General Trends.
Among the many events of 1953, the following appeared to be outstanding: the continuing reluctance of Congress to legislate aid to public schools; the perennial shortage in funds, materials, and personnel in the schools; the constantly increasing elementary enrollments and the school costs; the difficulty of financing adequately the private colleges and universities in the face of lower income and higher operational expenses; the organization of a Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in the President?s cabinet; the deferment of a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court until December in the cases involving the segregation of the races in the public schools; the increase in enrollment in higher education after several years of decrease; the controversy about allocating television channels for education; and the continuing campaign to rid the schools and colleges of Communist teachers.
The Federal Government and Education.
President Eisenhower?s State of the Union Message to Congress in February urged ?careful Congressional study and action? to help the schools. The only legislation that was passed, however, involved the construction of schools in defense areas (Public Laws 246, 248). No action was taken on the broader problem of Federal aid to public education. The reduction of the budget of the Office of Education by about 10 per cent led to the resignation of Commissioner Earl J. McGrath. A part of the cut was later restored.
Elementary and Secondary School Curriculum.
A shortage of 345,000 classrooms was reported by the Office of Education, with the result that three out of five rooms were regarded as overcrowded and every fifth pupil would have to attend a school lacking fire safety standards. New developments in the curriculum included the initiation of a campaign to teach foreign languages in the elementary schools with a national conference under the auspices of the Office of Education. The departure of Commissioner McGrath from the national scene made the success of the drive more dubious. Economic education in the high schools was aided by the formation of the Council for the Advancement of Secondary Education, comprising the National Association of Secondary-School Principals and the National Better Business Bureau.
Higher Education.
Congress set aside $50,000,000 for new loans for college housing, a sum which was added to the $13,500,000 retained from the previous fiscal year. But this help was hardly sufficient to alleviate the financial straits of the colleges and universities. A New York Times survey in June showed that almost half of all independent schools of higher learning had financial deficits. Some relief was expected from special measures adopted during the year. Thus, colleges in 25 states and two regions started to co-operate in the solicitation of funds from private business firms. Furthermore, the Council for Financial Aid to Education, a new group of business executives selected on a national basis, began a campaign to raise money for private institutions, ostensibly to discourage any possible demand for Federal aid to higher education.
Public colleges seemed to get along with fewer financial headaches. A report by the Office of Education in February indicated that 51 land grant colleges and universities were able to give salary increases of 9.1 per cent to the professional ranks and of 12.7 per cent to instructors.
Some light was shed on the future of many colleges by the New York Times survey in September, which showed that at least 200,000 former service men and women would enroll for higher education under the terms of the Korean G.I. Bill of Rights approved by Congress in 1952. Several college administrators predicted that about 225,000 to 250,000 veterans would be studying by the close of 1953-1954.
The situation concerning intercollegiate athletics was watched very closely throughout the year. In January, the National Collegiate Athletic Association served notice that it would deal severely with member colleges which disregarded the rules adopted for ethical competition in athletics. In line with this policy, the NCAA censured in August the University of Notre Dame and Michigan State College and announced that Arizona State College (Tempe) would be on probation for two years for violating the NCAA constitution.
Scandal reared its head again with the revelation in February that 13 football and basketball players had cheated on an ROTC examination at the College of William and Mary. The gravity with which the sports scandals were viewed was clear from the report of a special committee of leaders of various athletic pastimes appointed by the U.S. Attorney General. This group made a strong recommendation for the re-evaluation of collegiate sports and the eradication of the spirit of commercialization. Moreover, this committee also demanded a complete investigation by Congress into gambling and bribery in all amateur and professional sports.
Of considerable importance during the year was the disclosure in May by the University of Chicago that it would no longer continue the accelerated course of study plan introduced by President Robert M. Hutchins in 1931. The reason for this move was that this program did not succeed fully. In spite of many protests by students and professors against what the dean of University College characterized as ?damaging to the future of liberal education in America,? the administrative authorities maintained their decision to change their policy. The four-year program was to be re-established for all students except those in the exceptional category.
Discussion was further aroused with the report in September of the President?s Committee on General Education at Yale University. According to the provisions of this document, the first two college years would be marked by the substitution of comprehensive examinations in place of course attendance and periodic tests. The new plan, as the committee saw it, would place ?its chief emphasis on exposing the student to the great traditional areas of intellectual concern.? College life, in brief, would consist less of athletics and other extracurricular pursuits than of academic work.
The inadequacy of nursing education in colleges and universities was pointed up in a report released in January by the Russell Sage Foundation. This three-year survey stressed that the poor provisions for training were responsible for the critical shortage of nurses, with the lack of competent teachers as a contributory factor. Improvements were forecast in premedical training by the report in October of a study of 115 colleges and universities by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The basic finding was the significance of a ?sound liberal education? for future medical training.
The question of Academic freedom came up time and again during 1953. The American Association of University Professors stated in March that 55 new cases had been reported to it in 1952, an increase of five over the previous year, with the probability that the current year would be marked by even more instances of violations of the academic freedom of professors. According to the secretary of the AAUP, most of these cases originated in congressional committees? investigations of alleged subversiveness in colleges and universities.
The Association of American Universities approved in March a report representing the consensus of 37 well-known American and Canadian higher schools on the principles of academic freedom. This statement, ?The Rights and Responsibilities of Universities and Their Faculties,? emphasized the necessity of guaranteeing full academic freedom to professors without giving them the right of being members of the Communist Party.
The most publicized incidents involving academic personnel were the dismissal of a professor at the University of Nevada for his opposition to the president?s relaxed policy of admitting students and the resignation of President George D. Stoddard of the University of Illinois after a vote of no confidence by the board of trustees. The latter case arose apparently because Dr. Stoddard refused to allow research on a drug questioned by the American Medical Association.
The other significant events in higher education during 1953 included the transformation of six temporary state technical institutions into community colleges in New York State; the announcement by the National Manpower Council that less than half of the young people qualified for higher studies actually enroll in college; the widespread publicity given to riots and pranks, especially ?panty raids,? by students of a number of colleges during the spring season; the initiation of a project by the American Council on Education for a three-year study of the impact of higher education on women; the Committee of American Industry?s drive to raise $10,000,000 in 1953 from industrial companies for the benefit of the National Fund for Medical Education; the disagreement between the U.S. Department of Defense and 15 colleges over the former?s demand of the right to disapprove any allegedly subversive teacher concerned with the correspondence courses of the U.S. Armed Forces Institute, and the colleges? rejection in October of the governmental contracts; and the rejection in Connecticut of a bill which would have transferred the control of the University of Connecticut from the board of trustees to a State Board of Regents.
The Teacher.
At least 160,000 newly trained teachers were needed for the elementary schools for the fall term of 1953 in comparison with the anticipated supply of only 35,636 graduates from teachers colleges and other schools preparing teachers. This was the startling conclusion of the annual report of the National Commission on Teacher Education and Professional Standards, National Education Association, which also disclosed that the decreasing supply of qualified high-school teachers is likely in time to result in a serious shortage when the wave of elementary pupils passes into high schools. The commission suggested that the community do its best to solve the shortage, especially by improving salaries and teaching conditions. In June, the commission proposed a system of uniform national standards so that requirements for certification would be the same in all states.
In July, in a move that confused many observers, the Board of Education of Los Angeles refused to accept $335,000 from the Ford Foundation for inaugurating an emergency teacher-training project under the supervision of three institutions. The various charges raised against the Ford Foundation impelled Dr. Robert M. Hutchins to resort to such expressions as ?crackpots? and ?the fringe of lunacy? in describing the opponents of the project. On the other hand, Vanderbilt University and George Peabody College for Teachers started a joint plan for preparing high-school teachers with a grant of $300,000 from the Ford Fund for the Advancement of Education.
Adult Education.
An important conclusion of ?The Uneducated,? a report by the Conservation of Human Resources Project of Columbia University, was that at least 2,500,000 Americans are still not able to read and write satisfactorily despite efforts during the past fifty years to offer education to all. The report went on to warn that unless this illiteracy is eradicated the uneducated will impede the national economy and defense. Finally, it urged the raising of educational conditions for Southerners, Indians, and migratory farm workers, in addition to a national, Federally aided campaign to eliminate adult illiteracy.
A survey of public libraries by the New York Times in June showed clearly the low status of literacy in some sections of the nation: the lack of easy accessibility of books to over 53,000,000 and the lack of all library service to 24,000,000. Moreover, library personnel with inadequate training also handicapped the furnishing of library service. These results were substantiated by a study carried out under the direction of the American Library Association.
Race and Religion in Education.
The constitutional status of racial segregation in the public schools, which was to have been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in the spring, was first postponed to October and then to December 7. In the meantime, segregated education was being breached in many places and support for integrated schools came from prominent national leaders, including President Eisenhower.
Many events indicated the progressive breakdown of segregation. The American Federation of Teachers (American Federation of Labor) abolished racial segregation in 400 local chapters. Because of the decision by the Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona declaring segregation illegal, the Board of Education supervising the high schools of Phoenix decided in July to abandon the policy, while later that month the elementary schools? Board of Education announced the abolition of segregation in the kindergartens and in grades one to three. This board promised that the other grades would be integrated by the fall of 1954. What is remarkable about these actions is that only 25 years ago the people of this city voted separate education for whites and Negroes. It is also significant that the board acted before the outcome of the friendly suit before the supreme court of the state to determine the applicability of the lower court?s decision to the entire state.
In February, the Attorney General of New Mexico stated that the tenure rights of Negro teachers would prevail when faculties are combined under a policy of integration. Several communities in New Mexico discontinued separate high schools because segregated education was deficient and costly. Negroes were elected to the boards of education of Richmond, Va., and Atlanta, Ga.
The first doctoral degree ever granted to a Negro by a public southern institution was won by Walter N. Ridley, head of the department of psychology, Virginia State College, at the University of Virginia. After some controversy, the University of the South admitted Negroes to its School of Theology. North Carolina State College at Raleigh admitted two Negroes to graduate study in science. On the other hand, Negroes began court action to obtain admittance, thus far in vain, to Louisiana State University and the University of Alabama.
Racial and religious discrimination suffered through the passage of a law in New York State denying colleges the right to accept gifts to teach racial superiority and the order by the State University of New York to student fraternities and sororities to judge applicants on other grounds than color or faith. Other institutions also made it clear that fraternities must abolish discriminatory practices in determining membership.
The factual study of religion in the public schools was urged by the American Council on Education?s Committee on Religion and Education. The daily singing of the fourth stanza of America was ordered by the New York City Board of Education for its moral and spiritual value. The New Jersey Supreme Court had before it during the fall a case concerning the constitutionality of distributing copies of the King James Version of the Bible in the public schools. This originated from an attempt by Catholic and Jewish parents to secure an injunction against this practice. A state Superior Court in California invalidated a popular vote exempting private and parochial schools from taxes.
Communism and Education.
Refusal to answer questions of congressional investigating committees about membership in the Communist Party resulted in the dismissal of professors at New York, Temple, and Rutgers Universities. At Harvard, three professors were suspended, but one was reinstated for a year because of the absence of proof of Communist adherence.
A New York State law made subversive activities a ground for dismissal from the staff of a public college, while a State Supreme Court decision upheld the right of the New York City Board of Education to dismiss teachers not replying to questions about their Communist membership. In September, the Board of Regents of New York State called the Communist Party subversive, an action which made illegal the retention of Communist teachers. Elsewhere, too, there was an attempt to determine the status of subversion in the schools. An investigation by the governor?s commission in New Jersey of public schools and tax-supported colleges reported in May that ?the school system in New Jersey is generally manned by loyal and patriotic American citizens.?
The conferences of the American Council on Education yielded evidence that educators did not agree upon a uniform attitude toward the investigations of alleged subversion in schools and colleges. The Association of American Colleges and the Association of American Universities favored co-operation with congressional committees, whereas the American Association of University Professors condemned congressional infringement upon academic freedom. Most educators appeared to oppose unfair tactics and conclusions by investigating committees.
One widely publicized case regarding a teacher?s alleged Communism resulted in the dismissal of the charge and the award of damages. A California Superior Court ordered a radio commentator to pay more than $55,000 to the teacher for slander. Less fortunate was the outcome of the charge against George Ebey, deputy superintendent of schools in Houston, Texas. He was dismissed because he had not at one time been strict enough against Communists.
International Educational Developments.
According to the annual census of the Institute of International Education, a total of 33,675 students from 128 foreign areas were enrolled in American institutions of higher learning during 1952-1953. About one third of this number came from countries in Asia and the Near East. The institute reported that this was the largest group of foreign students ever to study in the United States.
The U.S. Government?s international information program came in for much criticism during the year. Cuts in the services of the Voice of America and the removal of hundreds of controversial books from the shelves of the libraries of the U.S. Information Service in various foreign countries became the occasion of violent debates and denunciations. In June, the American Library Association denounced the book purges and was supported by President Eisenhower. During the same month, Congress created the U.S. Information Agency with power to control all foreign informational activities.
UNESCO.
There was criticism in some parts of the country of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. After a controversy of one year, the Board of Education of Los Angeles decided to disapprove any ?official or unofficial UNESCO program? in the schools of the city. However, it permitted teachers to present factual descriptions of subject matter related to the work of the United Nations. Most astounding was the announcement in July by the state legislature of California that an investigation would be conducted to find out if UNESCO is subversive. The aims and activities of this international educational agency received support of numerous civic and educational groups, especially the National Education Association. The U.S. National Commission for UNESCO was very active through its Fourth National Conference in September at Minneapolis and in countless other ways to impress upon the American people the value of UNESCO. Its special bulletins did much to answer questions about the objectives and work of UNESCO. Statements by President Eisenhower, Secretary of State Dulles, and other prominent public figures also helped to remove the doubts of many about UNESCO?S program. Finally, a report in August by the U.S. delegation to the UNESCO conference in Paris, submitted to Secretary Dulles, gave this organization ?a rather clean bill of health in answering the criticisms leveled against it.?
Behind the Iron Curtain.
In East Germany, the universities were purged of anti-Communist and non-Communist elements during November. However, in June, because of changing conditions in Europe, this policy was discontinued. The Czechoslovak Government underwent reorganization in February and important changes were introduced into education. A Ministry for School Affairs and Enlightenment and another Ministry for Universities were set up to take the place of the traditional Ministry of Education. The tightening of Communist control of education was also evident from the announcement in April by the government that the five-year Czech school system would give way in the fall to the eight-year program in vogue in Soviet Russia. The influence of the U.S.S.R. could be discerned in the purges of students, teachers, and scientists during January in Romania, as well as in the ?mass translation? project which made standard Soviet textbooks available in the Chinese language. Early in September, the University of Moscow opened a new 32-story building, on the occasion of which Pravda devoted its entire first page to the achievements and plans of the university.
Other Countries.
In May, a Government White Paper in England announced that 12 scholarships would be given annually to American students for attendance at British universities. Conditions in South Africa were going from bad to worse, so far as the Negro race was concerned. The government passed a law in September which segregates the Negro pupils from the whites. Nationalistic tendencies were doubtless at the bottom of the government?s campaign to have children educated in Afrikaans rather than in English.
The increase in scientific co-operation among universities and the greater amount of instruction regarding all Scandinavian nations were two major recommendations at a conference in February of the Nordic Council, a group consisting of members of parliament from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland. In Spain, the government approved in February a series of reforms in secondary education so that its system could be brought up to the standards prevailing in other countries. After balking in previous years, Yugoslavia made an agreement with the International Association for Exchange of Students to send 200 of its nationals to foreign universities and to accept 140 foreign students.
In Mexico, a controversy erupted in February when a Roman Catholic group and a student federation accused the new Under Secretary of Education, Jos? Gomez Roblada, of being a Communist and of endeavoring to turn the schools into Marxist centers. Nothing came of this, however.
An event of great importance occurred in Israel when the government abolished the four school systems maintained by political parties and set up instead a single, national system of elementary schools. According to the new plan, which went into effect in the fall, the government maintains separate schools for those children whose parents wish to see them educated in the spirit and practices of religious orthodoxy.
Among the international conferences of note were those of the International Association of University Professors and Lecturers, held in April at Amsterdam to arrive at a common policy with reference to academic freedom; the UNESCO summer seminar at Ceylon on the teaching of foreign languages; and the Princeton University conference on Islamic culture, which attracted 40 scholars from fourteen Moslem nations and 31 American scholars for a twelve-day period in September.
Statistics.
The following is the estimate by the U.S. Office of Education of the enrolment for 1953-1954: elementary, 26,931,300, or 1,582,600 more than for 1952-1953; secondary, 7,302,400, or an increase of 274,000; colleges, 2,500,000, a rise of 100,000. The overall figure, 36,949,700, was a new high, representing an increase of 1,956,000. Other figures from the Office of Education include an indicated shortage of 72,000 qualified elementary teachers, the construction of 50,000 new classrooms, a capital investment of $24,000,000,000 in school plants, a membership of 7,953,000 in parent-teacher associations, and a $250,000,000 cost of transporting pupils to school.
Books.
James B. Conant, Education and Liberty; Robert M. Hutchins, The Conflict in Education in a Democratic Society; Louise Hall Tharp, Until Victory: Horace Mann and Mary Peabody; Forces Affecting American Education, the yearbook of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, National Education Association; and American School Curriculum, the yearbook of the American Association of School Administrators, National Education Association.
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