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must reflect also the special social, economic, cultural, and educational characteristics of the District itself. Hence, as the Committee immediately recognized, the proper discharge of its assignment required specific information on educational conditions in the District. Early meetings with representatives of the five privately controlled universities in the District, of D.C. Teachers College, and of the public school system of the District greatly aided the Committee in identifying the areas in which it should seek further information. Some materials were ready at hand, but several areas required intensive investigation by the Committee. The following studies have therefore been made by or under the supervision of the Committee's staff:

1. An inquiry into the needs for post-high school education in the District, with special reference to the characteristics of the population to be served and its undeveloped potentials.

2. A comparison of the general characteristics and the educational resources of the District with those of other selected urban centers in the United States.

3. An inventory and analysis of the institutions now offering post-high school educational services in the District, with special attention to the roles of the D.C. Teachers College and the five privately controlled universities in serving the District's needs.

4. An appraisal of the resources of these six institutions for training elementary and secondary school teachers and for offering courses for the upgrading and intellectual advancement of teachers.

5. An analysis of the employment needs of the District, their relation to existing unemployment, especially among young people, and the potentially available supply of persons who might be trained in the skills demanded by prospective employers.

The Committee also sought data on two other subjects: (1) estimates of the number of District secondary school students who could reasonably be expected to pursue their studies in publicly supported institutions of higher education if such institutions were to be established, and (2) local opinion on the District's needs for such institutions.

In pursuit of the first objective, a questionnaire was distributed to and answered by a 10 percent random sample of secondary school seniors living in the District and attending the District's public, private and parochial schools. Further information was obtained on this subject by an analysis conducted with the cooperation of officials of the District's senior public high schools, showing the "college-able" graduates of the class of 1963 who did not enter 4-year colleges full time in the fall of 1963 and the reasons for their failure to do so.

To obtain knowledge of local opinion, a wide selection of District organizations and civic leaders was invited to comment on a number of general and specific questions relating to the problems before the Committee. The Committee also announced publicly that it would welcome written comments on the same problems from other members of the community. Furthermore, to the extent permitted by its schedule, Committee members, both at official meetings and individually, have discussed the problems with a considerable number of persons in the District.

Apart from studies and investigations essentially related to the District, the Committee commissioned several information papers by persons with expert knowledge in specific fields. Papers were written for the Committee by Dr. S. V. Martorana, of the New York State Department of Education and formerly of the U.S. Office of Education, on "The Community College"; by Professor Donald Maley, head of the Industrial Education Department of the University of Maryland, on "Post-High School Technical and Vocational Education"; by Judge Mary Conway Kohler, now a member of the Board of Education, New York City, on "Post-High School Education for Those with Underdeveloped Potential"; and by Dr. Ethel Venables, Nuffield Research Unit, University of Birmingham (England), on "The Pool of Talent for Technical Education and its Identification."

The Committee feels confident that, from all of these sources, it has acquired a sound and adequate basis for its recommendations, and believes that further investigation and documentation would only provide confirmation of its conclusions.

II. THE EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

A. General Considerations

Probably never in our history has there been greater recognition of the necessity of education in making available for the general welfare of the United States the talents of all Americans, including those now submerged by poverty, disadvantaged by environment, handicapped by inadequate educational backgrounds or blighted by hopelessness. We no longer accept only the advancement of knowledge made by colleges and universities through the education of leaders and professional specialists. We now recognize the potentials of institutions of higher education in the development of persons who do not enter the conventional 4-year college, and the contributions such institutions can make to the solution of the ominous threats to human dignity, order and freedom which arise from unemployment, poverty and lack of access to opportunities for self-realization.

President John F. Kennedy, in his Special Message on Education in 1962, emphasized the role of education in a democracy:

The concept that every American deserves the opportunity to attain the highest level of education of which he is capable is a traditional ideal of democracy. . . .

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For education is both the foundation and the unifying force of our democratic way of life-it is the mainspring of our economic and social progress—it is the highest expression of achievement in our society, ennobling and enriching human life. In short, it is at the same time the most profitable investment society can make and the richest reward it can confer.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his Budget Message of January 1964, emphasized the function of education in any effective attack on poverty:

We owe to every young person in America a fair start in life—and this means that we must attack those deficiencies in education, training, health, and

job opportunities by which the fetters of poverty
are passed on from parents to children. . . .

And in his 1964 Manpower Report, after pointing out that "Education must provide, as a basic part of its human development responsibility, the preparation needed for effective participation in our economic life," President Johnson stressed three needs relevant to any consideration of posthigh school education:

We must provide broad opportunity for education beyond high school.

We must provide increased opportunity for education at the postgraduate level.

We must provide extensive programs of adult education.

The Congress is significantly in accord, as is attested by its recent approval of several measures for the improvement of education and educational facilities. Indeed, the Findings and Declaration of Policy of the Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963 recites:

The Congress hereby finds that the security and welfare of the United States require that this and future generations of American youth be assured ample opportunity for the fullest development of their intellectual capacities.

Historically, efforts to relieve the deprivations suffered by disadvantaged segments of the population-the farm population, women and immigrant groups—have depended heavily on opportunities provided for higher education. The landgrant colleges transformed rural life between 1865 and 1940. The opening of opportunities for higher education to large numbers of women through women's colleges, coeducational colleges, normal schools and teachers' colleges has been a fundamental contribution to the improved status of women. State colleges and universities, public junior colleges and urban universities have helped to bring into the mainstream of American life many national and ethnic groups.

Today there is paramount need to provide full educational opportunities for the urban multitudes who are struggling under the burden of economic and cultural handicaps. Provisions for higher education must accommodate persons with the widest range of abilities, previous educational back

grounds and career goals. No one with the potential ability to profit from higher education should be excluded because of inability to pay tuition or other charges or because of remediable deficiencies in prior education.

Higher education for those to whom it was previously inaccessible produces consequences far beyond their own use of it. Availability makes a crucial difference in the motivation for learning at all levels and for all ages, generating hope and self-esteem among individuals and groups previously relegated to inferior status. Presenting models of successful escape from degrading conditions and providing trained leadership for those still struggling to emerge from an unfavorable background, higher education offers the best hope for community progress in our cities' battles against poverty, sickness, unemployment, and crime.

The Committee has examined the reactions to this educational need in each of the 16 cities in the United States that are comparable to Washington in size (more than 250,000) and that have a substantial (more than 20 percent) nonwhite population. Almost without exception, each has recognized that the need requires the resources of strong public institutions of higher education as well as strong private colleges and universities.

Five of these cities (Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, and St. Louis) have local public junior (or community) colleges with low tuition rates ($250 a year or less). A sixth city, Philadelphia, is in the process of organizing such an institution. Seven cities (Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, and St. Louis) have the advantage of State-supported colleges or universities-or both-with overall costs, including room and board as well as tuition and general fees, of less than $750 a year. Six additional cities (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Detroit, Newark, and Philadelphia) are in States where the allinclusive costs of attending State colleges or universities are above $750 but below $1,000.

B. The Educational Resources and Deficiencies of the District

In considering the District as one of the 10 largest cities in the United States and as the Capital of the Nation, one is inevitably struck by a number of anomalies. On the one

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