Address by United States Commissioner of Education Earl James McGrath, General Education and Civic Responsibility
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OCR Page 1 of 11GENERAL EDUCATION AND CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY *
One of the most significant and enduring traits of our national character
is the high degree of confidence which we, as a people, have traditionally
placed in education. The founding fathers of this Nation were keenly aware that
the well-being of a democracy depends fundamentally upon the enlightenment of
its citizens Colonial statesmen, recognizing this important relationship between
education and a free society, strongly advocated general dissemination of know-
ledge among the citizenry. Our first President, in commenting on the relationship
between education and political maturity, offered this wise injunction, which
is as applicable today as it was some 160 years ago. "Promote, then", said
President Washington, "as an object 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. Thomas Jefferson expressed the same thought in his observation
that a healthy democratic society requires "A system of general instruction
which shall reach every description of our citizens from the richest to the poorest."
Few Americans would today dispute the essential soundness of this view.
Its practical results can be observed from the earliest days of the Republic to
the present. As the American educational system has developed, the opportunity
for education has been extended to an increasing number of youth. Today almost
all children who are physically and mentally fit complete an elementary school
education, and 80 per cent of those of the appropriate ages are in high school.
One in five attends some type of institution of higher education. The median
number of years of school completed in the group 25-29 years of age is 12.1,
the equivalent of high school graduation.
* By Earl J. McGrath, U. S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency,
Washington, D. C., at the Inauguration of Dr. Buell Gordon Gallagher as the
Seventh President of The City College of the City of New York, 4:00 p.m. EST,
February 19, 1953. Published in part in Trade Union Courier Magazine,
Vol. XVIII, No. 2, March 25, 1952.
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