something quite new. It differs from schemes for appointing a Presidential or Congressional advisory commission in several respects. In the first place, because the commission would be an interstate commission, the reports of the working parties would be automatically concerned with state-by-state variations and would recognize the realities of the conditions in each state. In the second place, the recommendations would be directed to the state legislatures or state boards of education and would be considered by the state authorities because each state had been involved in the creation of the undertaking. In the third place, the magnitude and detailed nature of the financial demands required would be spelled out in such a way that Congress (through its own committees) and the Office of Education (through its own staff) could explore the significance of each item in terms of the function of the Federal governmental agencies.*** Admittedly, in setting up any working party, the most difficult task for the interstate commission would be an agreement on what I have called the framework. And to let a working party loose in any controversial area without some guidelines would be to insure catastrophic failure at the onset. Certain premises could be agreed on without much difficulty. These would constitute part of the framework for all of the working parties. In my opinion, these premises might be formulated somewhat as follows: 1. It is assumed that our present form of government should be perpetuated; to that end all future citizens of the nation should receive an education that will prepare them to function as responsible members of a free society, as intelligent voters and, if appointed or elected to public office, as honest reliable servants of the nation, state, or locality. 2. It is assumed that each state is committed to the proposition of providing free schooling to all the children in the state through twelve grades. (Though the Federal government has no power to proclaim the doctrine of free schools, practically the action of all the states during the last 100 years enables the interstate commission to declare that providing free public schooling is a nationwide policy of the United States.) to private schools, colleges, and universities instead of to the publicly supported institutions. This assumption follows from the interpretation of the Federal Constitution by the Supreme Court on more than one occasion. 4. It is assumed that each state desires to have all normal children in the state attend school at least five hours a day, 150 days a year, at least until they reach the age of 18, but that the states differ and will continue to differ in regard to the laws requiring school attendance and the way special provisions are provided for physically and mentally handicapped children. 5. It is assumed that each state accepts the responsibility of providing for the education of at least some of its youth beyond high school; the organization and financing of such education, however, differs and will continue to differ state by state; in each state opportunities for education beyond high school now includes at least one university chartered by the state and largely supported by public funds; the continuation of such universities as centers of research, advanced study, and above all, fearless free inquiry is essential to the welfare of the state and the nation. 6. It is assumed that the education provided in high school and beyond by public institutions is designed to develop the potentialities of all the youth to fit them for employment in a highly industrialized society. 7. The financing of education, including research and scholarly work in the universities, is a concern of private universities, the states, and the Federal govern ment. The declaration of some such set of premises by an interstate commission would be the first step in shaping a nationwide educational policy.*** After formulating the premises*** the commission would determine what subjects to explore and name the working parties.* Merely as illustration, therefore, I suggest at the outset, working parties devoted to the following seven areas, without implying priorities: 1. Education in grades 13 and 14 (junior colleges) and the relation of this education to (a) professional training in a university and (b) the need for technicians. I have heard more than once that, as a nation, we are in short supply of the kind of person who is trained in some European countries in a course that is more practical and less scientific than the usual four-year engineering course in the United States. This working party would, of course, consider the supply and demand of technical personnel, and would have to be in close contact with the second and third parties on the list. 2. Education for employment immediately on leaving high school, including vocational courses in high school and post-high school. 3. Science and engineering, including an inquiry into supply and demand of those prepared for research and development and the facilities available for training such personnel. 4. The education of the Negro. 5. The education of members of the medical profession. 6. Uniformity of standards for degrees beyond the master's degree. 7. The promotion of research and scholarly endeavors in all fields in our institutions of higher education. To generate momentum at the state level requires that each state put its educational planning machinery in good order. To this end, I conclude this book by appealing to all citizens concerned with education to make their voices heard at the state capitals. To the end that more order be introduced into the present national picture, I appeal to members of state legislatures and of the Congress to examine have presented in the preceding pages will be convinced, I feel sure, of the need for more detailed state-by-state study of American education. For only by such a study, looking forward to prompt action, can we arrive at a nationwide policy adequate to meet the challenges of the new and awesome age in which we live. THE PARTNERSHIP OF CAMPUS AND COUNTRY By Lyndon B. Johnson (1964) This final selection, by the President of the United States, discusses the teamwork necessary for making and keeping education "the first work of these times." It is from his address of September 28, 1964 on the occasion of the 200th Anniversary Convocation of Brown University. I want to consider with you today the future of an old and fruitful American partnership-the partnership of campus and country. That partnership was formed in 1787 when our forefathers gave us the command that "The means of education shall forever be encouraged." From that Northwest Ordinance to the Land Grant College Act, from the SmithHughes Act to the enactments of this present education Congress, America has kept faith with that command. In all history, no other nation has trusted education, invested in it, or relied upon it as a mean to national progress so much as we. A former great President of the Republic of Texas, Lamar, once said that the educated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. It is the only dictator that freemen recognize, and the only ruler that freemen desire. Yes, our partnership has paid us priceless returns. From a backward position American scholarship has flourished. Today, wherever our country leads, that leadership traces to the contribution of the campus. Our partnership is challenged now by new dimensions. From 1776 until the present time, our universities have grown. From 9 in the beginning to more than 2,000 today. From the present until 1980, our existing institutions must double in capacity, and 1,000 more must grow with average enrollments of 2,500 each. But before the total of American scholars has doubled, the sum of human knowledge shall have doubled or more. These are challenges that we should welcome, and that we should go out to meet, for the increase in scholarship is not a burden, but a blessing. The growth of knowledge is not a curse, but a cure for the ills of this age. Our concepts must change in both education and in politics. But our confidence and our courage must grow. At the desk where I sit in Washington, I have learned one great truth: The answer for all of our national problems, the answer for all the problems of the world, comes down, when you really analyze it, to one single word-education. Thus, I take a hopeful view, and I call upon you of this campus to join with us who are entrusted with the affairs of a country to help us chart a hopeful course. can take no comfort in the belief that what appears to be the whole truth today will be the whole truth tomorrow. I believe that our partnership must be committed, deeply committed, to seeking the truth, for actually it is truth alone that will finally keep us free. Knowledge is not something which threatens to overwhelm us. Knowledge promises to be our salvation, and we must seek after it, and we must nurture its growth, and we must spread it, spread it among all of our people so each one of them has some of it. Over the years, leadership of our university system has come from a relatively few great institutions, public and private. Well, I believe we must regard our existing centers of excellence as natural resources to set standards, to supply teachers, to furnish researchers for the new centers of excellence that we develop. This is a first responsibility. A great Nation or a great civilization feeds on the depth of its scholarship as well as the breadth of its educational opportunities. In the sciences, in the arts, in our understanding of human behavior, all of our tools must be sharpened. Our public policy must encourage further the spread of research and scholarship throughout our system of higher learning. In our graduate schools, your Federal Government-your Federal Government-awards 12,000 fellowships and 35,000 trainees in science and engineering. We spend $850 million -almost $1 billion-on the support of reasearch in our universities alone. The partnership of Government, your Government-not in any way off yonder, but something that belongs to you-the partnership of your Government and the universities is closest in the advanced education of postgraduate students. Twentynine percent of engineering students, 37 percent of the students in physical science, 46 percent of those in life sciences, and 10 percent of those in humanities are aided. And there simply just must be no neglect of humanities. The values of our free and compassionate society are as vital to our national success as the skills of our technical and scientific age. And I look with the greatest favor upon the proposal by your own able President Keeney's commission for a national foundation for the humanities. We must also make certain that there is no neglect or no compromise of the American devotion to democracy of educational opportunity, because universal, free, public education is the very foundation upon which our entire society rests today. So our goals must be to open the doors to education beyond the high school to all young Americans, regardless of station or the station of their families. You and I have an opportunity that is not unlike that of the men and women who first formed these New England States. We have the opportunity to plant the seed corn of a new American greatness and to harvest its yield in every section of this great land. On the response of our partnership depends the vigor and the quality of our American way of life, for many generations yet to come. As a party to that partnership, let me urge you of this campus to admit no compromise in charting our course to excellence. Concern yourselves not with what seems feasible, not with what seems attainable, not with what seems politic, but concern yourselves with only what you know is right. Your duty is the vision. The duty of the world that I represent is the reality. Lawrence A. Cremin: The Transformation of The School Robert Maynard Hutchins: The Higher Learning in America Jacques Maritain: Education at The Crossroads Copyright, 1943, Yale University Press A. N. Whitehead: The Aims of Education and Other Essays ✩U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1965 O 783-489 |