William John Cooper

William John Cooper (November 24, 1882 – September 19, 1935) was an American educator who served as US Commissioner of Education from February 1929 to July 1933.

According to the New York Times: "His fundamental theory of education, which he often repeated, was that the ultimate goal of teaching should be, not how to make a living, but how to live. Nevertheless, he believed that the system of education in this country should break away from the older traditions of Europe and seek to express the cultural developments of the New World. In one of his last public addresses Dr. Cooper urged a complete reorganization of the education system in this country to bring the schools into closer harmony with modern conditions." He began his career as a high school teacher of Latin and History in Stockton, California from 1907 to 1910, then directed history teaching in Berkeley, California for four junior high schools and one senior high school, as head of the Department of History of Berkeley High School from 1910 to 1915. From 1915 to 1918 he supervised social studies instruction for Oakland public schools. He worked for the US War Department for eighth months from 1918 to 1919 in education and training. He served as the district superintendent of schools in Piedmont, California from 1918 to 1921, and the city superintendent of schools in Fresno from 1921 to 1926. According to Cooper's 1935 obituary in the Fresno Bee: "[Cooper] put into operation [in Fresno] a system which was considered one of the most efficient in the state. Fresno's public schools to-day are operating largely upon the basis laid down by Cooper in his five-year term as superintendent. He instituted wide reform of the curriculum and directed an $1,800,000 school building program." He also taught as a part-time instructor at Fresno State Teachers College from 1923 to 1926. He served as superintendent of schools in San Diego in 1926, and was then appointed by Governor Young to be California State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1927. He served in that position until February 1929, when US President Calvin Coolidge appointed him to be the Eighth United States Commissioner of Education. His nomination was confirmed by the Senate during the fourth week of January, 1929. He was re-appointed by President Herbert Hoover and served in the first four months of the Franklin Roosevelt administration, serving in total from February 11, 1929 to July 10, 1933. At the time Cooper served, the US Commissioner of Education was not a cabinet-level position. Cooper reported to the United States Secretary of the Interior. Ray Lyman Wilbur was Secretary of the Interior during the Hoover administration. Wilbur served concurrently as President of Stanford University. It was possibly Wilbur who suggested to President-elect Hoover that Cooper be appointed to the Commissioner of Education position. Hoover was a graduate of Stanford University.

According to Cooper's biography listed in Dictionary of American Biography: "As commissioner Cooper sponsored certain important investigations: a national survey of secondary education, national survey of the education of teachers, and a national survey of school finance which was cut short by the depression. To the national office he added the post of assistant commissioner and specialists in comparative education, tests and measurements, radio education, and the education of Negroes and exceptional children. 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."

In 1933, Cooper resigned the position of US Commissioner of Education without giving a reason and became a professor at George Washington University in the District of Columbia. He also taught as a lecturer in education at the University of Michigan in the summer of 1935. He suffered a stroke while riding as a passenger in an automobile on September 10, 1935 and died nine days later on September 19, 1935 in Kearney, Nebraska, after having finished teaching a summer school course at the University of Michigan. He obtained his bachelor's (A.B. degree, 1906, dual major in Latin and history) and master's (M.A. degree, 1917, double major in education and history) degrees from the University of California. He was born in Sacramento, California.

As explained by Frederik Ohles, et al.: "Cooper held that the time had come for education in the United States to end its dependence on European traditions and that it was necessary to create a new manner of education rooted in the culture of the New World. As the nation's commissioner of education, he called for consolidation of rural school districts and for greater guidance of schools by the states. He inaugurated surveys of educational practices in high schools nationwide, of teacher education, and of school finance."

Although Cooper did not achieve an earned doctorate, he received nine honorary degrees during his career, including an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (LL.D.) from Whittier College in 1927, an honorary doctorate in education (Ed.D.) from the University of Southern California in 1928, and honorary doctor of laws (LL.D.) degrees from Detroit City College in 1929, Birmingham Southern College in 1930, and Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1931. He received an honorary Doctor of Litt. from Rhode Island State College in 1931, an honorary Doctor of Science in Education by George Washington University in 1931, and an honorary Ph.D. from the New York State Teachers College also in 1931. He also received an honorary LL.D. from Dickinson College in 1932. As president of the senior class, he was selected to give a student address at the commencement ceremony at the University of California (Berkeley) in 1906. He served as a Regent of the University of California from 1927 to 1929. He graduated with honors as a member of the Class of 1902 at Red Bluff High School in Red Bluff, California. In 1922, as Superintendent of Fresno City schools, Cooper worked on a plan to establish "intermediate schools," which would be attended by students of ability canvased from the existing elementary schools (grades 1 to 6). Later, in 1959, a junior high school in Fresno, California was named after him.

William John Cooper was the son of William James Cooper, who immigrated to the US from Sydney, Australia, and Belle Stanley (Leary) Cooper. Miss Leary was from San Francisco. They were married on February 22, 1882 in Sacramento, California. William James Cooper was a house painter and moved the family to Cottonwood, California near Red Bluff where William John was then enrolled in high school. William John Cooper became engaged to Edna Curtis of Sacramento 10 days before the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, and they were married on Aug. 19, 1908. They had three children: William Curtis Cooper (1909–1987), Elizabeth Fales Cooper (1912–1988), and John Stanley Cooper (1918-2011). As a senior at the University of California in Berkeley, William John Cooper worked as an assistant in the Department of History. Cooper also taught summer session class at the University of California in 1919, 1920, 1924, 1926, and 1927, and also a summer session class at the University of Oregon in 1923. He was a part-time instructor at Johns Hopkins University in the spring of 1932. He was a member of the Federal Board for Vocational Education from 1930 to 1933, as well as the District of Columbia Commission on Licensure from 1930 to 1933. He was a member of the National Education Association (NEA) and also a member of the Department of Superintendence of the NEA. He was a member of the National Society for the Study of Education and also served as director and president of the Bay and Central sections of the California Teachers Association. He was a member of the A.A.A.S., as well as the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and was also a member of Kappa Phi Kappa, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Delta Kappa and Alpha Sigma Phi. He was president of the Federal Schoolmen's Club in 1930-1931. Volumes 16 (for 1930-31) and 17 (for 1932-33) of Marquis' Who's Who in America (but not Volume 18 for 1934-35) list Cooper as being a member of the Cosmos and Torch clubs, as well as being a Republican. In 1911 he was a member of the American Historical Association. In 1929 Cooper oversaw the functioning of the Advisory Committee on Education by Radio, which was set up per the request of the Interior Secretary.

Cooper's widow, Edna Cooper, died on Saturday, September 15, 1956 in Oakland, California, after an illness of seven weeks.