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ART EDUCATION IN A FREE SOCIETY* This morning I would like to discuss with you, first, certain aspects of the international situation and the mob.lization program which have serious implications for the whole pattern of democratic values lying at the base of our culture; secondly, the ways in which these forces might distort our educational systen and affect the arts; and, thirdly, what I conceive to be the very important role which members of this association must play in meeting their responsibilities both as citizens and educators in this time of national emergency. Speaking in St. Louis a f ew days ago, Mr. William C. Foster, Chief of the Economic Cooperation Administration, g'àve this measured estimate of the progress the United States is making as the leader of the Free World: "Within the coming eighteen or twent.y-four months, rearmament will be well along. We shall. then- command a physical force--and the resources to brick it->roughly equal in defensive strength to that of all our friends and possible enemies combined. This is a sweeping statement (Mr. Foster continues), but true. Compere the dollar values of Gross National Products. That of the Soviet sphere, =By Earl J. McGrath, U.S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency, "ashington 25, D. C., before Annual Meeting of the National Art Education Association, Statler llotel, New York City, March 29,1951 Published in part in this Is art Education - 1952, pp 27-33; National ine Education association Convertion - an Evaluation, Ue. 9. no 3, may 1951.