Article Introduction by Commissioner of Education Earl James McGrath, What to Do About 'Dangerous' Textbooks

INTRODUCTION I welcome the opportunity to comment on Dr. Edward N. Saveth's valuable contribution to the problem of textbook selection. The intense and widespread attacks on textbooks, to which Dr. Saveth calls attention in the following pages, do indeed represent a threat to the American system of education. This onslaught is all the more serious since it cannot be dissociated from other current attacks upon the public schools. Thus, much more is involved than the question of whether this or that book is used in a particular school. We need to look at the present controversy from the perspective of the age-old fight for freedom of expression and freedom to learn. Shall the minds of men be shackled? This question will be answered in local communities in large measure by the way in which ci tizens and school personnel deal with such issues as textbook selection. These issues can be solved-end I feel strongly about this-only within our historic decentralized pattern of State and local control of education. Since the public schools belong to the people, all members of the public are entitled to voice opinions and convictions. The American tradition of free discussion calls for study and exploration by school boards, civic groups, interested citizens, school adminis- trative and instructional staffs, and even by students themselves. *By Earl James McGrath, U. S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington, D. C., to article "What To Do About 'Dangerous I Textbooks" by Edward N. Saveth, reprinted from Commentary, February 1952.