Statement By Commissioner Of Education Earl McGrath, Educational Developments In the United States, 1950-1951
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OCR Page 1 of 14EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1950-51*
Summary Report of the Office of Education, Federal Security Agency,
to the
Fourteenth International Conference on Public Education
Geneva, Switzerland, July 12-21, 1951, jointly sponsored
by the International Bureau of Education and the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
INTRODUCTION
There are certain historic and firmly held concepts of public
education in the United States which must be recognized and understood
in order to appraise with accuracy the progress education is making there.
These concepts are 80 much at the root of all educational planning and
thinking that they have come to be regarded by the people of the United
States as essential characteristice of a free society dedicated to the
enhancement of individual dignity. These historic tenets--which tend
to express the ideal toward which the various school systems are building,
rather than to state actual accomplishments--may be set forth briefly as
follows:
(1) At- each successive level of educational advancement, everyone
has an inherent right to educational opportunities consistent with his
individual needs and his ability to become a productive citizen;
(2) Education is essential to the survival of personal freedom and
to the maintenance of national prosperity;
(3) Education in the United States is the responsibility of the
people, and its legal control is the responsibility of the State and
local school authorities, not of the Federal Government.
Since these three historic concepts express the goals or ideals
of American education, it follows that they themselves change very little
or not at all with the passing of time. While they can probably never be
fully achieved, progress toward their achievement can be recorded. This
progress during 1950-51 will be discussed in detail under various heads
as this report proceeds.
SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
The past year has been characterized by a resurgence of public
interest and concern for education. This is a natural consequence of
the new and-complex-problems which have emerged as an aftermath of
World, War II, and the pattern of organization of American education which
is designed to keep education close to the people and responsible to their
wishes. The intensified interest and concern for education has shown it-
self in hundreds of communities throughout the Nation where citizens'
committees have been established for the purpose of assisting in the
solution of important local problems in educational organization and
Presented by Earl James McGrath, Commissioner of Education,
Federal Security Agency. Published in Social Legislation Information Service
Special Bulletin No. 5, July 27, 1951.
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