bins ae Ree ae e S sat e “oh x Mn & PA ca a RMS * Po rae ay go * $3 S aati AS % 10n ae ia. of ee Se Crees ad oo ray He. Patel mgad Bie i yt ser Was.) Hye MATA S sda id a feks 4ggp OL ~ Kducat ag we aie ated Hee wd oh ae rs Ps a 4 Apes one : if Sia ® % ae Bee gy yh Bs an pe ’ Wey 4 e* we we we nage 3B on OS The eal Report of the F ice Security Agency contains the Administrator’ 8 ‘report and the fe » j is ‘ports of all the Agency’s constituent organizations. — In addition, the following reports are a sate as is aatn reprints: oa THe ADMINISTRATOR’s REPORT SocraL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION Pusiic HEALTH SERVICE ) OrrIcE or EpucaTion -Foop anp Drug ADMINISTRATION OFFICE OF VocaTIonaL REHABILITATION SAINT Euizaperns Hosprrat Waa Both the consolidated volume and the separate — a reports are available at nominal cost from the Superintendent of Documents, he Government Printing ese ameten 25, D. c. UNITED STATES | GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. “WASHINGTON : 1951 Tiare roel For ne i the Bir tisedaen of iD iedanbatds (ie s. Government Vagetis: BY sn), peaks ich enn 25, D. a < Price ree cents FB IEMIGEL fs fot C b >, 2d Annual Yeport of the - FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY Office of Education JI50 FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY Oscar R. Ewine, Administrator OFFICE OF EDUCATION Eart James McGraru, Commissioner Deputy Commissioner of Education, RALu I. GriasBy. Associate Commissioner of Education, BESS GOoODYKOONTZ. Assistant Commissioner for Vocational Education, RAYMOND W. GREGORY. Director, Division of School Administration, Henry F. ALVEs. Director, Division of Elementary and Secondary Schools, GALEN JONES. Director, Division of Higher Education, JOHN DALE RUSSELL. Director, Division of International Educational Relations, KENDRIc N. MARSHALL. Director, Division of Special Educational Services, RatpH C. M. FLywnr. x Letter of Transmittal I’ppERAL Securiry AGENCY, | Orrice or Epucarion, Washington, D. C., October 30, 1950 The Honorable Oscar R. Ewine, Federal Security Administrator. 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PR BACIe tS | 4 } a a St ry - J hs 5 £ * lemow peal : ; ‘ Fs 4 os ¢ 7: j ~ ae : °: \ id : 4 ae eee a: heats - ‘ - at ores TRIO vet am it a Seis Fiseat, hw Hepat Ha 15dih J i oe ea | a A i : att Dink # apa! ta jee Oe oh Be | wt ee ho ap ¢ ete iat T as & - exit th feel Thee ee 4 de Ye ve | | et cables ; ; 7 a : . : 4 iat im he. eee ay i me ari : ihe a yi 2% ies pas) ie a i “Yar P POL! Ph abe 3 i ‘ Pa : ip 4 Dn MOLY AS sis x 5) é “— i ae > ae ah a I y * t? * ( Et i = ee re pee ‘ =f A - 4 fe F ‘ sae ¥ FR aresedewcaet, tlt TLD hacen bas DLE: 2 Lie) cree RR Shooacet or llaenehe ie? 0G bitay OLY ieee aa tebe" $ 4a€ oe 5 ‘ L mal octa | (i Zz adie bye, hie ener § Xi Minit rarinl § sae The 2 oe Jp ne ACO G perenne a ; ; | ' 4 vai ne [Maks ‘3 ant | f . i Foe aide: se Lad Pa x i” ' ahneed ta erie Te | oh as inate ie . “Bee: a5 a meee. ; ure ie 4 : dagaaaee a. hid ae ere Tne a a Berle: i" = Abe t° ane Bigs ‘aol hatenfod- alt b's Q - eu Pe tno lag lon i ee ee “= ¢ Wy ‘ 3 ‘ eis fos ar pe {\ Office of Education IN RECENT YEARS it has been customary for the annual report of the United States Commissioner of Education to confine its description of Federal educational activities primarily to those in which the Office of Education has taken some part. The present report, in this midcentury year, however, speaks more broadly. ‘The first half deals with the demands on American education at this midcentury point. The second half sets forth the Government’s efforts to help the schools and colleges of the Nation meet these demands, and the direct operations of the Government in providing educational serv- ices to the people and to the States. Congress has directed the Commissioner of Education to present annually “a report embodying the results of his investigations and labors together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will, in his judgment, subserve the purpose for which the office is established.” In the Commissioner’s judgment, the facts reviewed in this report are essential to serve the purpose for which the Office was established. Democracy’s Demands Midway in the twentieth century, American education presents a picture which is at once encouraging and disquieting. The back- ground for the educational picture is furnished by the American ideal of equal opportunity for all to obtain a good education. This Amer- ican belief in education for all rests squarely on the American con- cept of democracy, for a democracy more than any other form of social and political organization must depend upon the enlighten- ment of the people—all the people. Uneducated or miseducated people can easily be misled, swept about by winds of doctrine, even 1 2 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 stampeded by fears or enticed by demagogic promises into accepting some easy substitute for the arduous and painful tasks of thoroughly developing public policy. Education is the indispensable foundation of a democratic society. The intrinsic quality of the democratic ideal in itself evokes com- pelling loyalties. We Americans are told, over and over again, that the followers of totalitarian ideologies believe their dogmas, while the citizens of democratic America merely accept theirs. This simply is not true. A Nation which, twice within a half century, has thrown its total resources into a world struggle to protect democratic institu- tions and the democratic way of life cannot be accused of indiffer- entism. And the half century ended on a note of high affirmation, as the United Nations, on the fifth anniversary of the signing of its Charter, issued a judgment never before recorded in human history— the collective judgment of nearly all the member nations of UN, through their regular representatives—unitedly condemning an act of international aggression. American leadership made this epochal development possible. Rooted in the conviction that every individual is of incalculable worth, the democratic belief which is thus espoused with such un- equivocal determination calls on a democratic Nation to provide the fullest opportunity for self-development by every person. Within the limits of his potential growth, each child or youth, if the democratic ideal is to prevail, must be afforded equal access to the best possible educational opportunities, as his right. Imperatives of New Dimensions If American citizens are to play their part in a changing world, education must keep abreast of the times. Most educators realize this fact and insist on it, but outside the profession there is considerable confusion on the point. Men who have accustomed themselves to jet planes still tend for some anomalous reason to think of education in terms of the horse-and-buggy education of their own youth. The plain fact is that the schools and colleges which were good enough for 1900 are not good enough for 1950 and will be hopelessly inadequate for 1975. Six features of contemporary life will illustrate the issues which now confront American education. POPULATION TRENDS AND MOVEMENTS The high birth rates of the 1940’s produced a larger group of children than ever before in American history. The decade closed with an estimated 3,580,000 registered live births in 1949, exceeding any other year except 1947, in which approximately 3,700,000 live Office of Education 3 births were registered. Infant mortality is lower than ever before, and life expectancy has increased phenomenally. The child born in 1900 could, on the average, expect to reach age 49; the child born at midcentury may, on the average, expect to approach his 68th birth- day. During the half century, nearly one-fifth of a century has been added to our average life expectancy at birth. Many more children than ever before, with a longer life expectancy, set the quantitative dimension of the midcentury population trend, and pose some of our most pressing educational problems. These larger numbers of longer-living persons, moreover, are caught up in new complexities of relationship. As the century started, only 4 out of 10 children of school age lived in urban areas; but at mid- century, despite the continuing larger than average size of rural families, so many persons had moved cityward that probably less than 3 in 10 children of school age were found on the farms. A whole new category has been recognized by students of population: the “highway dwellers” whose homes cluster along the ribbons of con- crete, and who, while living in the country, have few of the psycho- logical and sociological characteristics of the old-time farm family. The shift of the American cradle from the country to the city is one of the more profoundly important trends of the half century. The qual- ities of urban experience as contrasted with those of the farm are symbolized by the fact that the city boy has few, if any, family chores to do. The place of the family, of the common tasks and routines of the home, and of the intimate community institutions of church and school in the life of the child—all of these are markedly different. Mobility of population marks 1950 as contrasted with 1900. From colonial days, many Americans have been pioneers or settlers, and the pioneering spirit has been part of the American tradition. But as long as there was a geographical frontier, the movement was from the centers of population toward the sparsely settled areas, with, of course, a considerable feed-back into the cities from the country. With the passing of the geographical frontier and the coming of the auto- mobile, the new century has seen an interregional and Nation-wide mixture of populations. Thus, for example, every third person living in California in 1950 had come to that State during the preceding decade, and these in-migrants represented every State in the Union. The effect of these population trends and movements on the quality of family life, together with the equally important tendency to shift many responsibilities formerly carried by parents to the school, results in a complexity of problems which severely challenge 1950’s schools. Whatever could have been said about the importance of good schools in 1900 can be said in 1950 with greatly increased force. 914596513 4. Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS 1950 was the year in which people watched and listened to the United Nations General Assembly over television. The revolution in com- munications, in transportation of people and things, in the transmis- sion of ideas, not only speeds the communication processes, with re- sultant intimacy of all persons everywhere, but also means that differ- ences which were not brought into close contact are now the occasion of sharp international conflicts and tensions. 1950 was also the year in which the H-bomb cast its shadow across the world. A century, beginning with a science which had not heard of the theory of relativity or of the quantum theory, at its midpoint accepts the fruits of both theories in isotopes and the promise of atomic power for industry. Meantime, mass production and assembly line processes have ex- tended to all parts of the world and to all economic aspects of life, including agriculture. A century and a quarter ago, 1 person engaged in farming was able to provide food for himself and 8 or 4 other per- sons; today the person engaged in agriculture on the average provides food for himself and 13 or 14 other persons. The young man on a farm during the middle nineteenth century as likely as not had grown up in a home where the family raised the sheep, clipped and carded the wool, wove the cloth, and made the clothes he wore—“store clothes” were the exception, not the rule. Today, the self-sufficient farm unit is gone, or is rapidly passing from the scene. Likewise, no city, no state, no nation is today economically self-sufficient. The total inter- dependence of the economic life of all men is apparent. Technology and science, commerce and trade, communications and travel, have made of the world a neighborhood: it remains to make it a brotherhood. How best can education play its part in such a day? LABOR RELATIONS AND EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES The science of human relations has only lately begun to operate extensively in the industrial management field. Technological prog- ress has made the employment of highly skilled, highly paid labor more profitable than the employment of younger, less skilled workers at lower wages. As younger laborers fail to be employed, there is also a noticeable growth in the tendency to retire older workers and to provide pensions. The 1930’s saw the trebling of membership in the organized labor movement. The net result of all these factors is an increasing proportion of employed workers in the middle years, performing more skilled operations, drawing higher wages and en- joying greater job security, with an increasing percentage of the under- and over-age employables not holding jobs. The increasing numbers of youth, and of the aged for whom in all probability addi- Office of Education 5 tional educational programs must be made available, together with the question of what types of educational offerings best meet the changing needs of these groups, present further concerns for edu- cators in 1950. They also place a financial burden for education on those who are employed. RECREATION AND THE USE OF LEISURE TIME Social, technological, and economic changes which have shortened the workweek, limited child labor, and reduced the need for younger and older workers, together with the advances of labor-saving de- vices in the home, have brought into sharp focus the problem of the best use of leisure time. With many young workers dissatisfied with their jobs, the escape into leisure-time excitement tends to become a psychological compulsion. For about one in every five families there was in 1950 little expectation that the leisure-time problem could be considered constructively, let alone solved, within the family circle. For probably another two-fifths, the family resources of imagination and ingenuity were too meager, or the financial resources too limited, to produce a satisfying recreational life for family mem- bers. Fully half of the money spent for recreation, according to figures available for 1940, went for movies, radios, and spectator sports, giving relatively little opportunity for the development of creative recreational abilities in the spectator. The reading habits of American adults reflect a serious national problem. An estimated 50 percent of adults read only the sports page and the comic strips in the daily newspapers. When polled on public questions about 20 percent commonly answer “don’t know.” ‘The low interest in public and civic questions is further expressed in the fact that only about half of the persons eligible to register and to vote actually vote in even the most heated national elections. Finally, over the past decade or two, an increasing percentage of persons arrested for breaking the laws is in the age group under 25 and particularly in the age group 18 to 21. This fact suggests the need for educational and community adjustments designed to enlist juveniles in useful and meaningful activities. THE WORLD. SITUATION The role of the United States and of the United Nations in the world of 1950 inescapably influences the task of American educators. The sharp ideological conflicts which increasingly separate East and West; the spreading infection of the totalitarian virus feeding on the discontent of the oppressed and disinherited, designedly exploit- ing nationalistic aspirations, and cynically threatening to plunge the 6 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 world into military combat; the crippling effect on international relations of the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from a succession | of agencies of peace—these features of the 1950 world situation, coupled with the dislocation growing out of the decline of colonialism and the struggles of newly freed peoples in the Near and Far East to establish themselves, emphasize the truth that a divided world spells insecurity and fear. If the United States is to fulfill its obliga- tion as a world power, it must have trained leaders supported by an informed electorate. In helping to meet this need, American education faces one of its greatest challenges. An educational pro- gram that merely acquaints youth with our problems at home is inadequate to prepare them for their responsibilities in a constantly contracting international sphere. FINDINGS IN PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY The relatively young sciences of psychology and psychiatry reveal facts which aid in understanding how living under the tensions and difficulties of the midcentury domestic and world situation affects the personality. Life in a divided world tends to make divided men. Estimates by the Public Health Service indicate that 1 in every 20 persons will spend some part of his life in a mental hospital—unless remedial steps are taken with regard to both individuals and our social structure. The whole conception of mental health is becoming a central rallying point in defining educational objectives. Psycho- somatics, with its emphasis on the singleness of mind and body, of physical and mental health, points up the long-recognized truth that the whole person is the proper subject of educational purpose. These developments of the past half century are only illustrative. No more need be cited to prove that education for 1900 will not do for 1950. Democracy, which has always demanded good education, now demands education good enough for today and tomorrow. In this rapidly changing world, education dare not be static. Furthermore, education—good enough for 1950—must be open to all, for each to develop his particular abilities to the fullest. ‘These things democracy demands of education and for education in behalf of all of the Nation’s youth. Accomplishments The progress of American education in approaching the ideal of universal educational opportunity is most encouraging. In this prog- ress we have an effective answer for those who would condemn Ameri- can education for its failure to reach our ideal objectives. At no other time in human history and in no other nation have the educational 1919- =) = 4 : See : =O o he Gece cs | eee | Sire SE oe n Sot SB pgs s ene oS 5 as Hagszse? w.awpeeo J Aq PVRS R rss BS = SR SASSE Mo Baga A oS ori +) F Sia ST & o a Sarc “3 a BU ee oy Gee ce he OSes oe = ae Be Ps OD 5 oe. las} pe ES ial GS rei. os og os's ms & OD Sr ue eae or ey a ° = $2,687, °SR S48 S © Pudge at gues eee fr) ae 3 tee oS Ss & 4 ies) ercby, elem eats BA oy S44 pond wis) 5 bs SAAS SF OBS : on H § oO = 5) a_:.'g Wo SP ae Hen P © oe & ees ep +. 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Sera See nat ee Se Bo Goi Sg > le Soom eB So Ss & ee we re HH CO 2 o.oo te B.S ee ee os Se oe 8 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 Chart 2.—ILLITERACY IN THE POPULATION Persons 10 years and over, by color and nativity, 1900—40 PERCENT ILLITERACY: THE INABILITY TO READ AND WRITE IN ANY LANGUAGE a @ ee, o— @ om aw a» an e c=] NATIVE WHITE | @@ 2 @ @ = 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 ILLITERACY IS REDUCED By 1940, the problem of illiteracy (defined as the inability to read and write) had become so unimportant for the population as a whole that the Census Bureau omitted the question. Nevertheless, there are areas of illiteracy in which encouraging progress can be reported, but considerable work still needs to be done. The Bureau of the Census has estimated that the percentage of the total population 10 years of age and over who cannot read and write in any language decreased from 10.7 percent in 1900 to 2.9 percent in 1940. Most rapid progress was indicated in the Negro population, where illiteracy decreased from 44.5 percent in 1900 to 11.5 percent (“non-white”) in 1940. The largest numbers of illiterate persons as the half century drew to a close were found among the foreign-born; but even there, the percentage had decreased from 12.9 percent in 1900 to 9.0 percent in 1940. Chart 2 shows these changed percentages and the progress made toward literacy in each category and for the population as a whole. EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT OF ADULT POPULATION SHOWS IMPROVEMENT The median school year completed by the population 25 years of age and over, according to 1947 estimates of the Bureau of the Census, was the 9th grade. The corresponding figure for 1940 was 8.4 grades. Office of Education | 9 Chart 3.—YEARS OF SCHOOL COMPLETED Persons 25 years and over in the civilian population, April 1947, and total population, April 1940 PERCENT NONWHITE 40 30 ol a= ee 3 LESS THAN 54 5-6 7-8 1-3 4 1-3 4 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL COLLEGE YEARS OF SCHOOL COMPLETEB NOT RE- PORTED * Includes persons reporting no school years completed. In the total population in April 1947, almost 10,000,000 persons 25 years of age or over had finished 1 or more years of college work. That was almost 1 in every 8 of the population of that age. Almost 1 in every 3 had finished high school and almost half had finished or gone beyond the first year of high school. Between 1940 and 1947 the percentage of the population 25 years of age and over who had not completed any high-school work decreased from 59.5 to 49.5. The percentages of those called “functionally il- literate” (having completed fewer than 5 years of elementary school) decreased from 13.5 percent to 10.4 percent. For the non-white popu- lation alone, the corresponding figures were: 41.1 percent in 1940 and 31.4 percent in 1947. 10 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 Nevertheless, the effect of educational differentials of previous years was still noticeable in the adult population. While a little less than half in 1947 had received no high-school education, almost three- fourths of the non-white adults had had no high-school education. And whereas almost 1 in every 3 adults had been graduated from high school, only a little more than 1 in every 8 non-white adults had been graduated from high school. Chart 3 shows these facts, revealing encouraging progress. RACIAL DIFFERENTIALS DIMINISH As the century began, educational opportunity of Negroes in the United States was definitely inferior; but during the half century, steady progress has been made. In every age group, larger percent- ages of Negroes are attending school today than the comparable per- centages of whites attending as the century began; and in all but the 15- to 20-year age group, the gap between Negroes and whites had been substantially reduced. American democracy does not accept with equanimity the fact that the proportion of Negroes attending college is smaller than the proportion of the total population attending col- lege. While there can be no cause for complacency so long as a serious differential continues, the noticeable progress toward providing more nearly equal educational opportunity for all American youth without regard to race, creed, or color is a distinct cause for satisfaction. Discrepancies Despite the encouraging progress which is noted in the preceding section there remain certain disquieting discrepancies between the ideal and the actual in American education. ‘The American people should face these discrepancies frankly, for one of the strengths of democracy is that self-criticism is welcomed as the best means of improvement. Taking some justifiable encouragement from a survey of its past accomplishments, without in any way minimizing progress, American education addresses itself soberly to the difficulties now before it. These difficulties are directly connected with the effort to realize the democratic ideal. If our ideals were lower, our problems would be fewer and less severe, for many present difficulties, particu- larly shortages of classrooms and teachers, have resulted from our effort to provide educational opportunity for all. SHORTAGES IN BUILDINGS AND FACILITIES Every State is faced with a grave shortage of school facilities. Owing to population shifts and economic differentials the shortage is more acute in some sections than in others; but everywhere throughout the country the rising tide of war babies is beginning to engulf the Office of Education a lower grades. The crest of the wave will advance, year by year, through the elementary and high schools to the colleges. During the next 10 years, in the elementary and secondary schools alone, there will be a net increased enrollment of approximately 8 million. School construction was almost entirely suspended during the war years. _ And while normal replacement of obsolescent structures was thus post- poned, temporary structures erected in many instances to take care of increased populations due to the war emergency have almost served their day. The need to replace obsolete facilities and the population increase place upon us now a heavy burden of school construction. The demand for more school facilities resulting from population increases and the postponement of construction is increased by the need for widespread reorganization of school districts and the exten- sion of public education to new age groups. In many States, 10 years ago, a large proportion of the school districts were so small that there were not enough children to permit the maintenance of an adequate school program and limited resources further restricted the educa- tional program. The steps taken in more than a dozen States have resulted in a reduction of 117,000 school districts in 1940 to 101,000 in 1945. The estimated figure for 1949 is 88,000, a reduction of 29,000 in the 10 years. This 25-percent decrease in the number of school districts within a single decade is a notable forward step in American public education. Buta great many districts affected by consolidation require modern and properly located school facilities. Many States are extending school programs at public expense by adding kinder- gartens at one end, and 2-year community colleges at the other. The cumulative effect of these developments is a need for at least 500,000 elementary and secondary schoolrooms. Estimates of the Council of State Governments, determined before the 1949 Census Bureau forecasts of increases in school enrollment, put the cost of urgent needs of the next 5 years alone, for additional public elementary and secondary school facilities, at nearly $8 billion. If all the factors, including population forecasts, are taken into consideration, the esti- mates rise to $13.5 billion for the next 10 years, or an annual average expenditure of $1.35 billion. These amounts presumably would come largely from sources within the States. Some progress in school bulidings has been made since V-J Day. It can be estimated that during the past 5 years there have been au- thorizations and contracts for from $3 billion to $3.5 billion for school and college construction, about $1 billion of that amount in 1949-50. _ For the 5-year period, this is roughly half the annual amount estimated as essential to meet the minimum urgent needs of the Nation. In view of the present international situation, the timing of addi- tional school construction is important. But the fact remains that we 914596513 12 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 ee ee eee must have more schools now. In an international emergency, ex- penditures for many things can legitimately be reduced or postponed, but education is not one of them. Democracy’s future depends on it. The Nation’s children cannot be put into educational cold storage for the duration of the emergency, and then later moved into an academic hothouse for forced growth. IMBALANCE IN SUPPLY OF TEACHERS One of the greatest weaknesses in our present educational program is the serious imbalance between the supply of and the demand for teachers, in both elementary and secondary education. There are far too few teachers for elementary schools, and too many for most sub- jects in secondary schools. Yet, if this double imbalance were cor- rected, another equally serious deficiency in teacher supply would probably confront the secondary schools in the late 1950’s. Every year the elementary schools need new teachers to replace those who leave the profession. In addition, because of the shortage of elementary school teachers, at least 1 in every 10 teachers is serving on an emergency basis. Most of these emergency teachers need to be replaced. The normal demand for elementary school teachers will be further swollen in the next 8 or 10 years by the tide of war babies. To meet the total need for qualified elementary school teachers, the present rate of replenishment from the colleges is wholly inadequate. Probably more than 100,000 new teachers will be needed for the ele- mentary schools each year for the next decade. The present rate of production is barely one-third that number. Even more serious, the number of fully qualified elementary school teachers graduating each year from 4-year courses of training is slightly more than one-fifth of the 100,000 needed. ‘The implications of these facts for American education are serious enough to justify the use of the much-overworked word “crisis’”—in its fullest meaning. For secondary schools, the relation between supply and demand is reversed: there are too many teachers. If the ratio between students preparing for elementary and secondary teaching were the same as the ratio between elementary and secondary teachers who are employed, about three times as many persons would be preparing for elementary teaching as for secondary teaching. In fact, however, four times as many are training in 4-year colleges for secondary teaching as for elementary. Needing about 25,000 to 30,000 new high-school teachers a year, the colleges of the Nation during the past 2 years prepared 67,000 and 85,000 persons, respectively, qualified for certification— more than double the number needed. When attention is turned to the colleges and universities, the rela- tionship between supply and demand of teachers suggests that one Office of Education 13 way to solve the problem of oversupply at the secondary school level might be to encourage more students to prepare for college teaching, especially in the developing community colleges. Before World War II, the common assumption in colleges and universities was that a ratio of 1 teacher to 10 students was “satisfactory.” Under the pressures of postwar enrollments, that ratio has been generally disregarded. Furthermore, all estimates of future college enrollments over a period of years indicate a continuing upward trend. These estimated in- creases are to be welcomed in the national interest and need encourage- ment if the “national loss of the able” is to be corrected. Assuming merely normal enrollment for higher education in the decade ahead, the colleges will need approximately 20,000 new full-time teachers an- nually for the next 10 years. Over against this need is the tragically inadequate supply of well-qualified personnel. The number of doc- torates awarded to persons entering or continuing in college teaching in any one year has never exceeded 2,116. That was less than half of the normal number of retirements and deaths in the profession. While the doctorate may not necessarily be a prerequisite for al/ college teaching, the maintaining of educational standards in the face of facts such as these has become a major difficulty for American higher education. INAPPROPRIATE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS Schools and colleges of the Nation are concerned about the inability of current educational programs to attract and hold students. Chart 1 shows that “drop-outs” increase in number among students 16 years of age and over, when laws in many States do not require further school attendance. During the past 20 years, of those who entered fifth grade, the highest percentage to be graduated from high school was 48.1 in 1948; the lowest percentage was 27.0 in 1931; and the median percentage was 40.3 in 1937. Many young people leave school at the age at which legal compulsions are removed when in fact the holding power of the schools is given its first sharp test. While many other factors, such as the necessity of augmenting family income through the child’s earning power, must be considered in studying the problem of drop-outs, forward-looking educators rightly believe that their primary point of attack on the problem is the im- provement of the school program. Schooling ought to be so vital, so interesting, so impelling in its appeal to the developing young man and young woman that few leave until they have completed all the education their potential abilities justify their having. Much credit is due our schools for their notable achievement in serving the present large percentage of American youth, but the educational programs can be improved sufficiently to cut down significantly the roughly 50 percent who now leave before completing any program. 14 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 In addition to those who leave school, an unknown number attend without fully profiting from their education because it does not fit their needs either as individual persons or as citizens. The most significant development in recent years in curricular improvement has been accomplished in the Life Adjustment Education program in the high schools and the General Education movement in the colleges. There are two other groups in our population for which present educational programs are inadequate—exceptional children and adults. Among exceptional children are included about 2 million between the ages of 5 and 19, such as those suffering from impair- ments due to infantile paralysis, cerebral palsy, blindness or partial blindness, deafness, cardiac ailments, and speech defects. Less than 450,000 of these estimated 2 million are now receiving special educa- tional services through State and local public-school systems. The other 75 percent of physically handicapped are permitted to make their way as best they can with little or no special educational help. Some of these are home-bound or hospitalized and need instruction at their place of confinement. Others need special day school classes. Still others must be cared for through residential schools which most States provide for special categories of the handicapped, such as the blind and the deaf. In addition to the physically handicapped, are other categories of exceptional children—the mentally retarded, the gifted, and the emotionally disturbed or the seriously maladjusted. When these are added, the number of exceptional children approaches 4 million, for all of whom the usual programs of education for normal children are inappropriate. The Nation needs a better educational program for these young people who, through no fault of their own cannot profit fully from the usual opportunities, but who with proper education can become fully productive and happy members of society. As for adult education, the modern view assumes that education is a life-long process, and that the formal school years are designed primarily to begin the process rather than to complete it—that “Com- mencement” is an educational transition rather than a breaking point. The size of the task of providing education for our large adult popu- lation can be judged from a study of the amount of schooling certain population groups have. Although 8 or 9 million adults have 4 or fewer years of formal education, and may be considered functionally illiterate, fewer than 100,000 of them are currently enrolled in literacy classes. An estimated 40 million adults are conscious of the need for further learning under instruction, mainly in public affairs, home- making including family life and parent education, vocational skills, commercial and business education, and recreation including physical education and arts and crafts, but at last count the public schools enrolled only about 3 million of them. The rest of the adult popu- Office of Education . 15 jation could profit from imaginative community-wide educational undertakings in civic education and competence, consumer education, family-life education, human relations, and the understanding of world affairs. Practically all of the adult education offered by the schools is designed to serve individuals. Schools are doing very little to improve the effectiveness of groups in their intergroup relationships. NATIONAL LOSS OF THE ABLE It is true that a higher percentage of qualified youth go to college and university in the United States than in any other nation; but it is also true that no nation—the United States included—has begun to approach numerical adequacy in its higher education system. The President’s Commission on Higher Education estimated that at least half of the Nation’s youth have abilities to pursue education for 2 years beyond the high school with profit both to themselves and to society. This same body also estimated that at least a third have abilities which justify their continuance through 4 or more years of college or university studies. We have not yet come near reaching this goal. Even in the peak year of 1941—disregarding the abnormal enrollments in the postwar years—only about 7 percent of the college age group finished a college education. Compared to the estimates of college abilities, that figure was less than one-fourth of the potential student enrollment. In the top 5 percent of high-school graduates, studies show that 1 out of 2 fails to goto college. Among the top third, 2 out of 3 do not continue their education. If allowance is made for the fact that some persons with college abilities may not care to pursue their education beyond high school, the conclusion is that a number at least equal to those enrolled, having both the ability and the ambition to go to college, do not do so. A democratic nation can ill afford this continuing loss of its ambi- tious and able youth who, year after year, are trained below the limits of their potential development. EDUCATION AND THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE The first half of the twentieth century witnessed a broad change in the consensus of the American people on the position and responst- bility of the United States in world affairs. Essentially a peaceful people, accepting with unquestioning calm the inevitability of demo- cratic progress, Americans formerly felt secure from armed intrusion because of ocean barriers. By midcentury they knew that the oceans no longer offered them security and had come to trust more in collective security through the United Nations, and in the building of the world community with its structure of law, relying on international police 16 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 action against an aggressor. Along with this, the American people found that democracy was not unchallenged in its progress, that totalitarianism was bidding for control over the minds and lives of men—totalitarianism both from the right and from the left, both from foreign and from home-grown versions. And the twice recurrent necessity of armed defense, attended by fundamental and almost uni- versal disruption of normal civilian peacetime processes of life, to- gether with the heavy postwar fiscal and civic burdens and the long trials of the depression of the early thirties has created a new and different mental climate in which American youth learns its lessons of international life. Educators have played their part in these changes. Like men and women in all other professions and occupations, some educators have been leaders while others have lagged; some have believed that the future could be made at least in part by taking thought about it, while others have been inclined to drift with the currents and let the future take its own course. Valuable and far-reaching efforts of many imag- Inative educators, however, have carried through revisions of curricu- lum content which have increased the ability of American youth to understand world developments, to grasp the fuller significance of the American heritage of democratic freedoms, and to form their own convictions as to the place of the United States in the world scene. The numbing effect of the cold war which chilled the capitals of the world as the half century drew to a close was felt in the schools and colleges also. ‘The electrifying action of the United Nations on June 27, 1950, was to have an effect which could not be fully and clearly foreseen. Would it mean that democracy was to become vital and strong, firm in its faith in the people and hopeful of the future for all men everywhere, unafraid and undaunted in the face of the threat of total war? Or would it mean that democracy was to falter? Educa- tion could play a decisive part among our people in answering these questions. The schools and colleges will unquestionably give more at- tention and a larger place in the entire program of the schools to studies and other experiences which prepare youth to understand the complex international situation, and the part the United States must play in creating international undestanding and peace. Summary of the Half Century Midway in the twentieth century, educators could look back upon 50 years of progress which, taken by itself, was most encouraging. They could see schools and colleges reaching a larger number of people than ever before with more varied programs of higher quality than ever before. They could see significant reduction of racial differen- Office of Education . 17 tials in educational opportunity. They could draw on the intellectual and spiritual fruits of modern man’s scientific and cultural advance as resources in their efforts to continue the progress so well begun. But when educators put this progress in context with the march of men and events, and when they consider the grave deficiencies, both quantitative and qualitative, with which education is handicapped, they might conclude soberly that the midcentury brings at least as much of challenge as of congratulation. In this frame of mind, educators might then inquire more precisely into the events of the year 1949-50, to see what more immediate hope arises and what more direct light is shed on the path ahead by the happenings in the educational world during the past year. 1949-50 in Review Laymen Become Active—and Organize One of the most encouraging developments of the year under review was the further growth of citizens’ interest in education, and the organ- izing of that interest to make action effective. As the year began, there were about 150 organized citizens’ groups scattered throughout the country, each working on local educational problems. As the year ended, that number had doubled, and encouraging results were being achieved in every part of the Nation. These groups supple- mented, and often grew out of parent-teacher associations, of which there were approximately 33,000 in the Nation. Feeling the force of the shortages and inadequacies discussed earlier in this report, the people were gathering strength to meet the midcentury challenge. They were demonstrating what awakened and informed public intel- ligence can do in solving community problems. Much credit for growth of the movement during the past year goes to the recently formed National Citizens’ Commission for the Public Schools—itself a lay movement on a national scale. Cooperating with the Commission is the Citizens’ Federal Committee on Education, an advisory group of representative laymen established by the Office of Education in 1946. The national information program on the need for better schools, originated in 1947 by the Citizens’ Federal Com- mittee, has been expanded in the past year by the added strength of the National Citizens’ Commission for the Public Schools. Through joint action of these two national committees, and the Advertising Council, Inc., and with the support of parent-teacher associations and business groups throughout the country, this Nation-wide campaign has been conducted through the press and radio, and through the use of outdoor posters and cards in streetcars and busses. The campaign 18 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 has brought to the general public the sense of impending crisis under which the schools of the Nation operate and the need for lay activity. The Chamber of Commerce of the United States, labor organizations, and many service organizations as well as parent-teacher associations have reached their constituents with the same message. America begins to realize that the time for action is now. The movement is not regimented. It is in the true tradition of a democratic people. In many instances, local citizens’ groups have been formed in response to the leadership of a member of the school board or the principal or superintendent. In many other cases, some- one who has heard about a citizens’ committee in another town or school district, asks his neighbors, “Why not here, also?” Usually, these citizens’ committees began by surveying their own communities, to find out why there were not enough qualified teachers for the ele- mentary grades, or why long-postponed school building needs were not met, or why older high-school pupils were dropping out of school and sometimes turning up as names on the police blotter. They were surveying their own communities in much the same manner as the national scene is summarized in this report. They were putting into the public record, and into the minds of local citizens, the story of accomplishments and deficiencies of their own schools. These activities, added to those of long standing carried on by parent-teacher organizations, brought results. Bond issues were voted to meet accumulated building needs; and the year 1949-50 saw an esti- mated $1 billion of school and college construction contracted for or under way. Teachers’ salaries began to climb to more nearly adequate levels: the average salary for the Nation’s elementary and secondary school teacher rose from $1,475 in 1940-41 to $2,985 in 1949-50. Even this doubling of the national average, however, did little to increase the real wages of teachers because of the rise of the price level during the decade. While much of the improvement took place in localities where no special citizens’ group had been formed, there is no question that the interest of lay persons in the plight and progress of the public schools is having its effects. The National Citizens’ Commission pre- dicts that the 300 local citizens’ groups existing in June 1950 will increase to somewhere between 500 and 1,000 by the end of the year. State Governments Act Only 10 State legislatures held regular sessions during the year. Nevertheless, the record shows an active interest in educational mat- ters at these regular sessions, and in several States special sessions dealt with educational matters even though they were convened pri- marily for other purposes. California’s State Legislature, for Office of Education 19 example, in extraordinary session appropriated an extra $4,650,000 to help school districts begin to catch up to the demands of a growing population. The funds appropriated were in part allocated to give greater proportionate State aid to the school districts having lower taxable valuations. Georgia adopted a “merit system” for “all em- ployees of the State Department of Education,” reflecting the need for improved professional status. The Idaho Legislature, in special session, buttressed the reserve fund for teachers’ retirement by adding $1 million for the fiscal year 1951. Maryland increased from $200 to $600 the amount which the State pays toward the education of each physically handicapped child. Mississippi moved to eliminate con- flicts and confusion in the fiscal base of its school districts, a step essential to sound fiscal progress. New York added 1,200 scholarships for veterans pursuing college work in the State and established scholarships of $750 a year in medical and dental schools. New York also advanced moneys to school districts for emergency school build- ing needs; established a temporary commission to study the needs for public-school buildings and their costs, and, in light of the financial ability of localities, to make recommendations and to prescribe stand- ards for emergency school construction; and revised the basic legis- lation on which the developing State University system is to rest. Virginia broadened the tax base of its school districts and authorized 30 annual medical scholarships of $1,000 each to be used by Negro students for out-of-State study under the regional college plan developing in the South. The regional college plan, under which 12 Southern States pool their resources in certain branches of higher education, began. to reach effective dimensions in the school year 1949-50. Contracts with four institutions for veterinary medicine, with seven for medical education, and with six for dental education provide that students from States not now having adequate facilities in these fields will be received at the contracting institutions, and that the States concerned will pay stipulated amounts toward the expenses of educating such stu- dents. In 1949-50, 388 students were enrolled under these regional contracts. The regional plan of interstate cooperation in education, particularly higher education, will be observed and studied with con- siderable interest in all parts of the country. One region, for example, the Rocky Mountain States, has only two medical schools, one school of veterinary medicine, and no dental school whatever in the entire region. And together with the institutional arrangements to provide cooperatively for students in curricular areas not otherwise covered, there is a correlative development which, if followed through, will integrate across institutional lines the courses, faculties, and students 20 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 i i a pen el iES te e n of separate universities within a region. The interstate agreement of the University of West Virginia and the Medical College of Vir- ginia on the transfer of credits in medicine, and the southern regional training program in public administration are examples of this new development. Emphasis on Realism in Education It cannot be said that growth and development in the content of the educational experience has taken place in any single school year, but 1949-50 is a good year from which to survey what has happened in making school life a realistic training for life itself. Education in America has begun to move out from its cloistered preoccupation with the three R’s; and, without sacrificing the values of academic funda- mentals, the schools are now doing a better job than ever before in educating youth so that tomorrow’s adults will be effective citizens and successful homemakers, informed on world relations, prepared to make a living and to enjoy leisure constructively, adjusted to life in a modern urbanized and technological civilization, and rooted in the community in spite of the high degree of mobility that characterizes cur society. At the same time, these schools are actually doing a better job at teaching the three R’s than the old school of the McGuffey Reader and the blue-backed speller days. A misconception about the modern school needs to be corrected. There are those who try to discredit it by saying that it is “getting away from teaching the fundamentals.” Extravagant charges are made that the schools of today are turning out graduates who cannot read, write, spell, and count; that the schools are fast becoming the haven of incompetent teachers and idle or lazy pupils; that school funds should not be spent for such courses as “education for family life,” but that a greatly reduced budget should be used to return the schools to their primary tasks. None of these charges can be sustained by an impartial assessment of the evidence. On the contrary, incompetent teachers can best be eliminated not by reducing school budgets but by increasing budgets so that com- petent persons can replace many of the 1-in-every-10 elementary teach- ers now serving on an emergency basis. The so-called “lazy” pupil needs not to have his nose forcefully thrust between the covers of a speller or an arithmetic book; he needs to have the kind of school which successfully competes for his active interest. More than a half cen- tury ago, American educators accepted the fundamental view that learning is closely related to pupil interest. Is it not time that more laymen shared this idea? Such evidence as is available points to the conclusion that the schools of today are on the whole doing a better Office of Education 21 job than formerly—not merely as good a job, but a better one—in teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. One of this year’s publi- cations of the Office of Education, The Place of Subjects in the Cur- riculum, shows specifically how elementary school children are learn- ing the fundamentals in ways that are real and important to them. And all available evidence also indicates that the students of today are getting something their forebears did not find in school in any- thing like the same proportions: they are learning the three R’s of citizenship—Rights, Respect, and Responsibilities. The life adjustment education movement, sponsored by the Office of Education along with nine national associations of professional educators, is a manifestation of the growing interest in education with real life situations and in activities and responsibilities of life as it is lived. The Commission on Life Adjustment Education for Youth, through which the work is done, recognizes two guiding principles in developing a rounded high-school program for all youth: (1) each school should attempt to enroll and retain all youth of the community ; and (2) for each pupil life adjustment education is an individual matter. Progress toward these goals is a matter of development in each local community, with no standard patterns or regimented pro- grams superimposed. Essential to good education is the basic notion that each pupil should be given educational tasks and opportunities for experiences which are suited to Azs needs and abilities, both as a person and as a member of his society. Furthermore, each pupil should be measured and judged in his progress not by some arbitrary average or standard, but by the degree to which he has learned to use his own native ability. The Procrustean curriculum of 1900 deserves the indignation of 1950’s citizenry wherever it still survives: That curriculum does not meet today’s needs. The children and youth of America need to explore their own com- munities, through work experience associated with their schooling. As long as any significant proportion of the young workers of the Nation are dissatisfied with their jobs, they have need of vocational counseling and training, so that legitimate ambition may replace frus- tration and disillusioned apathy. As long as half of the money spent for recreation goes for purely spectator sports, is it not in order for the schools to develop a more constructive attitude toward the use of leisure? As long as one in every five families plunges into domestic difficulties, ought not the schools to work to reduce family maladjust- ments through education for family life? Does not the fact that about half of the draftees in World War II had some disqualifying defect indicate that education has some share of responsibility for providing good school health services and for encouraging sound health habits and knowledge? When for about 22 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 1 in every 20 Americans there looms the prospect of treatment for longer or shorter duration in a mental hospital, is there nothing that the schools can do to help build the inner resources of mental and spiritual poise which are adequate to the tensions of modern living? When scarcely half of the eligible adult citizens care enough about their democratic rights to cast their votes on election day, can it be argued that the schools have devoted too much time and attention to the fundamentals of citizenship education? When an increasing per- centage of persons arrested for lawbreaking is in the age group under 25, can it be maintained that the community has succeeded in provid- ing schools which train youth for the full assumption of adult respon- sibilities?) And as long as large numbers of students drop out of school when they reach the age at which the compulsory attendance controls are lifted, can it be maintained that the schools are erring in trying to make their curriculums vital and relevant to the student’s own concerns and sense of need ? Without sacrificing any of the values of the old-line high school which was designed primarily to train its graduates for college en- trance, the secondary schools have at this midcentury come to accept their fuller obligation to the 60 to 80 percent of their students who will never go to college. The broadening and enriching of curricu- lums, the use of unconventional teaching techniques, the stimulation of joint planning by teachers and pupils, the employment of improved guidance and counseling processes, the replacement of descriptive appraisals of progress for outmoded mechanical marking systems, the extension of the local public-school system through the thirteenth and fourteenth grade-year with the addition of terminal and vocational courses of study—these and other concomitant developments are a yeasty ferment at work in the secondary schools of the Nation at midcentury. Most of the essentials of hfe adjustment education have already won their way in the better elementary schools, where flexibility of subject matter has permitted adjusting the teaching process to the needs, aptitudes, and abilities of individual pupils. There the cur- riculum has become a tool rather than a tyrant. As the movement to make education rational and genuinely educative now builds up through the secondary schools, it will increasingly undergird the effort in the colleges and universities to focus the undergraduate curriculum on general education. Along with the increased interest of lay per- sons in education, this effort to give education a functional relationship to life is the second hopeful trend in American education at midcen- tury. And it is significant that one of the greatest points of strength in the life adjustment and general education movements is their in- volvement of the lay public. By midcentury, 15 States had established Office of Education %, 23 State committees on life adjustment education for youth; and in 8 of these States the programs were being vigorously carried on. In 10 additional States vigorous programs were carried on in cooperation with the national Commission, although the “life adjustment” label was not used. 7 Federal Participation in Education From early times, the Federal Government has been interested in the promotion of education. Traditionally and rightly, the primary responsibility for the furtherance and control of education has rested on the States and local communities. The people of the Nation, with- out in any way modifying State and local control, have increasingly employed the Federal Government to achieve educational objectives not otherwise attainable. These may be discussed under a dozen headings. RESEARCH CONTRACTS Perhaps the most significant development in the relationship be- tween the Federal Government and higher education during the past 10 years has been the increased use by Federal agencies of the facilities and personnel of colleges and universities for research purposes. In carrying on research, the Government has the alternatives of (1) es- tablishing its own research institutions and processes at great cost and recruiting personnel mostly by bidding against the colleges and universities, or (2) contracting with established research centers such as colleges and universities to do the work with staffs and facilities which are augmented for the purpose if necessary. In fiscal 1949 (latest figures available) total Federal obligations for research and development including construction for research fa- cilities approximated $1.2 billion, of which $96 million, or 8 percent, was conducted by colleges and universities. By far the largest pro- portion of this expenditure ($94,868,000) was in the natural sciences, with research in the social sciences receiving 2.5 percent of the total Federal expenditure for this purpose. Departments and agencies contracting for research in 1950 were: Department of Defense (Army, Navy, and Air Force), Commerce (Civil Aeronautics Administration and Weather Bureau), Agricul- ture (Office of Experiment Stations, Agricultural Research Adminis- tration, and Soil Conservation Service), Interior (Bonneville Power Administration and Fish and Wildlife Service), Atomic Energy Com- mission, Federal Security Agency (Public Health Service), and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. No funds were ap- propriated to the Office of Education for use in contract research. 24 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 When the Government contracts for research, each bureau or agency contracts with the institutions of higher education, usually to carry out a specified piece of research. No comprehensive study has been made of the possibility of overlapping and duplication in these con- - tracted services. Studies made so far have uncovered no instance in which an institution has complained that an agency of the Federal Government has attempted to exercise any coercive pressure or undue influence through its research grants and contracts. It is also worth mentioning that the heavy emphasis on the natural sciences in federally supported research has had a decided effect on the higher educational scene. VETERANS’ EDUCATION All indications suggest that the enrollment of veterans of World War II in educational institutions with the aid of Federal funds provided through the Veterans’ Administration under Public Laws 16 and 346 has passed its peak. ‘That agency reports that an average of more than $214 billion a year has been paid in benefits to veterans under these laws. The authorized expenditure for 1950 was $2,800,000,000 and an average of 2,158,000 veterans were using their educational benefits under the GI bill of rights. Of these, an aver- age for the year of 655,000 were enrolled in institutions of higher education, 839,000 in schools of less-than-college grade, and 664,000 in courses related to on-job and on-farm training. The Housing and Home Finance Agency has helped to house the veterans enrolled in higher education, providing some 129,000 temporary housing units on or near the campuses. Almost every campus has had its veteran students, and available information indicates that perhaps half of these men would not have been in college or university at all if they had not had the financial aid provided by Federal action. MILITARY EDUCATION To provide a supply of junior officers for the armed services, the Government helped to maintain training programs in 231, or one-eighth, of the 1,808 institutions of higher education in 1950. Only 30 of these institutions had units representing all three major services—ROTC (Army), AROTC (Air Force), and NROTC (Navy). Another 78 had units representing two of the services. Several hundred institutions had applications pending, looking to- ward the establishing of units on their campuses. The authorized expenditure for Ojfficers’ Reserve Corps programs in both secondary and higher institutions for 1950 was more than $16 million, which did not include the pay of the 5,000 to 6,000 military instructors assigned to the institutions. The additional costs to the institutions Office of Education 25 involved have not been estimated. Military training of some sort is “compulsory” at 120 institutions out of the 231—the degree of compulsion varying widely. Enrollments in the senior reserve pro- grams (usually the junior and senior years) in 1949-50 approximated 100,000 for the Army, 11,000 for the Navy, 48,000 for the Air Force, and 1,400 for the Marine Corps. Five of the 17 land-grant colleges for Negroes have units, and 8 other non-land-grant institutions at- tended predominately by Negroes have Army ROTC units. Two have Air Force units, and none has a Navy unit. The programs of the three branches of the service are not uniform, either in the proportion of a student’s curriculum which is “required” or which falls into the military science field, or in the benefits offered to reserve officer candidates. The Navy’s “Holloway plan” pays a student $50 per month during the school year for the full 4 years of study, and $78 a month during the summer cruises, and bears the cost of tuition, fees, and textbooks. The student is required to com- plete 29 semester hours of specially prescribed work for which 24 hours of credit is given. The Army and Air Force ORC programs make generally smaller demands on the student’s time, and in the level of benefits paid are at present considerably below those paid by the Navy during the first 2 years. SCIENCE EDUCATION On May 10, 1950, Public Law 507, establishing the National Science Foundation, received Presidential signature. A National Science Board of 24 members is to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, plus a Director, similarly appointed, who is an ex-oflicio member of the Board. The Founda- tion is authorized to promote basic research and education in the sciences (more particularly, the physical, biological, and medical sciences and mathematics and engineering), both by contracting to have such research done and by initiating and supporting such re- search. A special concern of the Foundation is to be research con- nected with national defense. Scholarships and fellowships may be granted in the mathematical, physical, medical, biological, engineer- ing, “and other” sciences. Appropriations are authorized (but funds not yet appropriated) at not to exceed $500,000 for the fiscal year 1951, and not to exceed $15 million for each fiscal year thereafter. As the bill establishing the Foundation moved toward passage, there was considerable discussion over the security provisions of the proposed legislation. It was finally agreed that clearance based on Federal Bureau of Investigation reports is to be required for all persons dealing with “restricted” materials and information. Hold- ers of scholarships and fellowships are to sign a non-Communist affi- 26 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1950 davit and subscribe to the oath customarily required of all government employees and elected officials and members of the armed forces. The law provides that the National Scientific Register, formerly known as the National Roster of Scientific and Specialized Personnel, be placed under the jurisdiction of the National Science Foundation. The Register is now in the Office of Education. There is a growing concern among the Nation’s educators and statesmen over the possibility that Government action in one narrowly defined area may lead to an undue emphasis on the natural sciences and result in an imbalance in education and in the national culture. The Congress may well consider whether its necessary and desirable action in behalf of the natural sciences has not brought upon it the further obligation to act with similar effectiveness in the fields of the social studies and the humanities. While it may be true that the natural sciences are more closely related to national defense than are other fields, it is also true that by no means all of the best brains and highest talents of the Nation can or ought to be enlisted in the natural sciences. And since the Federal Government is created not only “to provide for the common defense” but also “to promote the general welfare,” action on a broader front may be in order. Dr. Vannevar Bush, in lodern Arms and Free Men, puts it this way: It is essential that we provide equality of opportunity of higher education in the full sense, so that talent and intellectual ambition shall have no arti- ficially imposed limitations, so that highly endowed youngsters, wherever located, may come forward with full educational equipment to attack the great problems of the future, in law, medicine, principles of government, social relationships, science, engineering, business theory and practice, and in the humanities that underlie all our thought on the problems of civilization. * * % More broadly, all of the professions are essential to our strength and progress as a nation. Some day they should all be led by the most highly qualified individuals in the entire population, regardless of personal cir- cumstances, furnished at public expense with all the educational opportunity they can usefully absorb. MEDICAL EDUCATION In addition to research grants awarded by the Public Health Service for the support of investigation of basic sciences important to health and the control of disease, fellowships and grants for training are also awarded by the Public Health Service, principally through its Na- tional Institutes of Health. For fiscal 1950 about $2,875,000 was ap- propriated for this program, designed to encourage highly promising students to become more proficient in research in medical and related sciences. Fields included were not only the older branches of medi- cine but also some of the newer phases of mental health, in psychiatry, Office of Education . pare clinical psychology, psychiatric social work, and psychiatric nursing. The Veterans’ Administration in the fiscal year 1950, carried on a program of internships or “medical residencies” under which some 2,456 men were acquiring the experience and training which better fits them for the practice of medicine. The authorized expenditure for the year was $8,247,600. The critical financial situation in which most medical schools of the Nation find themselves has highlighted the question of Federal aid to medical schools. The short supply of doctors, dentists, and nurses for the full civilian and military needs of the Nation is cited as justi- fication for special Federal action in aid to medical education. Con- siderable interest was evidenced in these matters during the past legis- lative year, but final action is yet to be taken by the Congress. EXTENSION SERVICES AND SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL GRANTS Several departments and independent agencies have extension serv- ices each of which serves a particular purpose. Through the largest program of this type, the Department of Agriculture disseminates scientific and other information to farmers for the development and improvement of agriculture and home life on farms. About $32,573,360 was available in 1950 to the Extension Service, to keep farmers abreast of current developments in agriculture and their wives in home economics and to support 4-H clubs for young people. Legis- lation now under consideration would lodge somewhat similar exten- sion service functions with the Department of Labor, in reaching the nonagricultural workers of the Nation. In every State there is at least one land-grant college or university, established and nurtured under the first Morrill Act and subsequent legislation. In 1950, $5,030,000 was available from the Federal Gov- ernment through the Office of Education in direct support of instruc- tion in these institutions, an amount slightly greater than that appro- priated for Atomic Energy fellowships. The program is designed to ensure instruction at the college level in agriculture and the mechanic arts, although none of the land-grant colleges is by Federal action restricted to these fields. The Office of Education is responsible for administering these funds for land-grant institutions. In 4 States—California, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York— Maritime Academies are operated to train men for maritime service. These academies received a total of $1,053,492 granted by the Mari- time Administration of the Department of Commerce. The Federal Government also expends funds for the operation of Federal Merchant Marine Academies, the Military Academy at West Point, the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and for Coast Guard Academies.