COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR

ADAM C. POWELL, New York, Chairman

LOUISE MAXIENNE DARGANS, Chief Clerk
RUSSELL C. DERRICKSON, Staff Director
DEBORAH P. WOLFE, Education Chief

HOWARD G. GAMSER, Chief Counsel for Labor-Management LIVINGSTON L. WINGATE, Associate Counsel for Labor-Management TERESA CALARRESE, Administrative Assistant to Chairman RICHARD T. BURRESS, Minority Clerk

THE. NEW IMAGE IN EDUCATION

HISTORIC FAITH IN EDUCATION

On February 20 of last year, as President Kennedy sent his first. special message on education to the Congress, he said:

Our

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. requirements for world leadership, our hopes for economic growth, and the demands of citizenship itself in an era such as this, all require the maximum development of every young American's capacity. The human mind is our fundamental resource ***. Our twin goals must be: a new standard of excellence in education and the availability of such excellence to all who are willing and able to pursue it.

This respect for education as a necessary ingredient for attaining and maintaining a democratic nation is a part of our heritage. America's faith in education was demonstrated by the early date at which schools were established.

Schools were organized almost immediately after settlements were developed, for the American fathers believed that a democracy could only be firm and enduring if there were an enlightened citizenry. And so, in the development of our country, the first institution to be founded was the home; immediately after the home came the church; then came the school, almost concurrently with the church. The attitude of the early settlers toward education is seen in this quotation from an early New England pamphlet entitled "New England's Fruits," printed in London in 1643:

After God had carried us safe to New England

And wee had builded our houses

Provided necessaries for our livelihood

Reard convenient places for God's worship

And settled the civil government

One of the next things we longed for

And looked after was to advance learning

And perpetuate it to posterity

Dreading to leave an illiterate ministry

to the churches when our present ministers
Shall lie in the Dust.

And so the first schools in the United States were established upon the initiative of the people of local communities and without any suggestion or requirement on the part of the colonial legislatures. Traditionally, the administration and control of formal education through the schools has remained in the hands of the local community. Compulsory education laws soon developed, and as early as 1642 the Massachusetts Colonial Legislature enacted the first compulsory education law in America-in fact, it was the first compulsory education law in the English-speaking world.

Although the law was poorly enforced, it was colonywide in operation and applied to rich and poor alike. The law stipulated that—

the selectmen in every town shall have the power to take account of all parents and masters as to their children's education and employment ***. They [the

selectmen] are to see that the children can read and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws of the country * *

During the early years of the Republic, Americans developed educational policies designed to serve the new national ideals of democracy, equality, and freedom. Along with the implementation of these policies, the United States turned away from private systems of education and turned to a system of schools free to all.

With the Emancipation Proclamation, many religious and other humanitarian organizations followed the Union armies to establish schools for the education of former slaves. Following Appomattox, the Freedmen's Bureau was established in Washington to advance the welfare of the Negroes. Much of its activities was in the field of education. It was also during this period that free schools were established in the former Confederate States.

With the growing interest in education throughout the land, as well as the Federal activities in connection with reconstruction, it was only natural that in 1867 the Committee on Education and Labor should be established in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Office of Education created in the executive branch.

It is slightly ironic that, during the 1870's, Republicans in Congress tried to pass bills for Federal aid to education. In recent years, it has been the Democrats who have been making the effort.

FEDERAL INTEREST IN EDUCATION

Although education was not mentioned in the Articles of Confederation or in the Constitution of the United States, and although there has never been Federal control of education within the States, the Federal Government has always been interested in education.

Just as President Kennedy expressed his faith in education as a necessary ingredient in the process of socialization and maintenance of world leadership today, so also did the first President, George Washington, note such concern.

In his Farewell Address on September 17, 1796, he said:

Promote, then, as an objective of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

For

It is not with sympathetic sentiments and kind words alone that the Federal Government has shown its interest in education. the history of Federal participation in financing higher education in the United States goes back to the beginnings of the Republic through the granting of public lands to the States to support "seminaries," colleges, and universities.

Federal grants of land were also made for elementary and secondary schools by the provisions of the Ordinance of 1785, "an ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing lands in the Western Territory," whereby each township having 36 "lots" of 1 mile square shall reserve lot No. 16 for the maintenance of public schools. Annual subsidies for vocational and distributive education have also been provided to the public schools.

The Federal Government has contributed to the financing of higher education through the Morrill Act and the land-grant colleges, through annual subsidies for the general support of the land-grant colleges, through the Hatch Act which established agricultural experiment

stations in each State, through the Smith-Lever Act in agriculture extension and research, through the National Board of Health of 1879, through the National Cancer Institute of 1937 and other military research, through the National Defense Research Committee of 1940 and other research facilities of World War II and the postwar periodand now, we hope, through the Green bill just passed in the House, which provides for college academic facilities.

Federal support has likewise been given directly to students in institutions of higher learning through the student aid programs of the depression, the GI bill of rights, the National Defense Education Act, and Federal fellowships to train scientists.

And so, without a doubt, the Federal Government has not only maintained faith in education as a major strategy of peace and the development of our country, but has contributed to its support and development.

THE PRESENT CHALLENGE

Although education remains generally a matter of State and local control, and higher education a matter of individual choice, "the times" demand strengthening our educational forces if we are to compete in a world such as we all know. This challenge comes from within and without: from within our boundaries through the everexpanding body of knowledge and the ever-increasing numbers to be educated, and from without from countries holding conflicting ideologies but which demonstrate faith in education-such as Russia.

The Special Subcommittee on Education of the House Education and Labor Committee, under the chairmanship of Congresswoman Edith Green of Oregon, journeyed behind the Iron Curtain last fall to view the manner in which Russia has developed its leadership through provisions for higher education.

Their observations are that Russia does and will develop its educational program according to the manpower needs of that country. For example, the Soviet Ministry of Higher Education exercises supervisory control over education, including general academic standards of all Soviet higher educational institutions and semiprofessional schools. It controls teaching staff, curriculums, textbooks, enrollment quotas, and the assignment of graduates. Since Russian law requires that all university graduates be provided with a job, the Ministry of Higher Education will not produce more specialists than there are jobs available. Therefore, the quotas for entrance into the institutions of higher learning are based on national needs. "Thus," said the Minister, "if we figure that 140,000 engineering students are needed, 140,000 we will have."

Admission to higher educational institutions is based on competitive entrance examinations. The type of exam depends on the faculty or field. For example, students applying for admission to an engineering institute or to a science faculty are required to pass comprehensive examinations in mathematics, physics, chemistry, Russian language and literature, and one foreign language-English, German, or French.

You will note that the curriculum required is not limited to scientific and mathematical areas, recognizing the importance of some balance in the training of engineers as well as others.

The United States is training almost twice as many college grad ates as the Soviet Union. However, in engineering, applied

theoretical science fields, the Soviets are training more than we are. In comparing the percentages of engineers in the graduating classes for the first higher degree offered by Soviet institutions of higher learning with those receiving baccalaureate degrees in American colleges and universities, we note that 32.2 percent of all graduates in Russian schools were in engineering fields, as contrasted with 10.2 percent from American schools.

A bipartisan study group on higher education, which I appointed last fall under the chairmanship of Congressman John Brademas, of Indiana, worked earnestly during the recess. They have reported, after careful investigation, that they were convinced the Nation faces an alarming shortage of semiprofessional technicians which will become increasingly acute in engineering and space technology. They called attention to the fact that we should be training at least one engineering technician for each graduating engineer. We are now producing only about one such technician for every four engineers, as against Russia's figures of two technicians to every engineer. Russia likewise is producing more agricultural specialists and medical doctors than America.

Now, I am fully aware of the differences between our country and Russia, between our aims and theirs. But, despite these differences, our present posture demands that we compete for the conquest of space with Russia. Therefore, I put these comparisons in that frame of reference.

So the challenge to us, then, is identifying our brainpower and assuring proper use of it to meet the demands of the ever-widening needs of our society.

OUR ANSWER

Congresswoman Green's subcommittee ended its report on Russia with these words: "We believe the United States can continue to meet this challenge.'

If we agree with this statement, what shall be our strategy? By what means can we obtain our goal? It is obvious that the means are manifold, but the fuller utilization of two groups of our population challenges us greatly.

The first is womanpower.

The greatest unreleased power in the United States today is our womanpower. The growth in freedom for any people may be measured by the freedom enjoyed by its women.

In few major areas of modern society have social inventions and social technology wrought greater social change than in that part which woman has attained in the world's work, and the place which she has assumed in the total culture of the modern era.

Howard Odum calls attention to the fact that this is true in nearly all lands among nearly all people, so that the change has assumed the proportions of a cultural revolution. Insofar as these changes affect the institutions and behavior of the people, they create new sets of adaptations basic to general social problems. Insofar as they affect the family, the home, the community, industry, politics, they create new specific problems and lead to new challenges.

According to Dr. Mary Bunting, president of Radcliffe College, traditionally the desire to pursue some fascinating professional or creative interest has been fostered, in the United States, in little boys, but largely neglected, if not actually squelched, in little girls.