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The President stated: "I hope this report will be read by every Member of Congress who is concerned about education in America. It confirms evidence we have received from every part of the country. The Teacher Corps meets a desperate need."

Dr. O. Meredith Wilson, president of the University of Minnesota and Chairman of the Council, directed the evaluation and submitted the Council's report.

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TRAINING OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

Statement by the President Upon Signing an Executive Order Providing Improved Training and Educational Opportunities. April 20,

1967

On March 17, 1967, in my Message to the Congress on the Quality of American Government, I proposed several measures for improving the methods, machinery, and manpower of government at all levels. Two weeks later, I urged the Congress to take two vital steps to strengthen the Federal Government:

-to increase the salaries of Government employees;

-to increase postal rates and improve postal services. Today I have signed an Executive order which will strengthen the most important resource of the Federal Government-the Federal employee through improved training and educational opportunities. In America we are fortunate to have the finest civil service in the world. It is well-trained, experienced, and dedicated. Its skills are unsurpassed. But there is room for improvement.

The tasks facing the Government employee are increasing in complexity each day. He is challenged by the problems of outer space and urban blight, of national security and crime in the streets, of economic development abroad and manpower shortages at home. To each task, he must bring the best our advanced technology can provide. And for each task he is given the most modern equipment available.

But to fulfill his responsibilities as a public servant, he must be equipped to respond quickly and effectively to new demands and new conditions. His skills must continually be upgraded. He must be able to adopt and use the most advanced techniques and equipment available.

The Executive order which I have signed today will enable us to: -Improve the public service through more effective and efficient training programs.

-Administer Federal programs with increased efficacy and

economy.

-Build and retain a corps of employees whose skills are continually upgraded to meet the increasingly complex needs of the society they serve.

-Use the most modern practices and techniques in the conduct of the Government's business.

The order directs the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission to plan and promote the development, improvement, coordination, and evaluation of Federal training programs. He will assist the agencies and departments of the Federal Government in improving their

training programs, identify areas in which new training activity is necessary, and coordinate interagency training efforts. He will also develop a training information system to provide the data essential to sound planning and evaluation.

Excellence is important at all levels of Government. It is particularly critical at the top level of the Federal Government. Accordingly, I am directing the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission to establish a center for advanced study for executives in the upper echelons of the civil service.

The center will offer to our top level executives intensive courses designed to bring greater efficiency to the administration of our programs and increased opportunities for career development to our public servants. The courses will focus primarily on three areas of vital importance:

The major problems facing our society and the nature of the Government's response to those problems.

-The adequacy of the existing structure of Government in relation to today's problems.

-The ways in which administration of Federal programs can be improved.

The center, under the leadership of the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission and an interagency advisory council, will call upon leaders in the academic community and in other fields of endeavor to assist in providing our top executives the best training possible.

In preparing the Executive order and in developing plans for the center, we have been assisted by the distinguished Task Force on Career Advancement which reported earlier this year. I am grateful for their invaluable contribution to our efforts to improve the quality of government.

The Task Force was headed by John W. Macy, Jr., Chairman of the Civil Service Commission. Its members were: Dr. Marvin H. Berkeley, corporate personnel director, Texas Instruments, Inc.. Dallas, Texas; Andrew Biemiller, director of legislation, AFL-CIO: Lawrence Binger, corporate director, personnel services, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, St. Paul, Minn.; McGeorge Bundy president, The Ford Foundation, New York City; Dr. Robert D. Calkins, president, The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.; Honorable John W. Gardner, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; Dr. Jerome H. Holland, president, Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va.; Dr. Evron Kirkpatrick, executive director, American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C.; Dr. James H. McCrocklin, president, Southwest Texas State College, San Marcos, Texas; and Honorable Charles L. Schultze, Director, Bureau of the Budget.

NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON EXTENSION AND CONTINUING EDUCATION

The President's Message to the Congress Transmitting the Council's First Annual Report. April 21, 1967

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to transmit the First Annual Report of the National Advisory Council on Extension and Continuing Education.

As this Report points out, extension and continuing educationonce the neglected stepchild in the American educational systemhas now become a vital part of that system. Benefiting 25 million citizens each year, continuing education is helping to meet the needs of America's adult population. It recognizes that education is a continuing process that does not end when the student leaves the class

room.

The Federal role in supporting continuing education began more than a century ago. As our society evolved and became more complex, the Federal effort intensified. Today, through Federally-supported programs, we can cite these examples of progress:

-American adults, denied the opportunity to learn when they were young, are being taught to read and write.

-The poor and the unemployed, through special education and training, are being given a chance to stand on their own two feet.

-Scientists, engineers, doctors, dentists and teachersare improving their skills and keeping up with the latest technological advances.

-Employees at all levels of government are being trained to serve the public better.

These extensive efforts are complemented by our recent efforts under Title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to bring colleges and universities into local communities to conduct seminars and other programs on issues of great concern. Under this program we are focusing the intellectual resources and research facilities of higher education on problems affecting the daily lives of every citizen-from health and housing to transportation and recreation.

In its first year alone, the program reached every State in the Nation, with 300 colleges and universities participating. In fiscal 1968, this number will almost double.

The attached Report of the National Advisory Council on Extension and Continuing Education details much of this progress and recommends a number of steps to strengthen continuing education in America.

After consultation with the Council, the Administration developed and submitted to the Congress legislation to improve our continuing education programs under Title I by:

-Extending the program for another five years.

-Enabling smaller colleges and universities to continue to participate.

-Providing additional funds for experimental projects.

I commend this Report to your attention.

THE WHITE HOUSE, April 21, 1967.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON.

*

AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

The President's Remarks to Members of the Society at the Sheraton-Park Hotel. April 26, 1967

Dr. Townes, Nobel Laureates, most distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

*

The breathless advance of scientific thought has produced a world which our fathers would never have imagined. The transistor radio, the microwave communication links, television, and atomic energy are based on knowledge which had not even been discovered when you were children. The new ultraminiature devices which guide our spaceships and are giving us new medical tools are all the products of the last 10 years. In our universities and in our industries, creative minds. are daily discovering new truths and other creative minds put these truths to work for the benefit of all humanity.

We just must not relax our efforts. I have seen in Europe this week, in Asia last month, and in Latin America within the fortnight that the whole world now looks to science to help it meet its growing needand that need is great for food, for better health, and for a better life. But it looks, too, to science to broaden its horizons, to provide a fresh new view of man and the universe, and, above all, to conquer our ancient prejudices.

You members of the American Physical Society are the workers on the frontiers of understanding. Science is so powerful as a force for change in the world that scientists must play a most important and an increasing role in the international affairs of the world. The country will need the help of scientists, including a large and strong contingent of physicists, if we are to be able to deal effectively with the central problems of the present and the future, to deal with the problems of peace in the world, and the welfare of three-quarters of the population of the earth who tonight live on the narrow edge of existence.

CROSSLAND VOCATIONAL CENTER

The President's Remarks at the Dedication of the Vocational-Technical Department of Crossland Senior High School. April 27, 1967 Chairman Perkins, distinguished Members of the Senate, Senator Brewster and Senator Tydings, Congressman Machen, Mr. Hrezo, Mr. Dixon, ladies and gentlemen:

It was 55 years ago that the great Kansas editor William Allen White issued his appeal for vocational education in America.

"The end of all schools," he said, "must be life or public education will fail . . . we must provide for the practical, the vocational."

Five years later, President Woodrow Wilson signed the first great charter in this country for vocational education. That charter was the Smith-Hughes Act passed by the Congress in 1917. That Smith-Hughes Act pledged Federal support to the States for the education of young people in useful work.

This law established an educational partnership which has helped millions of Americans learn vital skills in agriculture, in home economics, and in industry.

So we come here today, in this year, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that historic step when we passed that historic law. As we dedicate this great new center for vocational education, we also celebrate another step toward another important national goal: that every young American shall obtain as much education as he wants-as much training as he can absorb and use.

There was a time when we thought that merely sending a child to school for a given number of years was enough to prepare him for his future life. Now we know that is not enough.

There was a time when a young man could drop out of school, get a job, and enjoy a reasonably secure future. But now, in an expanding universe of knowledge and change, we know that that is not enough. Once we considered education a public expense; we know now that it is a public investment.

Once we thought that every man could have a job-if only the economy flourished. We know now that education, not the gross national product, is the real key to full employment in our land.

This new building, that we are all so proud of, is an example of what we have been learning about education and the world of work.

Crossland Vocational Center, and others like it that are springing up throughout this Nation, are a forge which will shape the lives and the careers of our young people-and through these young people, we will build the America of the 21st century.

As we approach the next century, every citizen who hopes to play a productive role in American society must have occupational training of a sort-whether he wants to be a brain surgeon, an airplane repairman, an X-ray technician, or an astronaut.

Before the year 2000, we will see startling changes in science and technology: Change will simply wipe out hundreds of occupations that exist today. It will create hundreds of others that require new knowledge and new skills.

If we are to step into the future without stumbling, we must produce trained citizens in this country.

We must help the one million students in our land who each year drop out-cutting themselves off from education, when the thing that they need most in this world is education.

We must smooth the transition from school to work. We must help students become employable by encouraging them to combine school with a job.

Four years ago, when I signed the Vocational Education Act of 1963, only 42 million students were enrolled in Federally-assisted vocational classes in the country. Today, that 42 million has grown to 7 million.

Four years ago, there were fewer than 400 vocational schools in the country. Today there are nearly twice that number.

Not many people really realize how swiftly times have changed in Federal support for education. Four years ago, your Federal Government was spending a little over $4 billion-$4.2 billion-for education and related training programs. The budget for the coming year calls for $12.4 billion-almost three times as much.

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