Background
William John Cooper was born on November 24, 1882 in Sacramento, California, United States. He was the son of William James Cooper, who removed to California from Sydney, Australia, and Belle Stanley (Leary) Cooper of San Francisco.
William John Cooper was born on November 24, 1882 in Sacramento, California, United States. He was the son of William James Cooper, who removed to California from Sydney, Australia, and Belle Stanley (Leary) Cooper of San Francisco.
After preparatory education at Red Bluff he entered the University of California in 1902, gained a reputation as a "distinguished student, " majoring in Latin and history, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts degree in 1906. In 1917, having pursued studies in history and education, he received Master of Arts degree from the University of California.
The San Francisco disaster of 1906 gave him an opportunity to assist in relief as secretary of Edward T. Devine.
Cooper served as assistant in the department of history at the university. After graduation he taught Latin and history at the Stockton high school from 1907 to 1910; was head of the department of history at Berkeley senior high school and junior high schools from 1910 to 1915, and was supervisor of social studies at Oakland public schools from 1915 to 1918.
For eight months (1918 - 19) he served the commission on education and special training of the United States War Department. Following a decade of teaching, he entered administrative work in the public schools of California, at Piedmont, 1918-21, Fresno, 1921-26, and at San Diego, 1926-27. Invited by Governor Young in 1927 to become state superintendent of public instruction and state director of education, he accepted the post.
Two years later President Coolidge made him United States commissioner of education and he served in this capacity from February 11, 1929, to July 10, 1933.
He was the author of Economy in Education (1933) and published many papers in professional journals.
During his commissionership he was in demand as a speaker, delivering 229 written addresses and numerous others extemporaneously.
During his years of administrative work he held summer positions at the University of California, the University of Oregon, and the University of Michigan; taught part time at Fresno State Teachers College and Johns Hopkins University, and held a professorship of education at George Washington University, 1933-35. While on his way to California in the fall of 1935 he suffered a paralytic stroke and died at Kearney, Nebraska.
His views were in harmony with the current philosophy of his time that schools should teach how, not what, to think; hence he opposed laws restricting instruction in theories of evolution.
As commissioner of education he urged the reorganization of education throughout the country.
He urged a reform in the administration of schools designed to promote harmony between governors and state superintendents and to increase centralization of control.
Several pronouncements during his public career indicate somewhat of Cooper's philosophy.
He recommended the appointment of a lay committee to study the whole educational system, to the end that it might be better organized and directed toward the fulfilment of a definite program. While he thought existing state systems "pretty good, " he believed that the increasing concentration of wealth would inevitably mean more support and ultimate control by the federal government, though the danger of this was clear to him. In 1927 he attacked the policy of giving life certificates to teachers in California. He believed that junior colleges ought to be established extensively, both for their convenience to families and for their effect in reducing college enrollments. He felt that education had not caught up with the machine age, whereas to prepare adequately for life it should be in advance of the social order. Devoted to executive work chiefly, he was nevertheless friendly toward scholarship and encouraged the work of others.
Cooper was a member of many professional organizations, clubs, and honorary societies.
He was regarded by those who knew him as honest, ambitious, and intelligent, a diligent worker and an able teacher and administrator.
His genial nature endeared him to many and stood him in good stead in winning the cooperation of able men in projects which he sponsored.
He was married to Edna Curtis of Sacramento on August 19, 1908. To them three children were born: William Curtis, Elizabeth Fales, and John Stanley.