Education and the national goals

by STERLING M. MCMURRIN

From an address given at a conference on educational administration, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., July 20, 1961.

T

HERE ARE two common assumptions regarding our society

that now deserve a most serious examination. The first expresses in a sense the very meaning of democracy, that there is an inevitable coincidence of the good of the individual with the good of the society taken in its totality. It is the common belief that a course of action that genuinely ministers to the dignity and intrinsic value of the individual and cultivates his talents and capabilities and encourages his commitment to high purpose will necessarily build into the social structure and the state a strength that will guarantee their full integrity and their lasting power even in great adversity. But this is an assumption that has never been fully tested by our Nation or any other nation, for in circumstances that have fundamentally challenged the strength of the democracies, as in the event of war, they have resorted to various forms of regimentation that have at certain points suspended the principles and practices normative for a democratic society. This regimentation, together with the emotional power that surges through a society in imminent danger, has strengthened us through the great crises of our past. The question that we now must ask is whether without the regimentation of human souls and their resources that we quite properly abhor and through a protracted period of collective anxiety that commonly weakens rather than strengthens a nation's character, we have the intellectual, moral, and spiritual resources to guarantee our security in the presence of totalitarian states of great power. It is now entirely clear to us that, Continued on p.

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Surplus property report

During the last quarter of the 1961 fiscal year (April, May, and June), the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare made $99 million worth of surplus Federal property available to the States for educational, public health, and civil defense purposes. Real property accounted for $14.6 million and personal property for $84.5 million.

Under the provisions of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, property the Federal Government no longer needs is distributed to educational, public health, and civil defense agencies of State and local governments and to eligible nonprofit health and educational institutions exempt from Federal taxes. Regional offices handle transactions. Property transferred this quarter includes such items as school and hospital building sites; buildings suitable for college dormitories or faculty housing; hospital, school, and office furniture and supplies; motion picture projectors; and laboratory equipment.

Rehabilitation committee

Representatives of three major Federal agencies meet regularly as an Interagency Committee on Vocational Rehabilitation to coordinate agency programs: Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (Office of Vocational Rehabilitation), Department of Labor (U.S. Employment Service and Veterans Employ

ment Service), and the Veterans Administration (Departments of Veterans Benefits and of Medicine and Surgery). Members exchange information on programs and developments; carry out interagency agreements, proposing changes. when necessary; stimulate interagency cooperation in studies and research projects; and consider problems and ways of solving them, such as establishing a cooperative training program for rehabilitation workers.

Two States-Connecticut and Arkansas-have committees similar to the Interagency Committee on Vocational Rehabilitation.

The deaf at college

Among the films on loan by the Captioned Films for the Deaf program of the Office of Education is one which received a nomination for a 1960 "Oscar" award in the category of documentary short subjects from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Entitled "Beyond Silence," the 15-minute film was made on the campus of Gallaudet College with students and faculty members as players.

"Beyond Silence" is also available without captions for noncommercial educational use by purchase from United World Films, Inc., 1445 Park Avenue, New York 29, N.Y., for $31.31 a copy.

Gallaudet, the world's only college for the deaf, is partly supported by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Documents expediting service

Subscribers to the Documents Expediting Project at the Library of Congress receive a unique service: They automatically receive nondepository U.S. Government publications not available for purchase at the Government Printing Office or from the issuing agency. The project acquires these publications by checking the publications lists of all Federal agencies, accessions lists of libraries specializing in public affairs, and advance proof sheets of the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications for desirable nondepository items. Through agreements with distributing offices it can often distribute material before the general distribution date.

Other services of the project include tracking down out-of-print or scarce Government publications at the request of a subscriber and distributing sample issues of new Government serials with order slips.

Among the publications the project distributes automatically are the reports of the Office of Education's cooperative research program and new educational media research program (title VII, National Defense Education Act).

Sponsored by a joint committee of library organizations and administered by the Library of Congress under contract with the committee, the project is self-supporting through subscription fees. These fees range from $100 to $500 a year, plus a flat fee of $25 a year for postage. Sub