Defense Education Act there are problems. But when these problems are considered in the light of the total project which is making such a significant contribution to the educational standards of our country, they are minimal. The value of NDEA reaches far beyond its immediate area. It has been a fresh stimulus for the entire educational system. Further, it has demonstrated to the parents that it is possible to do something about education in this country. The mothers and fathers of the students who topped all students in Arkansas and Missouri on that nationwide physics test saw at firsthand the effect of the injection given by the NDEA. The NDEA has not only made an important contribution to the sciences-it has also made a vital contribution to the science of teaching with the availability of materials such as those of Dr. White and Dr. Baxter which high school teachers have understudied. Having begun such an important work, it is the hope that the NDEA will be continued. With the problems we confront as a nation, the continuance of those forces aiding and abetting the educational accomplishments of our future citizens would seem worthy of the highest priority. I want to urge that this committee, several of whom participated in launching and creating this act in the first instance when it was the Hill-Elliott Act, protect and defend the integrity and essential purpose for which this act was conceived. I should like to make it clear that many organizations, including mine, have excellent and abundant materials in the area of providing instruction in physical fitness. The question, however, which I should like to raise stems not from the availability of materials which could be readily purchased if physical fitness is included in the act, but whether the purposes and intent of the NDEA can be properly carried out if funds are made available for physical fitness as contrasted to academic pursuits. The point is not whether physical fitness is of itself deemed advisable. I believe that most Americans recognize the need for strong bodies to accompany well-developed minds. However, the NDEA came into being because of the intellectual and scientific challenge to our country. Its intent, as outlined in section 101 of the act, the findings and declaration of policy, states-"The Congress hereby finds and declares the security of the Nation requires the fullest development of the mental resources and technical skills of its young men and women. The present emergency demands that additional and more adequate educational opportunities be made available. The defense of this Nation depends upon the mastery of modern techniques developed from complex scientific principles. It depends, as well, upon the discovery and development of new principles, new techniques, and new knowledge." This is the objective you have been able to accomplish with the moneys provided under the National Defense Education Act. When you wrote this act you also focused attention on the desire and determination of the United States to give its young people encouragement and recognition in intellectual pursuits. This original purpose should not now be diluted to include physical fitness. I would also raise the question that, should limitations be placed upon the wording of the act, that, with the necessary freedom permitted the States, individual situations could arise where the body would take precedence over the mind. Recognizing the importance of the physical development of our youth, if provision of funds for this purpose is now deemed important, would it not be preferable to have these funds made available through a separate bill? In this way the National Defense Education Act would be permitted to continue to carry on, aggressively and unhindered, programs for scholastic achievement so important to the present and future of our Nation. Finally, I understand an amendment to part B, title VII, has been proposed providing funds for "the holding of institutes and workshops for the training of teachers, school administrators, principals, new educational media specialists, supervisory personnel, or faculty members of institutions of teacher education, and the utilization of new educational media.” The availability of materials in the areas specified under NDEA is accomplishing a great deal. Added teacher skills in the use of these materials can accomplish even more. This is especially so with the continued development of new techniques in the skillful application of these materials and the development of new equipment and materials themselves. The inclusion of funds under title VII for the training of teachers in the utilization of new educational media would be a significant step. To your wise judgment and that of your colleagues will be left the determination as to whether the National Defense Education Act should be extended to include subject areas other than science, mathematics, and modern foreign languages. I will only observe that, as I travel across the country, I hear more and more expressions of hope by educators for the inclusion of other essential academic areas such as English, history, and geography which are consistent with the original purpose of the act. In conclusion, I wish to thank you for the privilege of appearing before you and to say that the impetus which has been given to education in our country through the availability of funds under the NDEA is not only helping to improve the intellectual achievements of individual students, but is indeed raising the entire educational standards of our country. I hope the committee will preserve the purposes of the bill intact, and not permit it to become an omnibus. As worthwhile as these needs may be, to say they should fall under NDEA is to change the character of the legislation, and where you change the character of the NDEA you weaken its purpose which was and is to develop the minds of our young people for the future security of our country. Senator MORSE. I want to thank you very much for this helpful statement. I will not ask any questions on it, only because the subject matter has been covered by other witnesses several times in the hearings, and we have asked them questions. If we asked you questions, we would only make it cumulative. We will take notice the answers would be the same. This is a very good statement. It will receive our very careful attention. Senator CASE. I have no questions. Mr. EDWARDS. Thank you. Senator MORSE. The last witness will be Dr. Edgar Grim, deputy superintendent of public instruction for the State of Michigan. STATEMENT OF EDGAR GRIM, DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION FOR THE STATE OF MICHIGAN Mr. GRIM. My name is Edgar L. Grim, deputy superintendent of public instruction in Michigan. I am representing Gov. John B. Swainson, and superintendent of public instruction, Lynn Bartlett. With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I will merely read Governor Swainson's short letter to you and the members of your committee, and underscore by comment a few paragraphs in Dr. Bartlett's report, which I understand will be printed in the proceedings. Senator MORSE. It will be included. Mr. GRIM. Governor Swainson, in a letter to your subcommittee, says: My testimony before this subcommittee last March 14 in regards to the need for Federal aid to education, I am sure indicated very clearly my thinking on the subject. I should like now to go on record specifically regarding Senate bill 1726 which is to extend and improve the National Defense Education Act. I am in complete accord with the statement made by Dr. Lynn M. Bartlett our State superintendent of public instruction, and those made by our local school superintendents. We speak from a position of educational strength in Michigan. Our citizens are giving great support to public education at all levels. However, there is no question in our minds that the aid and impetus given by the National Defense Education Act has been of considerable benefit. I strongly urge favorable action on Senate bill 1726. Respectfully yours, JOHN B. SWAINSON, Governor of the State of Michigan. Dr. Bartlett points out the need for the extension of title II by saying that all of our nine publicly supported institutions of higher learning are participating, that our three largest institutions have exceeded the $250,000 limitation, and, therefore, he recommends this be raised to the figure of $500,000. In title III, I would just like to point out its significance to our - local school districts. We were not allowed to participate, through failure of the legislature, to take action during the first year. However, when we did secure permission, schools representing 92.8 percent of the public school membership of the State submitted project proposals totaling nearly $10 million. However, only slightly over $4 million was available in Federal funds. During this current year, for example, we have been allocated a total of $1,981,000, but our project request totaled over $7 million. Dr. Bartlett has statements from several local school authorities which I will not read at this time. In regard to title V, I would like to point out that we got started in the late spring of 1960, and in spite of this fact, 301 high schools were due for participation in the testing program, and 180 high schools for participation in guidance and counseling programs. This has had a tremendous impact in reducing the counselor-pupil ratio in many of our high school districts in the State. For example, in Detroit, title V has assisted in making possible to lower the studentcounselor ratio from 538 to 396 in the senior high school, and from 618 to 491 in the junior high school. Again, he has statements from several local school administrators point out the impact of title V on their counsel, guidance and testing programs. I will go over to title VIII, and just read a paragraph. Michigan has received $988,816.04 under title VIII for the training of technicians. During the 3-year period of our participation in this program, 12,590 persons have received or are receiving technical training, and we think this is a significant contribution to our educational program. I appreciate this opportunity of presenting this testimony. We have just two purposes in mind: (1) To point out the impact on local school systems; and, (2) To urge extension of the National Defense Education Act. (The complete statement of Dr. Bartlett follows:) STATE OF MICHIGAN, OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, Lansing. EDUCATION SUBCOMMITTEE, Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee: My testimony before this subcommittee last March 14 in regard to the need for Federal aid to education, I am sure indicated very clearly my thinking on the subject. I should like now to go on record specifically regarding Senate bill 1726 which is to extend and improve the National Defense Education Act. I am in complete accord with the statement made by Dr. Lynn M. Bartlett our State superintendent of public instruction, and those made by our local school superintendents. We speak from a position of educational strength in Michigan. Our citizens are giving great support to public education at all levels. However, there is no question in our minds that the aid and impetus given by the National Defense Education Act has been of considerable benefit. I strongly urge favorable action on Senate bill 1726. JOHN B. SWAINSON, Governor of the State of Michigan. TESTIMONY REGARDING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE EDUCATION ACT OF 1958 AND ITS EFFECT ON THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM IN MICHIGAN (By Dr. Lynn M. Bartlett, State superintendent of public instruction) Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am pleased indeed to be given the opportunity to submit a statement concerning Senate bill 1726 which is intended to extend and improve the National Defense Education Act. While my office has been directly involved with the administration in Michigan of only titles III, V-A, and VIII, we have been vitally concerned with the entire act. I would, therefore, like to comment on most of the titles and their proposed amendments in Senate bill 1726. TITLE II I am gratified to see the proposed expansion of the student loan program in Senate bill 1726. There is every indication that the need for provision of assistance to able students to continue their college careers will not only continue but will increase. In Michigan, all nine of our 4-year publicly supported institutions of higher education are participating in title II program. Three of these institutions, Michigan State University, University of Michigan, and Wayne State University, have already reached the maximum loan limit of $250,000, and have had requests far in excess of this amount. I definitely favor the raising of the ceiling on annual Federal contributions to a single college loan fund to $500,000 and strongly agree with the proposal to make the student loan fund a permanent program. As a member of the various governing boards of our State supported colleges and universities, I know our college and university enrollment will increase and the need for this phase of the NDEA will increase. TITLE III Our experience in Michigan with title III has been most gratifying. It unquestionably has been of great assistance in the improvement and extension of curricular offerings in science, mathematics, and modern foreign languages. Attached to this report are two tables that give some indication of the extent of our participation. While we were unable to secure permission of our own State legislature to participate in this program during 1958-59, when such permission was finally granted during the 1959-60 schools representing 92.8 percent of the public school membership of the State submitted project proposals totaling nearly $10 million. However, only $4,117,500 was available in Federal money. Even though we were able to use Federal funds allocated to Michigan for both fiscal 1959 and fiscal 1960, it was still necessary for us to cut the approved portions of these submitted projects by an average of 16.8 percent. During the current year, Federal funds allocated to Michigan under title III totaled $1,981,000. Projects submitted to us represented a combined Federallocal total of $7,241,311. The adjustment of approved requests to the amount of Federal funds available represented an average cut of 45.27 percent. In many instances this adjustment in requests has meant that the full science program planned by the district had to be delayed. For example: East Lansing Public Schools, Cecil MacDonald, superintendent We had developed lists of materials that we could really make good use of in all the areas, science, mathematics, and foreign language, and, of course, have had to cut back in accordance with whatever allotment we would have in these areas and it has meant that we can't allocate other funds to get these supplies, thus we will have to lack them until funds are provided We feel that everything we had on the lists very essential to a good program and we have not had the funds; we can't up our local taxes as we have 4 extra mills now, thus it is just a case of waiting until more funds are available before we can follow through with our plans. Highland Park public schools, Fred Davenport, assistant superintendent Our school district for many years has been unable to finance the adequate science facilities and with title III we are hopeful to be able to do substantial renovation. However, at this point we find that the funds available are so meager that they will undoubtedly cut down on anything we can anticipate in the future. The $58,000 requested was not a program beyond what we actually need, but the very meager reimbursement of $18,000 that we will receive will mean that we obviously will not be able to carry through. We certainly feel that this program should carry forward in the years to come so, even though small, we will be able to carry through on our various programs. Springfield public schools, Bruce Sellers, superintendent In general we had planned to use NDEA materials in equipping our junior high areas and also for use in the elementary language and science programs. As a result of the cutback we had to go to our people and ask for additional operating funds because the requested material was so essential. Thus, for the first time in the history of Springfield schools we had to vote for additional operating funds. Wyandotte public schools, Fred Davenport, assistant superintendent For the 1960-61 school year the school district of the city of Wyandotte, Mich., requested $189,000 under the provision of NDEA, most of which was to be used for the strengthening, expansion, and improvement of our secondary science program. Because of an insufficiency of funds for the State of Michigan, our request was cut by the Michigan Department of Public Instruction to only $25,000. Consequently it has become impossible for us to realize our improvement goals in secondary science at the present time even though some funds ordinarily used elsewhere in our educational program have been diverted to the science area. Dowagiac public schools, John Hicks, superintendent Last year as superintendent of schools at Cheboygan, I was able for the first time to equip counselors' offices adequately and to reduce the student-counselor ratio from 480 to 320 for the full-time counseling. This year at Dowagiac, National Defense Education Act funds, title V-A enabled us to employ sufficient counseling help to reduce the counseling ratio from 800 students per counselor to 480. This increase in counselor time coupled with the purchase of additional needed guidance materials, I believe, will do a great deal to help our students with their educational and vocational planning. These figures clearly show the value placed upon this program by Michigan's elementary and secondary schools and demonstrate that the funds made available to Michigan were not adequate to fill the need. Inadequate though the funds were, they have already contributed significantly to the improvement of instruction in these areas. I also look with favor upon the proposed expansion of this title in S. 1726 to include physical fitness. In addition, urge that the Congress consider further expansion of this title in order that it might include English, history, geography, economics, and government as subjects of instruction in elementary and secondary schools. The following statements given me by local school administrators provide some testimony as to what this program has already done for Michigan's public schools: Grand Rapids public schools, Benjamin J. Buikema, superintendent Grand Rapids schools have profited greatly through the provisions of the National Defense Education Act. We were able to implement the science recommendations which were made as a result of a 2-year systemwide science study. Our laboratories have been modernized and our equipment and supplies have been greatly augmented. Arithmetical and algebraic principles and processes and geometric forms are being concretely demonstrated by the excellent equipment we have been able to purchase. |