Committee Prints

It is not surprising, therefore, that President Johnson, upon delivering his state of the Union message at the beginning of the 89th Congress, stressed the unique role that education must play if we are to achieve our goals of liberty, equality, and union.

The committee print here presented will serve as a basis for the consideration of the President's request for legislation in education. Except for title VII in H.R. 2361 which I introduced, the bills included in this document represent the recommendations of the administration.

In January of 1962, I published a committee print entitled "New Image in Education” in which I recommended the establishment of a Department of Education which would coordinate all of the Federal Government's efforts and responsibilities in education. After a thor

a ough study, we noted that more than 40 governmental agencies were involved in education. Such facts give further evidence that a Secretary of Education is desirable. For this reason I have added this item as a separate title to the administration's bill. Considerations and background materials regarding all levels (elementary, secondary, and higher education) are included. We believe such information will be of tremendous assistance to all concerned with education legislation.

ADAM C. POWELL, Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor.

V

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE ON EDUCATION

TOWARD FULL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

To the Congress of the United States :

In 1787, the Continental Congress declared in the Northwest Ordinance: Schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.

America is strong and prosperous and free because for 178 years we have honored that commitment. In the United States today

One-quarter of all Americans are in the Nation's classrooms. High school attendance has grown eighteenfold since the turn of the century; six times as fast as the population.

College enrollment has advanced eightyfold. Americans today support a fourth of the world's institutions of higher learning

and a third of its professors and college students. In the life of the individual, education is always an unfinished task.

And in the life of this Nation, the advancement of education is a continuing challenge. There is a darker side to education in America:

One student out of every three now in the fifth grade will drop out before finishing high school if the present rate continues.

Almost a million young people will continue to quit school each year if our schools fail to stimulate their desire to learn.

Over 100,000 of our brightest high school graduates each year will not go to college, and many others will leave college, if the opportunity for higher education is not expanded. The cost of this neglect runs high, both for the youth and the Nation.

Unemployment of young people with an eighth grade education or less is four times the national average.

Jobs filled by high school graduates rose by 40 percent in the last 10 years. Jobs for those with less schooling decreased by nearly

10 percent. We can measure the cost in even starker terms. We now spend about $150 a year per child in our public schools. But we spend $1,800 a year to keep a delinquent youth in a detention home, $2,500 a year for a family on relief, $3,500 a year for a criminal in State prison.

The growing numbers of young people reaching school age demand that we move swiftly even to stand still.

Attendance in elementary and secondary schools will increase by 4 million in the next 5 years; 400,000 new classrooms will be needed to meet this growth. But over 112 million of the Nation's existing classrooms are already more than 30 years old.

The post-World War II boom in babies has now reached college age. And by 1970, our colleges must be prepared to add 50 per

cent more enrollment to their presently overcrowded facilities. In the past, Congress has supported an increased commitment to

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