Address by Commissioner Of Education Earl McGrath, Adult Education and American Culture

ADULT EDUCATION AND AMERICAN CULTURE* I am very glad to be here this afternoon to talk to you about several things in which I have a deep personal interest. One of those, adult education, is a subject very close to my heart. As an educator, I have long held the opinion that adult education has, thr oughout our history, been a most vital factor in the intellectual and cultural growth of the American people. As a matter of fact it has in many ways set the pace for American progress. To immigrants, for example, the millions of newcomers who have contributed so much to the upbuilding of our country, adult education has been the traditional American mat of welcome, over which they stepped into a new home, a new life with opportunities for freedam, for personal growth, for the achievement of a new human dignity. To the underprivileged, adult education has been and is today the door which leads to economic betterment, to a fuller, more useful life. To our Nation as a whole, it is a serviceable instrument for the train- ing of an alert, freedom conscious citizenry. To each of us, as individuals, it holds forth the promise of new knowledge, new intellectual adventure, new experience. In this era of American emergence into world leadership, adult education must play an even more important role in the development of our human resources. In fact, never in the history of our Nation has the need for this kind of education been more urgent. Vast changes have taken place in the political, social and economic conditions throughout the world. Science, medicine, the social sciences, have made tremendous strides. Technological advances have revolutionized business and industry. As a result, the whole world seems to have changed its complexion. To live fully in this modern world of the mid- twentieth century, it is imperative that we keep up to date. Adult education is an important medium for this purpose, and for this and many other reasons I welcome this opportunity of discussing its possibilities with a group which, as a matter of tradition, is committed to foster it as an aid to its own cul- tural and religious survival. There is still another reason why I am so glad to meet with you today. Twice within the last two years I have had the privilege of visiting Israel. To me, as an American Christian, these visits were deeply moving, emotional experiences. I went to Israel in an official capacity, to organize a group of American educators which would study and make recommendations on certain problems in the educational system of the new state. I have met and worked with leading educators in Israel and it was a cheering experience. The sense of kinship that seemed to have developed so quickly among us, the similarity of viewpoint, the rapidity with which we were able to grasp each other's mean- ings demonstrated that we share a common view of the goals of education in a democracy. It was profoundly gratifying to sense that these forward looking educators were, like their American colleagues, confirmed in the belief that it is the function of education in a democracy to produce citizens who are *By Earl James McGrath, U. S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington, D. C., at the National Conference on Adult Jewish Education, New York City, December 9, 1951, 3:00 p.m. Published in The Torch, Vol. II, No. 3, Spring 1952 issue, pp. 11-17, 57.