of Education in addition, the tallowine reports: are 5 issued separate reprints: ae ae ‘Tae ADMINISTRATOR’ s Report SOcIAL SEcuRITY ADMINISTRATION PuBLic HEALTH SERVICE OFFICE OF Epucation Foop AND Druc ADMINISTRATION OFFICE OF VocaTionaL REHABILITATION - Sarnt ELIZABETAS Hosprrat UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE | WASHINGTON : (1952 i “Offic, WV asleae 25, D. ely "t oy SECURITY AGENCY FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY OscarR R. Ewi1nc, Administrator OFFICE OF EDUCATION Eart JAMES McGratu, Commissioner Deputy Commissioner of Education, Ratu J. Griassy. Assistant Commissioner for Program Development and Coordination, BuELL G. GALLAGHER. Assistant Commissioner for Vocational Education, Raymonp W. GREGORY. Assistant Commissioner for Defense Activities and Director of the Scientific Register, James C. O’BriEn. Assistant Commissioner for State and Local Schoo! Systems, WAYNE O. REED. Assistant Commissioner for Higher Education, Joun Date RussELu. Letter of Transmittal FrEpERAL SEcuRITY AGENCY, OrFicr or EpucaTion, Washington, D. C., October 30, 1951 The Honorable Oscar R. Ew1ne, Federal Security Administrator. Dear Mr. Ewrne: I herewith submit the annual report embracing the activities of the Office of Education for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1951. Respectfully, Karu James McGratu, Commassioner of Education. ili 976328—52—1 fISIZAIUL) PADMOLY $22q yf 10} UOI}NZIYsU] PIGQuUN]O> S221HO jouciBay Peligeed+ JO} asno}f Buju UDIHOWY JPHdsopy syyaqozi}y juIns suoifpiodioy papiy Ajjosapa4 124S152y DWy4ipUaiog jOUOIZONY sju2Wasinbay uolDINPZ U_I[IAIy yO UOISIAIG uolyDonpy sayBipy yo uorsiaig UOIJDINPA [DUOIJOIOA 4O UOISIAIG suia}skg jOOYDS [D907 PUD 2445 }O UOISIAIG JQUOISSIIWOF BY} JO 2IHO uolfOINPA $92 2'HO UOIFD}I[IGOYIY JOUIYDIOA $O 21H uol4yoiysiuiMmp\y Sniq pun poo SUOI{P/ Ay 24P4S-|P12P2+ $9 2AIHOC SUOILD/ 2% JOuolfoUso4U] $O° 2AIHO spioday pup SUOIFOII|GNd 49° 2IHO JOFMAJSIUIWIPYY Of SLUD}SISSYY S2IPIAIJD\WY 2SU2}2q 4104 AOJOAFSIUIWIP\Y fUDISISSYY AONADV ALIENS 4O4DAgSiuIWipY Agiunds2g jpsDpP24 4UD4SISSY JOpDagsiuiMpYy Aziundsas jpsspo4 Dy] S2dIAIVS 2404S FO ND|INg jOpidsopy s uawpaasy S2DIAIVS |O2'Paw 49° noaing YF[OIH FO S24N4I4sUy OUCIFOHY [O12uac) uo2bins au} f° 2'HO 2210125 44/92}{ 114d SIIIAIIS Pl?!4 40 2IHO jesuno>) |Psauac) $a 2IHO suoius) $!Pa4>) |O42pe4 yo noaing noaing S,uaspyiy> SIUD{SISSYy PAN, 4° noasng 22uDINsuy SIOAIAING » 26y-PIO jo noaing JQUOISSIWWO") out 4° 21HO uoiyorsiuiMpYy Ajundas |oOID0S UO!fDI4SIUILU PY 40 2HO FUD4SISSY 2AI¥ND9XxF Or Oey oe oaraegiahceamecemion,| pom saipog Asosiapy jpioads Twasdad W1BO1g 10} JOPOAYSIUIWIPYY fUDISISSYY Contents Co EGS FOU Bd DION i tg a et ig oy RU ts I A eS WD EDUCATION AND MOBILIZATION FOR DEFENSE___________________-__-- Perencerrnrormation Bulletins uo ee he ee Claimant Agency Function Under the NPA______________=--_-_2_-- College Students Under Selective Service________________________- PECL CRS Ow Tanilig Te TrORTAING furs Miers ey lets Bhi ee Assistance in Federally RT CCTCH TATEGSAA ee i eee Deere eee PeatoRPAMOCientiic ReGIStel. ewe oe tan oe te COPIER, URGES Tipe EE Si, ie leas 9 0 ohh aU pa PERN Ae Se eee Focat Points ror ACTION Meas ChoOOllOUuse sTOTLAges wey eee bee le botoreeh ameter eg pee ACOCTRI ZA TNETION tema air ety ea a ee laa a tay a ae 7 ReME TOUT SLIME LEAL ITD EI Onl) 92 we et a ale ss Bee Sal ete 8 UMAR SM UGH CIO tee tre eget er Oe ee Ee ee a aS River i USlien Cuca LIONS. ore ete. a eR Pe Ne Arai mmerohances! ovtgo to: Colleges Tey fife sce ioe) ow We es ee ae Education for International Understanding______________________- Be MoO MaMen ge Ole LClEVISIONs oes oo oe ee Education and the Nation’s Strength______ PVC OLE GL. at Rota eee ee SEE BCR AS oer ee Jee ie AO ti Poe pie ee Pet i, State and Local School re igal Ro) 01. ics 18 a beaker, 0) agian PWS RR, See Rey Se MAE iG NiMH TR ITIIT Oba Meed soetves Sty Sek ENR 19s Bi poly ell eie 2a 5s eae Sy, ty PIR eTC AUC AtiOlieam Moet aot a Fe OME UN gh ete eae wy Research and Statistics Program Development POAC RTOS te a tee the ate bee ie ae and Management Improvement-_-__---------- Pee eteCTtONGE aS De byw THe OFFICE. 2.0 lee es eee -. ee , ‘, 7 : a i ~~ — oe "y om : a - : > ‘4 x — f . —_ 3 tne: a > 2 a ee _ h ; > ‘ r 7 , -_ e - Ie ae | - i ' mf > ye 3 40>) (2a ee , } ae . i . 2 : aa ‘ Ly : ~ ms. e 4 rT — ~sd e ter at : ‘7 4 ' 4 rie ei etitls Pa Gy & ectieadiidl dona safe recy ( Mh veap) huge f 36% ; it ; 4 vy wt # sub attosint he apie ae Pays ivtige vet oe DOS Eee neal e S > A See Say ¥ ’ ws » ett niet sal Rael 1 Lear) ve ee t ‘(vOst ie § raat it ~~ : Y ; i se : ee, PY, Office of Education Introduction Fiscat 1951 was a year of armed conflict in Korea. It began a week or so after the invasion of South Korea; it ended a week or so after the United Nations broadcast by the Soviet delegate, Jacob Malik, which set in motion the truce negotiations between the United Nations command and that of Communist China and North Korea. The impact of the Korean conflict on the American people was far- reaching, as the Nation moved to mobilize its resources for defense. Selective Service was reorganized to provide for an army, navy, and air force of 3.5 million, 214 times the previous strength of our regular armed forces. ‘The wheels of industry started turning for the pro- duction of vast quantities of planes, guns, tanks, and other war ma- tériel. Shortages of raw materials—especially steel, copper, and aluminum—imposed sharp limitations on nondefense construction and industrial activity, and the sudden shift to a defense economy set off a spiral of inflation. Prices of consumer goods rose rapidly, and before any form of controls could be made effective the cost of living had increased by 9 percent. Education quickly felt the effect of the accelerating program for defense mobilization. The diversion to defense industries of large quantities of basic materials in short supply posed a major threat to the vitally important school-building construction program which had been gathering momentum since the end of World War II. With class- room facilities still wholly inadequate to take care of the rapidly in- creasing school population, this was, in most communities, a matter of grave concern. The program was further threatened during the year by the inflationary rise in construction costs. 2 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 The influx of workers and their families into areas where defense production activities were to a large extent concentrated created another and exceedingly trying problem. In nearly 1,000 communi- ties local school authorities were faced with the task of providing adequate classroom facilities for a suddenly expanded school population. 7 Rising prices also brought to the fore again, in sharp focus, the whole problem of teachers’ salaries. New cost-of-living adjustments came up for discussion before hundreds of school boards. Again, as in World War II, teachers began to leave the profession in increasing numbers to take better paid jobs elsewhere. Among colleges and universities, the anticipation of a sharp drop in enrollments for the succeeding academic year presented equally grave problems. With tens of thousands of young men of college age going into uniform, fears arose that it would be necessary, in many cases, to make deep slashes in the teaching staffs. Colleges were con-_ cerned with the extent to which specially qualified students would be permitted to postpone their military service until they had completed their college education. Beyond all this, the tensions engendered by the international crisis were reflected in many ways in the classroom. And the sense that the crisis might last for an indeterminate number of years hung heavy over the entire educational world. In the meantime, the main business of education went forward. Elementary and secondary school enrollments, public and private, set a new record of 29,828,000. College and university enrollments, however, declined slightly from the previous year to a level of about 2,500,000, chiefly because of the smaller number of students entering colleges under the GI scholarships. The acute shortage of teachers, particularly in the elementary schools, continued to threaten the proper functioning of our public school system. And the schoolhouse shortage became increasingly critical as the rate of new schoolhouse construction failed to provide adequately for the tidal-wave of children bearing down on our schools. Education and Mobilization for Defense In meeting the impact of the problems, created by the international emergency throughout the fiscal year 1951, the Office of Education played an important part. The responsibility resting on the Office’s leadership in the field of education was clearly recognized by the National Security Resources Board in a statement designating it as the agency for all educational planning related to the defense effort. “In the field of education,” the statement read, “the National Se- curity Resources Board and the President are looking to the Federal IF YOU ARE INTERESTED. being notified when future issues of this publication or other publications of a similar nature become available, please fill out and return this post card. 16—64731-1 SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON 25, D. C. Office of Education 3 Security Agency and its Office of Education as the focal point within the Federal Government where information regarding the educational and training needs will be gathered and distributed to the schools and institutions of higher education so that they may make their maximum contribution to the defense effort.” This was interpreted by the Office as involving two levels of related activity: the responsibility (@) to explore the total educational re- sources of the Nation and to help channel them, wherever possible, into the immediate defense effort; and (6) to work toward safeguard- ing and improving present educational standards to the end that education may continue to make its basic contribution to the strength and well-being of the Nation during the critical years which lie ahead. In following through on these responsibilities the Office laid down 4 broad programs with some 27 separate staff assignments for ex- ploratory study and recommendation. The general headings under which these programs were set in motion were: (1) Manpower, with special reference to Selective Service policies and the training of de- fense workers; (2) School construction and the allocation of mate- rials in short supply; (8) Educational facilities in federally affected areas and the administering of Federal aid; and (4) a Defense In- formation Service to school authorities and educational institutions. DEFENSE INFORMATION BULLETINS In December 1950 the Office began a series of bulletins designed to provide information and interpret developments in the over-all de- fense mobilization programs as they related to education. By June 30 these bulletins, published as need arose, had reached a total of 47. The majority were concerned with the regulations issued by the Office of Defense Mobilization concerning the allocations of mate- rials in short supply and those issued by Selective Service on the drafting of college students. These bulletins were mailed to more than 2,600 school and college officials throughout the country. The response was uniformly good, and the Office received wide commenda- tion for the performance of an essential service to education in a time of national crisis. In addition, the regular publications of the Office, ScHoot Lirr and HicHEer Epucarion, carried definitive articles on these matters. CLAIMANT AGENCY FUNCTION UNDER THE NATIONAL PRODUCTION AUTHORITY Early in the fiscal year it was apparent that, under the pressures of the defense production program, a tightening market would develop in basic materials. There were widespread fears among educators that the requirements of the defense industries would be so over-riding 976358—52—_2 4. Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 li thn eg that those of new schoolhouse construction and maintenance would be virtually disregarded. These fears were based on the Nation’s kere e in World War II. During that period all priorities and allocations of basic ma- terials had been handled by the War Production Board. As defense production rose to higher and higher levels, civilian operations not directly related to the war effort found themselves reduced to a frac- tion of what they required. This was particularly true in the field of education. As a result, there was an almost complete cessation during the war years of new school construction and a sharp drop in ordinary school maintenance and repair. In justification it may be said that a nation engaged in all-out war— where victory is conceived of as possible within a limited time—can perhaps afford to make sacrifices of this nature. The situation in 1950, however, was vastly different. Here we were concerned not merely with resisting aggression in Korea, but with mobilizing our defense resources for a crisis that might easily last for 10, 15, or even 25 years. Under the circumstances, it was of vital importance not only to plan for the amount of defense production necessary to build our armed forces to the necessary levels, but it was also important to maintain our civilian economy at the highest level possible and to make no needless sacrifices that would weaken the Nation’s essential strength. This thinking was given official sanction as the defense program swung into action. Under the Defense Production Act of 1950, the President was authorized “to allocate material and facilities in such manner, upon such conditions, and to such extent as he shall deem necessary and appropriate to promote the national defense.” A sub- stantial part of this authority was delegated to the Secretary of Com- merce, who in turn established a National Production Authority within his department. To carry on its functions, the NPA designated certain departments, commissions, and agencies of the Government as claimant agencies. The primary task of these agencies was to represent the public interest in matters which came under their special jurisdiction. It was their responsibility to provide information on the civilian needs of the country which would be submitted to the Defense Production Admin- © istration, the planning agency of the Office of Defense Mobilization. On the basis of this information the DPA would make broad alloca- tions of scarce materials as between the military and civilian parts of the economy and as between major segments of the civilian economy. (Later the NPA was made the operating arm of the DPA and the two authorities came under a single executive head.) As part of this arrangement, the Federal Security Administrator was designated (Department Order 127, Department of Commerce) Office of Education . 5 as the official claimant before the NPA in respect to “school and hospi- tal construction other than veterans’ hospitals; and the domestic dis- tribution of supplies and equipment needed in the fields of health, education, welfare, recreation, and related activities.” Those func- tions relating to the field of education were, in turn, delegated by the Administrator to the Commissioner of Education. A working staff was immediately organized by the Commissioner to carry out this assignment. This staff was drawn chiefly from per- sonnel already employed within the Office since only limited funds were available for the operation. Under Regulation 1, dated September 18, 1950, the National Produc- tion Authority established controls over some 100 materials in short supply to prevent the excessive accumulation of inventories. The im- mediate focus, however, was on the shortages in copper, steel, and aluminum. At the request of the NPA, the Office prepared a full-scale survey of all educational needs of the country—elementary and high schools, colleges, and libraries—in respect to these basic materials over the 1951 and 1952 calendar years. The survey, submitted March 1, covered 278 items of supplies and equipment in the field of new school construction and maintenance, and constituted the basis on which the DPA made its later determinations of the amount of materials in short supply to be set aside for education. In the meantime, a great number of school authorities were having difficulty in procuring materials and equipment needed for the con- struction projects already begun. Many of them turned to the Office of Education for help, and in consequence a program of emergency assistance for hardship cases was inaugurated. From February through June some 8,500 requests for assistance were received, and in the great majority of instances the Office, working with the NPA, was able to secure the needed materials. At the suggestion of the Office, a special “set aside” in steel, for the month of June, was made by the NPA to meet hardship cases in the field of education. The principal beneficiaries under this program were school author- ities in small towns and the smaller colleges. The Office did, however, aid many of the larger colleges and universities in securing hard-to-get items of equipment, such as scientific and technical mstruments and multiple switch gears. In much of this activity the Office was able to utilize to advantage the services of the field organization of the Federal Security Agency. So far, the Federal Security Agency and the Office of Education were acting primarily in an advisory capacity to the Defense Produc- ‘tion Administration andthe NPA. But with the announcement by the DPA of a Controlled Materials Plan to go into effect July 1, 1951, this relationship was substantially altered. Under NPA Delegation 14, the FSA was given definite authority : (1) to issue permits authorizing 6 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 ST the commencement of all construction in the field of its jurisdiction ; and (2) to establish construction schedules and allot critical material. In the field of education this authority was exercised by the Office of Education. During the period when the CMP was in the process of being drawn up, members of the staff of the Federal Security Administration and of the Office of Education, together with representatives of nongovern- mental education associations, maintained a close contact with the Defense Production Administration executives. The importance of continuing schoolhouse. construction, at least at its current rate, was forcefully argued. Full data were presented covering the tremendous increase in school population expected over the next 10 years and the critical shortage in classrooms following the failure to maintain adequate construction schedules during the depression and war years. Largely as a result of these efforts, there was reason to believe that education would be given a top priority in the allocation of basic materials with a rating equal to that of the various defense establish- ments, the Atomic Energy Commission, and certain other important fields of defense operation. Amounts approved for delivery, during the quarter beginning July 1, included 100,000 tons of carbon steel and substantial amounts of brass mill products and aluminum. Compared with education’s position in World War II this was a distinct 1mprove- ment. With a certain amount of steel still available in the free market, these allotments were sufficient to take care of most of the immediate needs of school construction already under way, but they made little provision for projects scheduled to begin construction during the quarter. It was evident that allotments for succeeding quarters would have to be greatly increased if the full requirements of education were to be met. COLLEGE STUDENTS UNDER SELECTIVE SERVICE Under the Selective Service Act of 1948, college and university students ordered to report for induction, were permitted to finish their academic year if their work continued to be satisfactory. With a high level of voluntary enlistment for the comparatively small pre-Korean armed forces, relatively few were affected by the draft. The Korean crisis, however, opened up the whole question of defer- ment, or postponement of service, for college students under the act. The nub of the question was the extent to which specially qualified students were to be permitted to finish their full college courses be- fore going into the armed services, and on what basis the selection was to be made. 3 In educational circles there were profound differences of opinion on the matter. Some felt that in a democracy no preference of any: sort should be accorded college students; that all young men reach- Office of Education a ing draft age should be dealt with on the same basis. These views did not coincide with those held by the majority of educators, as evidenced by a poll conducted by the National Education Associa- tion of a cross section of college presidents throughout the country. Nor did they coincide with those of Administration officials. Charles E. Wilson, head of the Office of Defense Mobilization, put the matter clearly when he stated that it was important for the armed services to “have the benefit of men trained to serve more effectively than they otherwise would.” “Our potential enemies,’ Mr. Wilson went on to say, “can mar- shal enormous manpower resources against us. There is no foresee- able chance that we can match their manpower in terms of sheer numbers. The factors potentially in our favor are our military com- petence, our technological advantage, and our vast industrial capacity. “The effectiveness of these three factors depends almost entirely upon the technical, scientific, managerial, and industrial skills of our population which are already in short supply. Success or failure in meeting the forces arrayed against us will depend in large measure upon the intelligence with which we husband these skills and use them to their fullest advantage.” Several proposals, widely differing in content, were set forth by various individuals and educational institutions, and the matter was thoroughly explored at committee hearings of the House and Senate. The law enacted retained the presidential authority to defer college students. Under this authority the new Selective Service regulations permit the postponement of induction into the armed services, over the succeeding school year (1951-52) for students in the following categories: . (a) students or those accepted for admission in certain professional schools (medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, osteopathy, and optometry) who are certified by their schools as doing satisfactory work; (b) full-time graduate students seeking a graduate degree and similarly certified ; (c) students accepted for admission to graduate schools who have satisfactory scholastic standing or can meet certain prescribed tests; (d) undergraduates accepted for admission to their next year of study who have a comparatively high scholastic standing or who can meet certain qualification tests. The bill also incorporated the principle of Universal Military Train- ing, with a commission to be appointed to draw up a specific program. College authorities, of course, were concerned with the determina- tion of the draft age—whether it should be placed at 18 or 19—since this would affect the number of students eligible for induction. On the compromise finally agreed upon, age 1814, studies made by the 8 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 Office of Education showed that approximately one-third of all cur- rently enrolled college undergraduates would thus be affected—some 370,000 out of a total male enrollment of 1,059,000. This relatively low proportion was caused by the fact that about 428,000 students were World War II veterans and therefore not subject to the draft and 201,000 were ROTC students. The remainder of the male stu-— dents were for the most part, 4F’s or under draft age. During May and June, Selective Service tests, administered by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N. J., were given at ap- proximately 1,000 examination centers throughout the United States and its Territories. As of June 30, the results of these tests had not been made known. DEFENSE TRAINING PROGRAMS During World War IJ, the schools and colleges of the Nation played « vital role in the training of workers for jobs in defense industry. Under various national defense programs, administered by the Office of Education, more than 13 million persons were given such training. This tremendous effort was credited, in no small way, with breaking the bottle-neck in production of war materials and gave industry the skilled workers it required to build the necessary ships, planes, tanks, and guns. It was carried under three general headings: 1. The Vocational Training Program for War Production Workers was operated mainly in the public secondary schools under the State Boards for Vocational Education. During the 5 years from 1940 to 1945, this program enrolled nearly 714 million persons. Nearly 5 million were workers employed by war industries who received train- ing supplemental to their war employment. The other 21% million received specialized training prior to their employment in war indus- tries. Of these 714 million, about 114 million were women with no previous industrial experience. 2. The Rural War Production Training Program was also oper- ated in the secondary schools under the State Boards for Vocational Education. This program had a total enrollment of more than 4 million. About 114 million of these received training in the opera- tion and maintenance of farm machinery and another 114 million in food processing and conservation. Something like three-fourths of a million were trained for employment in war industries. 3. The Engineering Science and Management War Training Pro- gram was operated in some 240 colleges, universities, and technical schools under plans approved by the Office of Education. The job here was to assist in meeting the shortage of engineers, chemists, physicists, and production supervisors in fields essential to national defense. Total enrollments were nearly 1,800,000, and 10 types of Office of Education ) courses were offered, with chief emphasis on electrical engineering, engineering drawing, and industrial engineering. On September 9, 1950, following the outbreak of the Korean con- flict, the President approved a memorandum of the Director of the Bureau of the Budget bearing on the training of defense workers under the general defense mobilization program. This memorandum laid down the principle that the Department of Labor would iden- tify all training needs for defense activities and that the Federal Security Agency, through the Office of Education, would “develop plans and programs for the education and training, in groups or classes under organized auspices, of personnel needed for work in occupations essential to the national defense.” In December 1950, at the request of the National Security Resources Board, the Office undertook a survey of the plant research and in- structional facilities of some 1,900 colleges and universities. The task was to assemble, analyze, and classify all pertinent information, «end make it available to the Department of Defense and other Fed- eral agencies requesting it. By June 30, 1951, more than 1,100 com- pleted reports had been received. This was the first time that such comprehensive information had been assembled covering college and university facilities. The program was designed to operate on a current basis and, by the end of the year, was already proving useful to the defense efforts of 21 different units of the Federal Government. Along with these activities, a Nation-wide program for the training of defense workers was drawn up covering two types of training to ineet defense production requirements: 1. Training for immediate production needs—Introductory train- ing on the job for new workers, refresher training for those returning to the labor market, and instruction required as the result of shifts trom nondefense industries or upgrading of workers in the plant. 2. Training for longer range needs—For the skilled trades and for scientific, technical, and defense pursuits. Defense training of less-than-college grade was to be carried on, under the direction of the Office of Education, by State Boards for Vocational Education and State and local vocational schools. De- fense training of college grade was to be carried on, under the direction cf the Office, by institutions of higher education. As of June 30, no specific funds were available for these programs. Many high schools undertook as much defense training of workers as they could with the money at their command, but the effort touched only the edges of the problem. Without question the need for training is imperative. Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson has said that in order to meet our defense production goals the part of the labor force engaged directly or in- : 10 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 directly in defense production will have to be increased in 1951 by 3 to 4 million workers. In this connection, it should be pointed out that the employment situation is radically different from what it was in 1940. At that time there was a large mass of unemployed workers eager to undergo specific training that would enable them to get de- fense jobs. Today, we have nearly full employment. Most of our workers are earning comparatively good wages in comparatively stable jobs. There is practically no surplus of young people on our farms. Any sharp increase in the labor force to meet our defense needs will probably require the training of a larger number of women than in World War II. It will be necessary to put greater emphasis on the training of the physically handicapped and the 4F’s. And we shall have to draw heavily on the services of the older and retired workers. Over the next several years, at least, our schools and colleges can look forward to shouldering a heavy load in this important area of the Nation’s defense program. ASSISTANCE IN FEDERALLY AFFECTED AREAS The rapid stepping-up of defense activities brought heavy pressure on the educational facilities in communities located near military in- stallations and defense production projects. Military camps and bases were being reactivated or expanded to train an increasingly large number of men inducted into the Armed Forces. Shipyards were reopening in a number of areas and expanding production in others. Airplane production went into high gear, and factories producing all manner of war matériel were also expanding their rate of production. These pressures were felt even more heavily in connection with the Paducah (Ky.), and Savannah River (Ga.) projects established by the Atomic Energy Commission. As a result of all this, workers by the tens of thousands with their families had moved into these communities to take defense jobs, and it was evident that the pattern of congested areas, so familiar during World War II, was being repeated. This was especially true of school facilities for workers’ children. Al the worst aspects of the Nation- wide schoolhouse shortage were intensified—overcrowded classrooms; use of fire-hazardous buildings, basements, and empty stores, together with recourse to half-day sessions. Beyond that, the heavy influx of military personnel into military installations and bases—civilian workers as well as men in uniform— created even more imperative problems, since in most instances there were few school facilities for the children of families moving into these areas. Many of these children were sent to schools in the sur- rounding communities, thus swamping their already overcrowded classrooms. Office of Education 1l In September 1950, legislation was enacted by the Congress (title II of Public Law 815) providing for various forms of Federal aid for new schoolhouse construction in communities struggling with these problems. About the same time, additional legislation was enacted (Public Law 874) to provide Federal assistance to these communities for current operating expense. In the fiscal year 1951, the sum of $96.5 million was appropriated or authorized for Public Law 815 and $23 million was appropriated for Public Law 8742 In both instances, the amount of Federal payments was determined primarily on the basis of the Federal impact in terms of federally affected chil- dren involved and property exempt from taxation. By the end of the fiscal year, 865 applications for new school con- struction under Public Law 815 had been received, involving an estimated 540,000 children. The full amount to which the commu- nities were entitled came to some $340 million. Since this was far in excess of the amount appropriated by the Congress, the Commissioner of Education was forced to determine the relative urgency of need for school facilities. The $96.5 million available was apportioned among those applicants whose claims were adjudged to be the most pressing. Preliminary allocations, as of June 30, showed that $88 million had been reserved for 290 specific projects in 241 school dis- tricts. Of these projects, 228 involving a little more than $74,000,000 served specific defense activities; 8 requiring $899,000 were for non- defense activities such as reclamation and flood-control activities and Indian reservations; and a little more than $13,000,000 was reserved for 54 projects in areas still suffering from the impact caused during World War II. Many of the last group still had children living in federally owned nontaxable housing projects built in wartime. Under Public Law 874, applications for Federal aid to meet current school expenses were received from 1,210 qualified applicants with certified entitlement totaling approximately $29 million. NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC REGISTER In the summer of 1950, as part of the over-all manpower program, the National Scientific Register was established in the Office of Edu- cation as a special project of the National Security Resources Board. Its primary responsibility is to develop a selective, analytical inven- tory of the Nation’s specially trained scientists and technologists in the physical, natural, and engineering sciences. It also develops studies relating to various phases of the Nation’s scientific manpower 1A supplemental appropriation in the amount of $5.7 million was made available after the close of Fiscal ’51 to cover requirements of Public Law 874 during the fiscal year 1951. 976328—52——3 12 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 ie rs nS SO ence ne OR a resources and provides the machinery necessary for the full utiliza- tion of scientific skills in the event of total mobilization. These data, along with the studies and reports based on them, will be used by Government agencies and other institutions concerned with mobiliza- tion planning, training, military deferment, scholarship, and research programs. | CIVIL DEFENSE During the year, through its Division of Vocational Education, the Office worked with the Civil Defense Administration in developing training plans needed to prepare people for duty in various aspects of civil defense. It also maintained continuing liaison with the CDA in its general educational work. In addition, the Office cooperated with the Red Cross in preparing suggestions for the establishment of courses for the training of teachers in home nursing. The foregoing are the chief activities of the Office of Education growing out of the international emergency. But in a variety of other ways the day-by-day work of the Office felt the impact of the crisis. as the Nation mobilized for defense. Reorganization of the Office of Education In February, the administrative structure of the Office of Education was reorganized. Among other measures taken, the number of oper- ating divisions was reduced from eight to three, and certain specific responsibilities, previously more-or-less scattered throughout the vari- ous divisions, were brought together at the staff level to permit more effective coordination. This “streamlining” process had as its objective more than just an increased efficiency of operation as such. Its chief purpose was to enable the Office to move more directly and more boldly toward carry- ing out its primary responsibilities in the field of American education. At the time it was first established in 1867, the functions of the Office had been broadly laid down as involving “research into educa- tional matters, the dissemination of information, and the promotion of education.” From time to time, however, various administrative functions had been delegated to it. The Office, for instance, was given charge of the allotment of Federal funds to the States for the land- grant colleges. It organized and administered for more than 40 years, the famous “Reindeer Service” to provide education for the native population of Alaska. From 1932 to 1943 it administered the Federal-State program of vocational rehabilitation. In 1933, it was given responsibility for administering the Nation-wide system of voca~ tional training in the public schools. And during World War II, as Office of Education | 13 previously stated, it directed a vitally important program for the training of war workers and also of engineers and scientists needed for the war effort. As an arm of the Government, administering the Federal interest in various aspects of education, it was acknowledged that the Office had been highly successful and had served an exceedingly useful pur- pose. But in terms of its fundamental purposes as originally outlined, its record, according to many of its critics, had been less impressive. Basic research in education had not been actively advanced; it had tended to be limited to the compilation of statistical data. The dis- semination of information, for this reason, had also tended to be limited in scope. And promotion of education—in other words, the function of leadership in the field—had been caught in the shallows of advisory and consultative services. With these ideas in mind, during April of the previous fiscal year, the Office had engaged the Public Administration Service of Chicago to make a thorough-going survey of its administrative functions and activities. The intent was to secure an objective study of the degree to which the Office was meeting its primary responsibilities and of measures that could be taken to strengthen its operation. The survey was financed through money obtained from the Presi- dent’s fund on management improvement. The survey itself was directed by Francis S. Chase, professor of educational administration at the University of Chicago, and the report was completed in Oc- tober of the year under review. In evaluating the work of the Office, the report sharply scored its failure, over the past years, to focus attention on the most pressing educational problems. To a large extent, it found, the energies of the Office were dissipated in scatter-gun projects. There was “a prodi- gious amount of activity, and the production of a large number of studies of interest to segments of the educational clientele of the Office, but of limited value in terms of me or problems confronting American education.” This scatter-gun approach was largely, the report stated, the result of the Office’s organization and staffing pattern. The operating divi- sions were for the most part manned by specialists primarily con- cerned with their own field of interest who, for all practical purposes, made their own selection of projects to be initiated. In addition, a considerable number of more-or-less unrelated studies were under- taken at the request of educational groups outside the Office. Asa result, according to the report, what was obviously a heavy year’s work showed little evidence of basic planning or direction. Furthermore, the report stated, a large part of the time and energy of staff personnel was absorbed in correspondence and in providing 14 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 Eee consultative services to school authorities on their own specialized sub- jects. These functions, important as they were, tended further to fragmentize the activities of the Office. What was needed, the report insisted, was an organization through which the Office could effectively make use of its full resources to deal with the over-all problems of education and to swim vigorously in its main current. There was in- creasing need for high-level research—either within the Office or under its direct sponsorship—which should concentrate on matters affecting the structure and quality of American education as a whole. The chief effort of the Office should be directed toward a better anticipation and speedier identification of major educational problems and the de- velopment of means to meet and resolve these problems. As a necessary step toward the achievement of these objectives, the report recommended that the activities of the Office should follow the natural pattern of American educational needs and be directed through three main channels: a Division of State and Local School Systems, a Division of Vocational Education, and a Division of Higher Education. These recommendations, together with other sug- gestions looking toward better administration, were largely incor-~ porated in the reorganization plan which was put into effect during February. Under the new plan each division, headed by an assistant commis- sioner, in close collaboration with the other divisions and with the newly established Program Development and Coordination Branch in the Commissioner’s Office, undertakes all programing and opera- — tion within the area of its responsibility. It is thus able to concen- trate on those matters, from the earliest possible stage of their develop- ment, which contribute most vitally to the continued progress of American education. Moreover, a tighter organization makes it easier to establish task forces on certain program assignments drawn from the staff resources of the entire Office. And top-level review in the Commissioner’s Office of all divisional programing and operation serves to coordinate the efforts of the entire Office. The Office believes that its administrative reorganization will clear the way for a closer realization of its basic objectives. What is im- perative at the present time is effective leadership by the Federal Gov- ernment in the general field of education. Such leadership in no sense implies Federal control or anything even remotely pointing in that direction ; the operation and control of our public schools should, and must, continue to be the responsibility of State and local governments. It does, however, imply a Federal agency actively concerned with major trends in education and their relation to social and economic developments both at home and abroad. The Office should be capable of originating broad policies within the framework of the national Office of Education 15 interest, and of interpreting these policies to the States and local com- munities at the operating level. Moreover, there is every evidence that truly dynamic leadership of this nature will be welcomed by our schools and colleges. A large number of the problems which State and local authorities must cope with cut across geographical lines and must be dealt with in national terms. These authorities are looking more and more to unified leader- ship for help in keeping their own State and local programs in proper focus. This is especially true as the Nation enters what may prove to be the most critical period of its entire existence. Such leadership would also provide a central rallying point for the various organiza- tions—both lay and professional—which are making many sound and substantive contributions to the advancement of education throughout the country. Focal Points for Action The long-run challenge to the Nation which the international crisis presents is dealt with below. The immediate crisis, however, has brought to the stage of even greater importance some of the most pressing problems which educators were grappling with before the outbreak of the Korean conflict. More than ever, if we are to come safely through the long period of stress that lies ahead, we must face squarely the need for action—and action now—looking toward the ef- fective solution of these problems. THE SCHOOLHOUSE SHORTAGE Among the most insistent of these problems is the appalling lack of adequate classroom facilities to house our rapidly increasing school population. Public Law 815, passed by the Congress in September 1950 to provide for new schoolhouse construction in federally affected areas (see p. 11), also took cognizance of this over-all construction problem. Under title I, $3 million was appropriated to finance a State- by-State Nation-wide survey of school facilities. This sum was al- lotted among the States on the basis of each State’s proportionate school-age population, with a State contribution to match the Federal payment. The project will enable the States to “inventory existing facilities, to survey the need of additional facilities in relation to the distribution of school population, to develop State plans for school construction programs, and to study the adequacy of State and local resources available to meet school facilities requirements.” Under the law, the Commissioner of Education serves as coordinator of the survey with authority to approve applications from legally des- ionated State educational agencies and to prescribe the form of the 16 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 reports. The Office also provides consultative services to these agencies. As of June 30, 1951, surveys had been initiated in 39 of the 53 States and Territories, three of them without use of Federal funds. The inventory phase of the reports is scheduled to be completed by Decem- ber 1, 1951; the target date for the development of 10-year school plant construction programs is set for June 30, 1953. Such a definitive survey is, of course, long overdue. It should pro- vide a working blueprint of the Nation’s need and, it is to be hoped, a further spur toward meeting those needs. Studies conducted by the Office of Education and by other nongovernmental organizations have repeatedly emphasized the critical situation in which the Nation finds itself in respect to its school plant. Over the past 20 years there has been a tremendous lag in the con- struction of new elementary and secondary public schools. During the depression, construction was drastically curtailed. In 1934, for instance, the average amount spent per child enrolled, per year, was only $2.24 compared with the 1922-28 average of $15.21; and by 1939 the average was still less than $10. During the war years, owing to the acute shortage in building materials, the situation took an even sharper turn for the worse and all new construction came virtually toa halt. And for the immediate postwar years, the continued short- ages plus inflated prices of materials and manpower greatly hindered most communities from entering upon any important school-building program. The result of all these factors is a tremendous backlog of accumulated construction needs. Furthermore, estimates indicate that one out of five schoolhouses now in use throughout the country should be abandoned or extensively remodeled. Many are fire hazards. Others are health risks lacking normal sanitary conveniences. Thousands are essentially obsolete— unsuited to modern educational needs or demands of administrative efficiency. And the shifting of population during World War II has left many others too remote from the population centers they once served to be utilized economically. In the meantime, the unprecedented birth rate of the war and post- war years has added enormously to the pressures. These pressures are now being felt particularly in our elementary schools as evidenced by the overcrowded classrooms and makeshift methods of housing in virtually every community. They will shortly be felt in our secondary schools. By 1957-58, it is estimated that the total enrollment, kinder- garten through secondary schools, will reach more than 32 million, an increase of 6 million over the public-school enrollment of 1950-51. Merely to take care of this increase it will be necessary to provide at least 222,000 more classrooms in the next 7 years. And to supply tha Office of Education | 17 backlog of needs for replacements in plant structure and the reorgani- zation of school districts for more effective administration something like 252,000 more will be needed. It will further require about 18,000 classrooms a year to care for normal replacements, or 126,000 rooms over 7 years. This brings the grand total up to about 600,000, which is approximately 50 percent more usable classrooms than the Nation now has. At 1950 prices, the estimated basic cost of a classroom, including related facilities, was $27,000. The total cost for the 600,000 class- rooms needed over the next 7 years is therefore something like $16 billion, or an annual investment of more than $2 billion. Moreover, the general price rise following the outbreak of the Korean conflict has already added about 12 percent to the 1950 costs. Any calculation of costs over the next decade must remain highly speculative. Before restrictions were placed on critical materials the yearly rate of new construction for public elementary and secondary schools was running to about $1.3 billion. Even if it were possible to continue at this rate—which the developing shortages in steel and other critical materials make highly unlikely—less than 60 percent of the Nation’s 7-year school construction needs would be met. Moreover, the imme- diate needs of elementary schools are so pressing that even a 100- percent fulfillment of the annual construction schedule would fall far short of providing the number of classrooms required to take care of the children already going to school. It will be seen, therefore, that the situation is rapidly approaching a major national catastrophe. The Office of Education is acutely aware of the difficulties faced by State and local authorities. It is increasingly evident that local com- munities can finance only a diminishing part of needed new school- house construction from local bond issues supported by general prop- erty taxes. Throughout the country, there is a clear trend toward State aid for new school construction and, by 1950-51, 23 States had established such a policy. Along with this policy, there is a staunch effort by some of these States to attack the problem of redistricting in order to distribute the tax burden equitably and to make the most effective use of the money spent for new school facilities. In Illinois, for instance, from 1944 to 1950, the number of school districts was reduced from 11,955 to fewer than 4,600; in Arkansas, from 2,179 to 421; and in Idaho from 1,114 to 299. Atleast 9 other States have made genuine progress in this direc- tion. Staff members from the Office are also working with State authori- ties to see that new school planning and construction are blueprinted to meet the changing needs of modern education and to secure the maxi- mum degree of efficient and economical administration. 18 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 D2 ET TE CP IN Te Ie OSM TM Ee The essential detailed facts for dealing with the schoolhouse short- age, however, are still to be gathered, The Nation-wide survey of school construction needs, now in progress, should help to pin down these facts in incontrovertible form. Among other things, it should throw a better spotlight upon the variations in the amount and quality of school facilities that exist among the individual States, and the ex-. tent to which the resources of each State can be applied to meet these needs without some measure of outside help. The facts already known, however, urgently pose the question whether the individual States and communities can furnish a really effective solution for the problem as a whole. New York and New Jersey, for instance, according to 1949 figures can support a school budget for current expenditures which averages $284 and $2738, respec- tively, per pupil per year. But Arkansas and Mississippi spend a larger proportion of their incomes to support a school budget that averages $99 and $77, respectively. Our most immediate hurdle, however, is the alarming shortage in steel, copper, and aluminum that has developed under the program for defense mobilization. Officially, the needs of education are recog- nized as on a par with our defense needs, and the requirements for new school construction are to be given top priority. But as previously indicated, allocations for this purpose are already being limited to emergency needs, and there is every likelihood that over the next 2 years the pre-Korean rate of new construction will be sharply curtailed. This slash will only intensify the struggle to meet the crisis which 20 years of neglect have brought to a head. The same pressures that are being felt in public schools are also being felt in our colleges and universities. In the decade that has elapsed since 1940, the last year of normal college attendance prior to World War II, college enrollment has increased nearly 80 percent, but the physical facilities for instruction and residential housing have increased slightly less than 20 percent. Moreover, the facilities available in 1940 were, in general, inadequate to accommodate the number of students then ene The greatest increase in physical facilities for colleges that have been provided during the decade came from the Federal Government through the re-use of buildings initially constructed for military purposes incident to World War II. During the war, neither con- struction materials nor funds were available for extensive educational or other civilian construction projects. Since the close of the war, according to a survey made by the Di- vision of Higher Education in March 1951, 915 of the 1,858 colleges in the United States have undertaken the construction of one or more permanent buildings. In the aggregate these buildings total 2,640, Office of Education 19 at a cost of more than a billion dollars. As the year ends, it is evident that the shortages of critical materials will make it impractical for colleges and universities to construct all of the buildings they have on the drawing board. THE TEACHER IN AMERICA During the 1950-51 school year, spiraling consumer prices cut sharply into the real wages of salaried persons—and all teachers work on salary. By January 1951, when the general price and wage con- trols were put into effect, the cost of living had risen 9 percent over pre-Korean levels—a 9 percent salary cut for every teacher. Under a ruling by the Wage Stabilization Board, school authorities were given the right to raise teachers’ salaries at their own discretion, providing the increase did not exceed the 10 percent over January 1950 levels permitted to industrial workers and other segments of the Nation’s labor force. Many communities made an earnest effort to adjust salaries, in some degree, to these rising costs. A full analysis of these increases had not been completed by the end of the fiscal year, but there was every likelihood that the buying power of the 1950-51 salary level for the entire country would show a sharp drop over that of the previous year. Meanwhile, estimates for 1950-51 show that the average teacher’s salary in the United States during that year was $2,980—a 3.3 percent increase over the preceding 12-month period. The average high- school salary was $3,375; the elementary school, $2,765. Geographi- cally, however, there was a wide variation. In the 10 States with the highest per capita income, the estimated average high-school salary was $4,100; in the 10 with the lowest per capita income the average was $2,460. Elementary school salaries showed the same variations. In the elementary schools the teacher shortage continued unabated. In fact, it was further heightened, as already noted, by the tendency on the part of many teachers to abandon their profession in favor of better-paid defense jobs. The same trend was even more evident among high-school teachers, though here the result was less immedi- ately disastrous. Over the past 5 years, a disproportionate number of young people entering the teaching profession had trained for the secondary school (and higher salaried) appointments. In conse- quence, there was an actual surplus of high-school teachers except in certain fields. In many States, an attempt was made to provide re-training courses for accredited high-school teachers to enable them to take on ele- mentary school assignments. By the end of the fiscal year, no real evaluation of this experiment had been made, though it showed distinct possibilities. 20 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 ee 1 MaRS Ne UN MEE NTA There is no doubt that the teacher shortage remains one of the most critical problems facing American education. To provide sufficient teachers to take care of the tremendously increased elementary and high-school enrollment over the next 10 years—and to cover ordinary losses through death, resignation, and retirement—it is estimated that we shall have to train annually a minimum of some 130,000 young men and women. The current year saw a top record of 123,600 normal school or college graduates prepared for elementary or secondary school teach- ing, but this was still well below the number needed. Moreover, the average for the years 1946-47 to 1950-51 was only 93;380, or less than 72 percent of the minimum number needed on the 10-year schedule of requirements. For elementary schools, the situation was even worse, since the ratio here was only one to three of the number needed. There is grave danger that these ratios will be further reduced under the pressures of defense mobilization and the entry into our armed services of a large number of our potential teachers. As matters stand now, probably one out of eight of all our elemen- tary classrooms are in the charge of teachers holding only emergency certificates. Though this proportion has declined slightly over the past 5 years, we are still entrusting the education of too many of our children to teachers who cannot qualify for even the lowest certificates issued in our public-school system. Moreover, the preponderance of these certificates are issued to teachers in our rural schools. This represents, in a particularly objectionable form, the sort of social and economic discrimination which persists throughout the entire struc- ture of our public-school system. Because of our failure to provide a sufficient number of qualified teachers, hundreds of thousands of our youngsters are getting markedly inferior classroom instruction, and those tend to be the children in the less-advantaged areas. Fundamental to this whole problem of the teacher shortage, of course, is the question of salary levels. A study made within the Office, during 1950-51, shows the fluctuations of teacher salaries over the last 40 years in terms of dollars and real wages. The latter have shown an almost steady comparitive decline. Compared with the increase of real wages in, say, the medical and legal professions, as well as for industrial workers, they are distinctly subnormal. Without question, teaching, like the clergy, attracts many young people of idealistic temperament who choose the profession as a form of service. For all, however, it must offer a means of livelihood. But if the living offered is increasingly scaled downward, fewer will choose this means; and more, under economic pressures—especially young men trying to raise families—will abandon their profession in favor of something better calculated to pay grocery bills. Office of. Education } 21 Probably the difficulty lies in the fact that, originally, salary levels were set at the time when, for most young women and some men of a scholastic bent, there were offered few opportunities other than teach- ing. Today, that is certainly not true. There are a large number of fields which young women with a college education (to concentrate on only one sex) can enter and make a genuine career. Those who enter business with an A. B. and reasonable ability can hope to climb the ladder into some of the better-paying executive or specialist jobs. Only recently, Gimbel’s Department Store in New York announced its preference for Ph. D.’s as beginning copy writers in its advertisin division ! Meanwhile, teachers’ salaries have remained tied to their original base. Such necessary increases as from time to time were granted had, for the most part, to be painfully extracted from the local tax funds. Only rarely have the adjustments been sufficient to meet even the rise in current living costs; on a competitive basis with other opportunities offered to young people they have become notoriously Inadequate. There are other factors, of course, besides the economic. Many teachers are overworked to the point where they “can no longer take it.” Others resent the limitations on their personal freedom imposed by the mores of the community. Still others find that the adminis- trative methods of some public-school systems act to curb their natural enthusiasm and zeal for “doing a good job.” A really thoroughgoing piece of research into all phases of the teacher shortage is an imperative. Such a survey should explore all phases of the matter—economic, social, and psychological—and at- tempt to uncover the root causes. It should also be prepared to make concrete recommendations that would serve to break the continuing “logjam.” Among other things, the survey should inquire into the declining ratio of men teachers in elementary classrooms and the extent to which the decline is affecting the quality of our elementary education. Preliminary studies in the Office of Education show that, during and after each war, this ratio declined sharply and never regained its former level. After World War I, it dropped from the 1913-14 level of more than 17 percent to slightly less than 11 percent. From 1920 to 1940, it remained approximatey at this level up to World War II when it was cut almost in half. The present level is about 7 per- cent. It is a distinctly unhealthy situation for American education to find itself in. Another field of inquiry in which the Office has already made some exploratory studies is the excessive cost to the educational economy of training teacher replacements. Industry has long been acutely 22 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 AE IR A RAP SSL EL De aware that a high rate of turnover constitutes a heavy charge against labor costs; on any strict accounting basis the cost of “breaking in a new man” adds up to a considerable sum. Similarly, in education we have a situation where the States are spending hundreds of thou- sands of dollars annually to train teachers who may remain in the profession only a comparatively few years before leaving to take other jobs. Anything which can reduce this turnover would reduce the cost of training replacements. It might also release State funds to be applied to raising the general level of salaries. As in the matter of providing proper school facilities, especially in the lower-income States, the question of Federal aid to the States is paramount. It is doubtful if anything like an adequate minimum level of teachers’ salaries throughout the Nation can be established without this aid. Both the teacher shortage and the schoolhouse shortage expose the primary weakness of our public-school system— the State by State differentials in providing equal educational op- portunity for all the children of the Nation. In far too many States, the lack of adequate tax resources is the root cause of the failure to build enough good schools and to pay decent salaries to teachers. As a result, there are literally millions of our young people who, judged by “normal” standards, are receiving an almost negligible amount of education. Broadly speaking, these are youngsters who come from the lowest income families and for lack of adequate opportunity are fated to live out their lives in the same round of poorly paid jobs that is the lot of their parents. This contention is implicit in the findings of the Sub-Committee on Low-Income Families of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report under the chairmanship of Senator John J. Sparkman of Alabama. These findings show, among other things, the close relationship between low income and sickness and disease, low income and lack of educational opportunity, low income and lack of any basic sense of security. Obviously, no flat statement of cause and effect can be made. Poverty breeds ignorance and disease. But ignorance and disease also breed poverty. Essentially it is a vicious circle—one in which not only individuals and families are caught, but large and important sections of our population. Those States which have the poorest schools, the fewest hospitals, doctors, and pub- lic health services, have also the lowest per capita income. If this circle could once be broken, these families would be released to build toward the standard of living that is enjoyed.in other parts of the Nation. Certainly, education offers one of the most direct means to break this circle. And in presenting the arguments for Federal aid to education these factors should not be overlooked. For thé arguments are not grounded merely on the right of every Ameri- Office of Education 23 can child to secure as much education as he is capable of acquiring, important as these rights are, but are also based on the social and economic necessity of the Nation as a whole. VOCATIONAL TRAINING No segment of secondary school curriculums provides education in more “practical” terms than does our program for vocational train- ing. In its growth and development, the Office of Education has been a highly constructive force. Since 1933, when it was first authorized to administer funds appropriated by the Congress for a Federal-State program, the Office has worked in close association with State Boards of Vocational Education throughout the country. For tens of thousands of youngsters, these courses provide essential training that enables them to qualify for specific jobs at better wages than probably they could otherwise obtain if they were obliged to start without the benefits of any such training. For boys and girls living on farms, it provides not only a working knowledge of the various skills and abilities that are important in the operation of a modern farm and farm home, but also a grounding in modern agri- cultural methods, chemistry, and marketing methods that will enable them, after graduation, to deal effectively with their own individual problems. For boys entering industry, it helps develop a high degree of mechanical dexterity along with an understanding of the scientific principles of a given craft, both of which are essential to the skilled worker. And for a large number of girls it provides sound training in home economics and in practical nursing. The tremendous contribution which our vocational training schools made to the training of war workers during World War IT has been mentioned above. Without question, they will be called upon to make a further contribution as our defense production mobilization swings into higher gear. These “emergency” responsibilities emphasize the basic importance of the concept of “training for production” which underlies our whole vocational training system. America’s industrial strength (which is also the basis of its military strength) rests largely on the skill of its workers and their ability to attain a high level of productive capacity. As productive capacity increases and machines become more complex, a larger and larger number of jobs must be filled with workers possessing special skills. For the most part, the technical requirements of these jobs demand men and women with at least the fundamentals of a high-school education. If, in addition, the job applicant has the specific training which enables him to bypass or shorten the apprentice stage, his value to industry is greater. Moreover, it is the combination of sound academic and vocational education which often puts the worker most readily in line for pro- 24. Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 lac ins ia nk x Si Sven a e motion within the plant. The world-famous American “know-how,” in a sense, rests not merely on top-level engineering ability but on the adaptability of the average workman and his capacity to grasp quickly the essentials of an intricate technical process. All this is education in its most practical down-to-earth aspects. Certainly, vocational training must become increasingly an area to which our best educational thinking is directed, and one which must be strengthened and developed until it is given the widest possible application. ADULT EDUCATION Adult education is another field to which increasing attention must be paid. Many schools provide courses for the older men and women in the community who seek to make up the deficiencies of their earlier education or to enlarge the scope of their present knowledge. Voca- tional training classes are open to older industrial workers who desire special training to fit them for specific jobs. But, as yet, we have scarcely begun to explore the full potentiality of this area. Adult education should do more than provide for occu- pational competencies or make up for earlier deficiencies. In many communities, it has shown that it can become a genuine force in help- ing adults to understand, and to take an active part in the various aspects of the civic and social life of the community. Moreover, the Conference on Aging, held in August 1950 under the sponsorship of the Federal Security Agency, laid great stress on the importance of adult education. Our vocational training system, it urged, should be expanded to aid workers nearing retirement age to retrain for jobs more nearly suited to their individual physical and mental capacities. And adult education, in general, should be directed toward enabling older people to develop new interests or hobbies that will help them keep mentally alert during their declining years. LIFE ADJUSTMENT EDUCATION Another area where effective leadership can be, and should be, applied is in the matter of curricular reorganization in the secondary schools. Most alert school authorities are conscious that some of the subjects taught, and in the way they are taught, offer little of real value in helping prepare a youngster to meet his own individual problems of living in the second half of the twentieth century. A recent study shows that out of every 100 children entering the fifth grade together, fewer than half graduate from high school. The highest record set was in 1948 with a percentage of 48.1. Further- more, there is a sharp drop in high-school enrollment, from about 93 percent in the 14-15 age group to approximately 66 percent in the 16-17 age group. Office of Education 25 Without question, economic pressures are a large factor in these “drop-outs.” In many homes, as soon as a youngster can secure his working papers, he is expected to leave school and contribute to the family income. However, in a great number of instances these eco- nomic pressures do not obtain, or at least do not obtain to the same degree. Youngsters, passing the legal age limit for compulsory school attendance drop out either because they are bored and feel “they are not getting anywhere in school,” or they are convinced that school can offer them no further specific help toward earning a living and they might as well start “drawing down a pay envelope.” During the past 4 years, Nation-wide interest in this problem has been stimulated by the Office of Education. For the year under re- view, in cooperation with the Office, the public-school systems in cities of more than 200,000 population are examining the curriculums to discover in what respect they can be altered to hold the interest of the potential “drop-outs.” The results, when tabulated and eval- uated, should do much to uncover some of the present weaknesses in our approach to secondary education. These efforts are part of the movement sponsored by the Office of Education along with 12 national education associations to develop the theme of education for life adjustment. The movement was of- ficially launched in 1947 at a national conference on the subject, which attracted wide attention throughout the country. The aim of this movement is to adapt secondary education more closely to the needs of the 60 percent or so of youngsters entering high school who neither go to college nor enroll in vocational courses. The traditional view of secondary school as preparation for college entrance still restricts the horizons of much of our public-school sys- tem. Vocational training is only a part of the answer. What is needed is an attitude of mind which attempts to deal with each pupil in terms of his individual capacities and to help him explore his own potentialities. An important objective is to overcome the feeling of inferiority which the “nonintellectual” student feels in grappling with some of his courses. No youngster, for instance, should be required to take a course in a subject-matter field for which he lacks the necessary abil- ity, and then be marked as a failure, if he has done the best work of which he is capable. He may have other fields of competence. A combination of a part-time job, tied in with class-work design to inter- pret realistically the world he must live in, would not only sustain his interest but give him a genuine confidence in himself and his native abilities. ; Beyond that, to teach a boy or girl to be a good citizen and member of society—to exercise practical judgment and sound common sense in relation to the many and sometimes difficult problems which, as 26 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 adults, they will be faced with—is education in its truest and most pro- ductive sense. And this is what education for life adjustment aims to accomplish. Such a goal cannot be achieved by rote or by the erec- tion of intellectual standards which have little or no relation to every- day living. But it can be achieved by hard work, patience, and, above all, imagination on the part of the teacher and school authorities. A program like this does not lend itself to any hard and fast pro- posals concerning the curriculum. Each school must work out its own problems in terms of the social, economic, and geographical factors involved. During the fiscal year, 1951, the second National Conference on Life Adjustment Education was held with delegates from many parts of the country in enthusiastic attendance. These delegates formally approved the activities carried on to date and re- quested an extension of them. Currently, some 20 State committees are engaged in stimulating interest in the program and many have reported real progress. Within the Office of Education it is felt that Life Adjustment Edu- cation has a tremendous potentiality for good. There is a further conviction that the basic ideas as applied to high-school problems have implications for elementary schools and for colleges and universities. THE CHANCE TO GO TO COLLEGE Undoubtedly, one of the major matters which education must deal with during the coming years is the lack of opportunity afforded the qualified student to secure a college education. With 1,858 institu- tions of higher learning and an enrollment of some 2,500,000 young men and women, it would seem that we were making definite progress. In a very real sense, of course, we are. Statistics indicate that 38 out of every 100 high-school graduates are currently entering college. And though this ratio of college freshmen to high-school seniors is slightly lower than that of the 30’s, the figures show that twice as many youngsters are now graduating from high school as during the depression. Nevertheless, for every young man or woman who enters college it is estimated that there is another—equally qualified and probably equally anxious to secure a college education—who is denied the oppor- tunity. For the most part, the economic factor is crucial since the great majority of the young people, denied their chance, come from families in the lower-income brackets which cannot finance the steadily mounting costs of a college education. Racial factors also play a part. In the 17 States where segregation is required, there are only 108 Negro colleges or institutions of higher learning with a total enrollment of 76,500. (This enrollment figure, however, represents a 2,800 percent increase since 1900.) Beyond this, Office of Education 27 0 AS SEE os ade hd hehe AEE EY EDIE Sr RES PROTEIN PEE nec ceoee sne aa a the factor of economic discrimination operates more heavily against the Negro youngster than the white youngster, since approximately 80 percent of all Negro families (nonwhite) in the South, according to the 1950 census, have an annual income of less than $2,000, as compared with about 50 percent of all families in the same area. Geographic discrimination also has a large bearing on the matter. Young people from the lower-income family who live in, or near, the communities where the State universities are located have a better chance than those living at a greater distance. They, at least, can live at home or commute to classes, thus saving the considerable cost which college residence entails in board and lodging. These forms of discrimination are, of course, palpably unfair in a democracy which professes the ideal of equal educational opportunity for all. But in broad terms of the national interest, they are even more to be deplored. By refusing full educational opportunity to a group equal in,number and ability to those who do go to college, we are cutting in half the Nation’s supply of potential doctors, engineers, teachers, and all the other scientific and professional people who per- form great and useful service to our economy. With a constantly expanding industry there is an increasing demand for technicians with top-level training. Research in all its branches—medical, scien- tific, sociological—is stymied for lack of a sufficient number of trained research workers. A wide variety of important social services are also in need of college-trained personnel. And how many first-rate teachers and doctors are lost to our communities because they cannot finance their education beyond high school! Not every college graduate by any means, of course, enters one of these professions or looks for technical training in the industrial field. In these days, however, college training is increasingly re- garded as essential for any young man or woman entering business who hopes to make his way up the ladder of success. There are still plenty of opportunities for the smart youngster to “crash the gate” and win through to a substantial income and place in life. But these opportunities are becoming fewer and fewer, as the large corpora- tions and business enterprises depend more and more on college- trained personnel for all responsible jobs. The Office of Education has urged the provision, by State and Federal grants, of financial aid to able and needy students in higher education. In part, this aid might take the form of self-liquidating loans, guaranteed by the Federal Government. A legislative pro- posal entitled “The Student Aid Act of 1950” was introduced with the President’s approval in both houses of the Eighty-first Congress, but no action was taken, due to the outbreak of the Korean conflict. The proposal is now being revised in the light of the new situation. 28 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 ee gd a ln a eR nt aR The long-term problems in education arising out of the international crisis only emphasize this need for scholarships. The provision of scholarships for qualified students was one of the important elements in the recommendations—made by the Office and concurred in by the Department of Defense—with respect to the deferment of college students under the Selective Service regulations. These recommenda- tions were not finally incorporated in the revisions of the Selective Service Act. From another angle, the Office has been attacking the problem of lack of opportunity to enter college by urging the establishment of community or junior colleges in every community of any size through- out the country. Such a program would cut down the geographical as well as the other discriminations that now obtain and, generally speaking, provide the same ease of access to higher education that now exists for secondary education. In addition, these community colleges would be designed to meet the continuing educational needs of younger and older adults—needs not normally met by the coil lished colleges and universities. There are now some 250 public junior colleges (grades 13 and 14) with a total enrollment of around 190,000, and perhaps an equal num- ber of private junior colleges with probably double this enrollment. But, inevitably, most of these colleges have been established in the: wealthier communities where need for easy access to education is less pressing. Obviously, we have a long way to go before the geographi- cal barrier to a college education is overcome. Aside from all the factors already analyzed, there still remains the thesis that the Nation needs as broad a base of an educated and in- formed citizenry as it can possibly acquire. Surely, one of the best ways to demonstrate democracy in action is to make certain that no American youth—whatever his economic, racial, or geographical status—is denied the opportunity to develop his talents to his own highest possible level. EDUCATION FOR INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING The Korean crisis makes all the more urgent the need for our youth to have a better understanding of the world they live in. The ability to relate newspaper headlines to the undercurrents of inter- national relationships should be one of the important objectives of elementary, secondary, and higher education. An understanding of conditions in other countries—how people live, what social and eco- nomic problems they face is also an essential. Moreover, it is only as children begin to get a sense of all these things that they can understand the basic conflict which exists between democratic and totalitarian ideologies, and the real significance of America’s leader- ship among the free nations of the world. Office of Education 29 Instruction in international understanding, based on the concept of the United Nations, is increasingly becoming a part of modern high-school curriculums. Over the past several years, the Office of Education has worked closely with State boards in developing teach- ing methods and materials for this instruction. In particular, stu- dents are learning about the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): what this organization is trying to accomplish; what it is accomplishing; and how its basic objectives are related to their future and the welfare of the people of all nations. | From the time UNESCO was first organized, the Office of Education has maintained a vital interest in its work. In November 1951, the Commissioner of Education served as head of a delegation to Monte- video, sponsored by UNESCO and the Organization of American States, to consider means for extending compulsory free schooling and fundamental education programs for adults in the American Republics. An Office expert on literacy was in India on a UNESCO mission in 1951, after having undertaken a similar mission in 1950 in Haiti. Zhe Treatment of International Agencies in School History Teatbooks in the United States, published in 1950, was the result of a study made by another staff member of the Office of Education, under the sponsorship of the Office, UNESCO, and the American Council on Education. Also, at the request of UNESCO, the Office sponsored a project on literacy education and compiled a set of in- structional materials for persons of low literacy levels. This mate- rial, published after 2 years of use and testing in classes for illiterates in this country, should prove highly valuable in combating illiteracy in other quarters of the globe. As part of the.effort to promote international understanding, the Office of Education administers a Teacher-Exchange program fi- nuanced with funds transferred from the Department of State under Public Laws 402 (80th Cong.), and 584 (79th Cong.). During the past year, 127 teachers from Great Britain and other foreign coun- tries taught in American schools, while an equal number of American. teachers taught in schools of foreign countries. In addition, 27 Amer- icans were sent abroad for nonexchange positions under Public Law 584. | Under the Cultural Exchange Program for Occupied Areas spon- sored by the Departments of State and of the Army, the Office planned and supervised the visits of 257 teachers and educational leaders from Germany, Austria, Japan, and the Ryukyu Islands. It also received and planned itineraries for some 100 other foreign visitors who came to this country to observe American educational methods and in- stitutions. And on behalf of American colleges and universities, 30 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 the Office evaluated the credentials and background of some 4,000 foreign students coming to study in this country. Fellowships under the Buenos Aires Convention were awarded to 32 students from Latin America and another 85 received travel and maintenance grants to study in this country. Fourteen students from the United States received fellowships to study in various educa- tional institutions of the American Republics. : The year 1950-51 saw an expansion of the Teacher-Training Pro- gram to include teachers in countries other than Latin America, and grants were made to 201 teachers from 42 countries to study and ob- serve educational methods in the United States. Nine other grants were made under the Point IV program of the State Department. The Office also undertook to help plan and recruit personnel for various educational projects under the Point 1V and Economic Cooperation Administration programs of technical assistance, and 13 men and women were assigned as educational experts in missions established in Iran, Burma, Indonesia, and Thailand. The value of these various exchange programs to increased inter- national understanding cannot be too highly rated. The hundreds of men and women who are enabled each year, through this means, to come to the United States from foreign countries receive an inesti- mable opportunity to study American democracy in action—to learn our ways of life, our habits of thought, our methods of going about things. In turn, we discover to what extent their ideas and customs differ from ours, and to what extent they are fundamentally the same. All this helps to dispel prejudice, broaden the understanding, and through the powerful medium of the classroom, establish a genuine bridge between our people and the peoples of other countries. a THE CHALLENGE OF TELEVISION No invention of recent years offers a greater potentiality than tele- vision for the development of new and effective methods of teaching. It is of vital importance that our schools and colleges recognize now this potentiality and take steps to see that television broadcasting is fully utilized for educational purposes. It is only within the past year that any official determination has been made as to the allocation of TV frequencies for educational use. From November 15 to March 1951, public hearings were held before the Federal Communications Commission on the matter. The Com- missioner of Education, together with a number of representatives of the educational organizations and public-spirited citizens, was asked to testify at these hearings. He urged strongly that, wherever all available channels in the present very high frequency band have not already been assigned, one should be reserved in each broadcast area for exclusive assignment to educational station applicants; and that Office of Education 31 for channels in the ultra high frequency band (none of which had then been assigned) similar protection should be afforded. The FCC’s rulings on these points have been encouraging. Of the 9,000 TV stations—VHF and UHF—which the Commission proposes to authorize, 209 have been tentatively reserved for educational use. However, commercial television whenever affected is strongly opposed to these set-asides, and unless education indicates clearly its intention to make use of these facilities, there will be heavy pressures on the Commission to rescind these assignments. This is reminiscent of what happened during the early days of radio in the 20’s. At that time, certain of the limited number of wave- lengths were assigned to schools and colleges. Many institutions which had taken up those licensed solely for public relations purposes soon discovered they had accomplished their original purpose and relinquished them for commercial operation. Only 80 such pioneers are active today. It was not until the advent of frequency modula- tion, with its wide range of wavelengths, that educational institu- tions were given the chance to recover part, at least, of their lost opportunities. This same sort of pressure will inevitably be felt also in television. Unfortunately, education cannot move so swiftly as business and in- dustry to take advantage of new developments in the field of communi- cation. With most schools and colleges, cost will be a crucial factor. In the case of publicly supported institutions, in order to float a suc- cessful bond issue for the purpose it will probably be necessary, in many communities, to persuade the taxpayers that the project is an essential in the development of modern educational methods and not merely a “fancy trimming.” But the dollars and cents value can usually be demonstrated without much difficulty. An alternate suggestion is for schools or colleges to operate the pro- posed stations on a semicommercial basis. Under this plan, adver- tising revenue from strictly commercial programs would be limited to the amount necessary to cover operational costs, and the station would retain full freedom to allocate whatever time was left for its educa- tional program responsibilities. Iowa State College is already operat- ing such a station with a regular commercial license, the only kind available when it applied in 1948. There is question whether the FCC will permit educational stations to broadcast commercial programs. On the basis of past experience with commercial radio stations and networks, however, any idea that the educational needs of a school or college can be met satisfactorily by commercial television on a “public service” basis must be flatly discouraged. Unless they can secure ac- tual revenue from each program, neither a network nor a local station 52 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 can offer continuing guarantees as to time or coverage. As in radio, sustaining programs of an educational nature are likely to be shifted from hour to hour of the schedule or perhaps abandoned entirely, ac- cording to opportunities afforded to sell the time for a commercial program. An established schedule of fixed hours, at the times best calculated to reach the classroom or the home audience, is essential to educational programing. Experience shows that only a station which can control its own programing for this purpose can possibly do an effective job. In the meantime, the importance of laying plans now and of apply- ing for a license to operate a station on one of the “reserved” channels cannot be too strongly emphasized. New York has already moved to ask the FCC for 11 educational channels within the State and is pre- pared to pay something like $3.5 million for the building of transmit- ters. In all, 28 school systems, 2 teachers colleges, and 1 university are now using television as an instructional aid in the classroom. However, more than 40 other institutions of learning are providing programs for general adult educational purposes over present stations. Beyond this, 360 institutions of learning have signified their intention of using, either singly or cooperatively, the frequencies available to them for educational purposes. It is to be hoped that some of the privately endowed foundations, such as the newly established Ford Foundation, will undertake to make much-needed research studies into the most effective use of TV for educational purposes, and to help develop suitable programs. Without question, television offers a far greater advantage in the field of education than radio could ever hope to offer. It provides the essen- tial visual element which, in the development of visual aids in teaching and the utilization of educational films, is recognized today as one of — the most effective factors in successful teaching. It also possesses the advantage of seeing and hearing at the time an event, a lesson, or a demonstration is happening. The amount of money required to establish and operate a TV station for educational purposes should be regarded as an investment for necessary plant equipment. It is an investment that will be repaid many times over in the increased efficiency of school or college operation, and in the greater impact on the minds of the pupil which this method of teaching provides. EDUCATION AND THE NATION’S STRENGTH United States participation in World War I lasted 19 months. We were in World War IT a little over 314 years, with a preceding defense economy covering a period of another year and a half. In both instances, the entire resources of the Nation were, to a large degree, concentrated on one objective—victory, with the expectation that after the victory, we could go back to “normal.” Office of Education 33 The present international crisis creates a radically different problem. Short of all-out war, the crisis may continue over a long span of time without being resolved in any clear-cut fashion. Periods of tension may give way to periods of merely “watchful waiting,” to be followed by even more acute tensions. At no moment shall we be able to relax our guard. We may, of course, be closer to a third world war than we are willing to admit, and the speed of our defense mobilization must be geared to that contingency. But even if—as we hope—we are able to avert the final catastrophe, we must prepare, together with the other free nations, to concentrate our strength and our resources to resist aggres- sion wherever it may occur, in whatever quarter of the globe. But in accepting this long-term responsibility of military prepara- tion and all that goes with it, we also accept another responsibility— to preserve the great social advances we have made in recent decades. Above all, we must make sure that, for the critical years ahead, the education of our young people is given the highest possible priority in our national economy. Otherwise, we cannot rally our full strength to meet the developing threat to our fundamental liberties. For its material needs the Nation’s military and productive strength rests on the flow of young men and women who have a solid educational background into both our labor market and our armed services. Modern warfare, no less than modern industry, demands a high degree of mechanical knowledge and adaptability for which only our high schools can provide the basic training. Broadly speaking, a GI with- out such training is under a substantial handicap in acquiring the specialized skills needed to make him a top-rate soldier. And the same holds true for a worker in a defense plant. | Furthermore, we are wholly dependent upon our colleges and uni- versities to give us the men trained in engineering, electronics, and the other sciences vital to the conduct both of a war and of defense production. This applies also to the doctors, dentists, and other pro- fessionals needed to keep our servicemen and workers physically in shape. Failure to maintain the educational facilities of the Nation at their present level of effectiveness, or to expand and develop those facilities in every way possible, is to undermine our essential military and industrial strength. New school construction is but one index of the Nation’s educational health, but it is a vitally important one. As part of our mobilization for defense we must face this problem squarely and set the same definite goals for its solution that we have set for the creation of a necessary army, navy, and air force. We must be pre- pared to state—and to act on the assumption—that the construction of a new schoolhouse is no less imperative, as a defense measure, than the construction of a new bombing plane; and that during the long 34 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 period of continuing crisis that lies ahead our educational plant is every whit as important as our military plant. By the same token, we must be prepared to state—and to act on the assumption—that the recruitment and training of an adequate teach- ing staff for our public schools is no less imperative, as a defense measure, than the recruitment and training of young men for our armed forces. Other factors, of primary importance in the strength- ening of our educational system, press for attention. All of them represent areas which demand study and research no less intensive than that applied to the production of new weapons, and action no less decisive than the creation of the atom bomb. The investment required to accomplish these objectives would still be only a small fraction of the billions we are spending for strictly military matériel. And every dollar spent for this purpose can be easily justified in terms of the long-range aspects of our national defense. But the importance of education in our military and economic defense program is matched by its importance in the war of ideologies. Our citizens must be educated to think clearly about the issues of the present conflict. In the war of ideas, we cannot permit our enemies so to confuse us that we alter or destroy our own free institutions. This war of ideologies must be fought strictly with the weapons of democracy; any other weapons we may elect to use will, in the long run, backfire on us. Certainly, the higher the level of education which the United States can achieve, the better are the chances for an informed and considered public opinion. For it is on such public opinion that we must ulti- mately rely in making the vital decisions of national policy we shall be faced with during the coming crucial years. To the extent that these decisions are the result of ignorance and prejudice they may endanger the very life of the Republic. Statesmanship of the most far-reaching sort cannot succeed unless it has the solid and intelligent support of the voters. And the effectiveness of our future leaders, whether in Congress or the county courthouse—will largely depend on the intelligence exercised by the electorate in their selection. For this reason, the American people must grasp the danger of those forces at work in our society which are attempting to undermine its educational foundations. Recent events in several American com- munities, relating to the administration of the public schools in those communities, emphasize this necessity. Some taxpayers in these communities have made an issue of “modern education” and have rebelled at spending money for what they consider the “frills” in school administration and instruction. These budgetary consider- ations have been seized upon by some of the more reactionary forces in the community in an attempt to curb the development of education for genuinely democratic ends. Office of Education 35 The appeal to ignorance and prejudice, in all their ugliest manifestations, has been used to discredit this “new-fangled non- sense,” together with the sort of “smear campaign” that is increas- ingly being directed, within our body politic, against almost any form of liberal opinion. The immediate danger is that school officials in other communities who are sincerely convinced of the usefulness of these modern methods will hesitate to risk an open assault on their judgments. Tear of ex- pressing an outright opinion on a controversial subject will cause them to cling to their safe and old-fashioned methods. Education itself—whose very purpose is to dispel ignorance and prejudice—will be the victim of what, in essence, is an attempt to undermine our democracy by those forces of reaction which thrive on prejudice and ignorance. Today, the United States and the other free nations of the world are facing a greater threat to their existence than in any other time in recent history. The basic conflict of the century is the struggle be- tween the concept of democracy and that of the totalitarian state. Against the armed might of Soviet Russia we can match—and more than match—our own armed might. The sinister thrust of totali- tarian ideas can be met only by free men whose convictions are deeply rooted in the democratic philosophy. Education serves the cause of freedom and democracy more directly and more effectively than any other aspect of modern civilization. And few things contribute more to the dignity and essential worth of the individual. The opportunity offered our young people to obtain as much true education as they are capable of profiting from is, in a very real sense, the measure of our democratic strength. For the years ahead, education must stand as our chief weapon against the forces of darkness that inflict the age. Work in Progress Nore: A detailed summary of the activities of each of the Divisions of the Office was in preparation at the end of the fiscal year, copies of which may be secured by writing to the Office of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington 25, D. C., and specifying the particular summary or summaries desired. The brief résumé which follows suggests the range of these activities and highlights some of the more concrete accomplishments. Much of the pressure on the comparatively small Office of Education staff comes from the requests for advisory and consultative services which the Office renders in a wide variety of educational fields. Staff members have a heavy correspondence schedule. Inquiries of all sorts are addressed to the Office, many of a highly technical nature demand- 36 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 pr-Greths ee TN Sea AC Uae aI SR ing a considerable amount of research to formulate the answers. School authorities and officials of educational organizations come to Washington to “talk over their problems.” And staff members receive a large number of invitations to address conferences or to take part in work-shop panels which often involve a great deal of time-consuming - preparation and travel. During 1950-51, the normal pressure was greatly increased as a result of the many school and college problems arising out of the Korean crisis and defense mobilization. Moreover, it was necessary to assign a considerable portion of the staff personnel to the new de- fense programs initiated within the Office—such as, for instance, those connected with the claimant agency responsibilities—and in conse- quence much of the regular Office schedule was sharply disrupted. In the preceding pages reference has been made to a number of studies and projects undertaken during the current year and also to the range of international activities. In addition, a large body of work was accomplished dealing with a variety of problems, all of it closely related to the continuing problems of American education. STATE AND LOCAL SCHOOL SYSTEMS The Office continued its work on basic problems connected with the administration of State and local school systems. Another in the series of studies on State departments of education, entitled The Financing of State Departments of Education, was completed. The first Nation-wide survey by the Office on the nature and extent of school transportation in cities was completed and published. Two studies on the financing of schools were completed. One was the biennial study of Federal Government funds for education for the years 1948-50. The second was concerned with State provisions for financing public-school capital outlay programs. Work was also be- gun on the school expenditures survey, last made in 1939-40. In the field of elementary education, the Office continued to focus on improving teaching practices and techniques. Staff members vis- ited 35 school systems for research material. Several studies designed to aid teachers in various aspects of their work were published ; 2 were issued for the benefit of parents; and at least 21 magazine articles or chapters for professional yearbooks were prepared. A very substantial publication, entitled Vitalizing Secondary Edu- cation, was issued. ‘This was a report of the first commission on Life Adjustment Education for the 3-year term for which it was appointed. Staff members developed the questionnaires sent to 38 school bert in connection with the “drop-out” problem. Three other major publications were issued, Learning To Supervise Schools, Education of Visually Handicapped Children, and Key- stones to Good Staff Relationships. An intensive study of the work Office of Education 37 methods of school principals was made, and also a study of the profes- sional training given librarians. In addition, a large number of sta- tistical studies were published in connection with the Biennial Survey of Education. And a catalog was issued listing nearly 400 films pro- duced by, or for, various Government agencies which have been cleared for television rights. One highly important project was a study of the total enrollment of pupils in all subjects in secondary schools for the second semester of the year 1948-49. The last investigation of this type was made in 1933-34. The survey shows concretely the changes that have taken place during the last decade and a half and demonstrates that these changes are definitely in the direction of more functional education and represent an effort to meet the life needs of increasingly diverse groups of pupils. Major conferences at which staff members concerned with State and local school systems played an active part included the National Conference for the Mobilization of Education, the Fifth World Con- gress of the International Society for the Welfare of Cripples, the Midcentury White House Conference for Children and Youth and the Conference on Aging, the last two of which were sponsored by the Federal Security Agency. VOCATIONAL TRAINING During 1950-51 the Office of Education was active in administering the Smith-Hughes and George-Barden Acts under which approxi- mately $26,000,000 of Federal funds were allotted to the States for the promotion and further development of vocational education and for which an additional amount of approximately $100,000,000 of State and local funds were used for vocational education in approxi- mately 14,000 public secondary schools. In determining the policies and procedures for the administration of vocational education, the Division of Vocational Education had the services of two groups of State personnel: The National Policy Advisory Committee for Vocational Education, composed of four Chief State School Officers who are Executive Officers of State Boards for Vocational Education and four State Directors of Vocational Education; as well as the Working Advisory Council consisting of eight State Directors of Vocational Education. In cooperation with farm equipment manufacturers and oil com- panies, the Division developed 18 manuals on the care and mainte- nance of modern farm machinery for the use of vocational agriculture teachers and students. It also had the satisfaction of seeing The Future Farmers of America reach a record membership of 340,090. This national organization of farm boys enrolled in agricultural voca- tional classes has been sponsored by the Office since 1928. 38 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 The Home Economics Education Service organized and conducted two major national conferences during the year—one for teacher training in this field and the other for State and city supervisors. It also conducted an inter-regional conference for heads of Home Economics Education from 17 States, and cooperated with the Future and New Homemakers of America in conducting three leadership training conferences for their members. In addition, the Office spon- sored a national conference of guidance supervisors and counselors at which 30 States were represented, and a variety of technical publica- tions in this field were issued. Special attention was given to assisting the various States in the planning, organization, and operation of training courses for prac- tical nurses. A publication dealing with curriculum for the training of practical nurses was prepared in cooperation with the medical pro- fession, professional nursing organizations, and vocational educa- tors. Other activities included the development of instructional ~ material dealing with training in food preparation in cooperation with the National Council on Hotel and Restaurant Education, Also, two of four projected studies of trade and industrial education were made on a cooperative basis by the Division, National and State repre- sentatives of the American Federation of Labor, and State vocational education staffs in Alabama and California. Still another important activity has been in the field of adult dis- tributive education. ‘The Office is working closely with the various States in developing a training program in this field which will be published shortly. Continuing a project started a number of years ago, a series of vocational business tests were revised under the joint auspices of the United Business Association and the National Office Management Association. These are for use in both secondary schools and colleges and also by business firms, Government agencies, and other organizations. HIGHER EDUCATION In the field of higher education, the Office is increasingly concen- trating its efforts upon basic problems which usually involve the coop- erative work of several staff members. During 1950-51, a major survey, begun in the previous year, was completed and the findings published under the title, Study of the Structures of the Tax-Sup- ported System of Higher Education in Illinois. The improvement of the quality of instruction in colleges and uni- versities is another area of research. In December 1950, a confer- ence of 100 college teachers and administrators on The Improvement of College Faculties was cosponsored by the Office and the Ameri- can Council on Education, and the report of the proceedings, prepared Office of Education 39 by the Office, was published by the Council. Several studies were made in specialized fields, such as the teaching of dentistry, phar- macy, and engineering. A staff member collaborated with the Amer- ican Political Science Associates in writing a fairly exhaustive report on the Advancement of Political Science Teaching. Anda pamphlet was prepared relating to the organization and teaching of college introductory courses in United States history. The Office also, during the spring of 1951, assembled information as to the number of college teachers who were likely to lose their appointments because of the expected decrease in college enroll- ments resulting from Selective Service inductions. This informa- tion proved immensely valuable to the Ford Foundation and other agencies which set in motion various projects designed to help these displaced teachers make the necessary readjustments. A number of other fact-gathering assignments were also under- taken. Among the more important were: A survey of the need for personnel workers in the armed forces; a manual of certification requirements for school personnel; the annual Directory of Higher Education containing the names of all principal administrative offi- cers in the 1,857 colleges and universities in the United States, to- gether with other important material; data on available scholarships and fellowships; a study of engineering enrollment; and a survey of undergraduate economics classes. As part of its statutory responsibilities, the Office assembled and examined the annual reports of the 69 land-grant colleges and uni- versities and certified their respective shares of the Federal appro- priation. It also made its annual inspection report to the Federal Security Administrator on Howard University, as required by law. RESEARCH AND STATISTICS STANDARDS Activities of the Office included the preparation of the Biennial Survey of Education in the United States—a continuous statistical program of the Office begun in 1870. The 1948-50 survey will include the four regular chapters covering the Statistical Summary of all education, State (elementary and secondary) School Systems, City School Systems, and Institutions of Higher Education. It will also include a National Summary of Offerings and Enrollments in High- School Subjects for 1948-49, covering enrollments in 274 subjects (noted above) ; and Statistics of Public Libraries. In this connec- tion, all States were visited by staff members to promote more uni- form records and accounts and obtain complete coverage for the biennial studies. In addition, the annual statistical reports were made for Land- Grant Colleges and Universities; for the Fall Enrollment and De- 40 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 grees Granted in Higher Education; for Enrollments and Degrees in Schools of Engineering; and for Expenditures Per Pupil in City School Systems. Work was begun on an annual study of Finances of State Colleges and Universities in cooperation with the Bureau of the Census, U. S. Department of Labor. And a pilot study on the Economic Status of Teachers was made in cooperation with the Department of Labor. Materials were also prepared for the White House Conference on Children and Youth at the Midcentury; for the congressional study of Low-Income Families and Economic Stability; for the hearings on the Universal Military Training and Service Act of 1951, in relation to the effect that various proposed sections would have on the supply of college-trained men; for the Council of Economic Advisers through the Program Office of the FSA ; for the Commission for Public Schools in New York; and for the statistical organization of the United Nations. Field consulting service on more uniform records and accounts was continued with the directors of school finance of the 17 Southern States in Atlanta, Ga., and with the National Association of School Business Officials in Chicago, the Alabama Association of School Administrators at Auburn, Ala., and the Association of College Reg- istrars and Administration Officers at Houston, Tex. Work with the State Departments of Education in Minnesota and Michigan and the City Department of Education in Boston resulted in 2 new State Manuals of School Accounting and a greatly simplified revised school budget for Boston. PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT On the Program Development and Coordination Branch, estab- lished under the reorganization plan of February 1951, rested the re- sponsibility for coordinating the plans to be projected in fiscal 1953, as well as review of the plans for fiscal 1952. The lapse of 15 months between the completion of plans for budget purposes and the passing of appropriation acts to carry out the plans makes necessary a con- tinuous review and reconsideration of program, as a dynamic situation presents new problems. In addition, a number of specific accomplishments in the field of management improvement can be recorded. These include: The centralization of control of conference funds; improvement in editorial services; more effective utilization of mailing lists; the initiation of a readership survey of ScHoou Lars to determine its editorial effective- ness in relation to other school and educational publications; and an evaluation of the foreign student credential service to colleges with a view to lightening an increasingly heavy work-load. Office of Education 41 Publications Issued by the Office Bulletins, Pamphlets, Etc. Federal Government Funds for Education, 1948-49 and 1949-50. Bulletin 1950, No. 3. Frustration in Adolescent Youth. Bulletin 1951, No. 1. Culloden Improves Its Curriculum. Bulletin 1951, No. 2. Vitalizing Secondary Education. Bulletin 1951, No. 3. Statisties of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, year ended June 30, 1950. Bulletin 1951, No. 4. Education Unlimited a Community High School in Action. Bulletin 1951, No. 5. How Children Use Arithmetic. Bulletin 1951, No. 7. Teachers Contribute to Child Health. Bulletin 1951, No. 8. How Children Learn about Human Rights. Bulletin 1951, No. 9. How Children Learn To Think. Bulletin 1951, No. 10. A Directory of 2002 16mm Film Libraries. Bulletin 1951, No. 11. School Fire Safety. Bulletin 1951, No. 18. School Lunch and Nutrition Education. Bulletin 1951, No. 14. Land-Grant Colleges and Universities Federal Government to Them. Bulletin 1951, No. 15. Scholarships and Fellowships. Bulletin 1951, No. 16. School Housing for Physically Handicapped Children. Bulletin 1951, No. 17. Modern Ways in One- and Two-Teacher Schools. Bulletin 1951, No..18. The Activity Period in Public High Schools. Bulletin 1951, No. 19. Education of Visually Handicapped Children. Bulletin 1951, No. 20. 3434 U. S. Government Films. Bulletin 1951, No. 21. Life Adjustment for Every Youth. Bulletin 1951, No. 22. Health Instruction in the Secondary Schools. Pamphlet No. 110. Pupil Transportation in Cities. Pamphlet No. 111. The Advisory Council for a Department of Vocational Agriculture, Vocational Division Bulletin No. 248. Home Economics in Colleges and Universities of the United States. Vocational Division Bulletin No. 244. Boys and Girls Study Homemaking and Family Living. Vocational Division Bulletin No. 245. Summaries of Studies of Agricultural Hducation. Supplement No. 4. Vocational Division Bulletin No. 246. Occupations. Vocational Division Bulletin No. 247. Keystones of Effective Staff Relationships. Mise. No. 18. Residence and Migration of College Students, 1949-50. Misc. No. 14. Faculty Salaries in Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, 1949-50. Circular No. 283. Learning To Supervise Schools. An Appraisal of the Georgia Program. Circular No. 289. A Manual on Certification Requirements for School Personnel in the United States. Circular No. 290. Improving School Holding Power. Circular No. 291. Expenditure Per Pupil in City School Systems. Circular No. 292. Holding Power and Size of High Schools. Circular No. 322. Pupil Personnel Services in Elementary and Secondary Schools. Circular No. 395, Identifying Educational Needs of Adults. Circular No. 330. 42 Annual Report, Federal Security Agency, 1951 Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1946-48 Statistical Summary of Education, 1947-48. Chapter 1. Statistics of City School Systems, 1947-48. Chapter 3. Statistics of Higher Education, 1947-48. Chapter 4. Statistics of Nonpublic Schools, 1947-48. Chapter 7. Statistics of Public School Libraries, 1947-48. Chapter 8. Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1948-50 Offerings and Enrollments in High School Subjects, 1948-49. Chapter 5. Education Directory Federal Government and States, 1950-51. Part 1. Counties and Cities, 1950-51. Part 2. Higher Education, 1950-51. Part 3. Education Associations, 1950-51. Part 4. Miscellaneous Annual Report of the Federal Security Agency, Office of Education, 1950. Digest of Annual Reports of State Boards for Vocational Education, Fiscal Year ended June 30, 1950. Citizens Look at Our Schoolhouses. Index, ScHoou Lirg, Vol. XXXII, October 1949—June 1950. Some Questions on the Education of Physically Handicapped Children and Youth. Periodicals ScHOOL LIFE (9 issues—October 1950—June 1951, inclusive). HIGHER EDUCATION (19 issues September 1, 1950-June 1, 1951, inclusive). O INFORMATION FOR DEPOSITORS 1. Send ONE copy of your order, using this form (we no longer require that orders be made in duplicate). 2. After the handling of your order has been completed, it will be returned to you as an invoice. It should be retained in your files for later checking with your statement of account. 3. If shipment is not correct, we shall be glad to make necessary adjustments if you will return your grain order with your request for adjustment. 4. 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