority. Americans hired the Americans first, then the other county immigrants got the leftovers. This is displayed in an article of History of Health Care in Canada, which states, “…Great Depression was a time when Canadians suffered unprecedented levels of poverty due to unemployment.” The Great Depression affected so many people worldwide that we didn’t know what to do. During this time, Canadians were set out on the streets. It’s pretty hard to just come to a country and just get everything. Canadians were so brand new to Americans that we didn’t think that they really meant a lot to us. They were not our priority. The American would get the job first, then after everyone was done, then it was left for the Canadian. There were so many of these Canadians left without a job. An article named History of Health Care in Canada also states, “By 1933, 30% of the labour force was unemployed and one in five Canadians depended on government relief.” To put it in another way, Canadians really didn’t have much jobs. Jobs were rare for them. Most of these Canadians were stuck on the side of the street because either no companies wanted to hire them or there just weren’t enough spots left. When they weren’t being hired, that caused them to depend on government relief. This was a very harsh time for these Canadians because of the fact that no one saw them as the important need for the country. The citizens of America believed that they were in America, Americans should come first, then the rest of the people. When the Depression hit, so many Canadians were fired. This is shown in an article that speaks about Canadians during the deadly time, stating, “…Due to over production, factories panicked and laid off huge amounts of workers.” In another way, this evidence displays how these workers were laid off heavily. During this time of stress and depression, the companies produced too much of a product and fired so many workers. Most of them being Canadians. When people get laid off, that means they aren’t getting payed. When people aren’t getting paid, they can’t buy food for themselves or their families. During this ferocious time, if you could not afford food for your family or yourself, you were basically screwed. If you can’t afford food, then you can’t afford shelter or a house. You would be out on the streets, trying to apply for a job. During the Depression, Canadians were looked at as the bottom stage. They weren’t really needed. Canadians were just another group to pay. In other words, another mouth to feed. That is why the Great Depression took a huge toll on Unemployed Canadians.
In all, the majority of the world was affected by the Great Depression. The great depression came when no one saw it coming. Our world came to a breaking point where nothing was going right. Companies didn’t even have enough money to hire workers. Everywhere on the street you would see people lined up for a job or a line out the door for free soup. It was a mess. But the things that were affected the most were Sports, Unemployed Canadians, and Education. I believe that these things were the most affected because they were all sort of new to us so they really didn’t even have a chance to grow. These things were all so new to us and that is why I believe that these few things were affected the most by the Great Depression.
