Article by Commissioner of Education Earl McGrath, Expanding Opportunities for Higher Education in the United States

land coping EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES Address by Earl James McGrath, U.S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington, D. C., delivered at the Annual Convention of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, San Francisco, California, April 21, 1950. Some months ago, one of our most distinguished men of letters* wrote an article for a national magazine entitled "The Conquest of America." " It was a penetrating analysis of what can happen to free institutions when the people in a democracy. lose sight of their goals and ideals. The writer. held that Americans may be defeated in the battle of ideologies between democracy and totalitarianism if they lose their sense of direction. Our values, he claimed, have become nebulous and confused. The doctrine of the supremacy of human rights--historically the dynamic fountainhead of our strength and greatnoss--appears at times to be subordinated to material and physical values. Unless we, as citizens in a democratic society, know what we stand for, and what we are willing to defend, the author warned, our country may forfeit its leadership of the free peoples of the world and lose this momentous ideological struggle by default. Implicit in this very timely warning is a challenge to American education. I believe that we, as educators, must heed the danger signals, and take decisivo, positive steps toward meoting the challenge head-on. The mid-twentieth contury is a time of crisis for democratic institutions everywhere. We in America face the prospect that for many years we will be living in a world in which derocracy is literally on trial everywhere. We are engaged in an historic struggle for the minds of men and, as General Marshall said recently, "Wo must make no mistake about it--the chips are down." In this global struggle, educati on is Amerioa's first line of defense. Educational institutions are the most effectivo agencies for helping citizens keep the goals of a democratic society clearly before them. As a Nation, we are committed to the principle that our society can survivo, flourish and grow only'as all of the talents of all of our people are utilized to the maximum. We believe that there must be equality of opportunity for each individual to devolop his abilities to the fullest. It is a basic assumption in America--on of the fundamental tenets of our life--that such equality is an inherent personal right and that our way of life, if it is to endure, must guarantee that right to each individual. Educational institutions can perform many services in keeping our goals clear-cut, and in preparing young people, in cooperation with their fellow citizens, and with the people of other democratic nations, to work toward these objectives. We could discuss these many servicos, but I wish today to consider the more basic matter of making education more generally available especially at the highor lovels of our educational system, for what use is there in talking about what education can do for *Archibald MacLeish in The Atlantic Monthly, August 1949. Reproduced in College and University, (The Journal of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars) July 1950, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 566-75.