Word: publics
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...eighth-grade education in 1940, the median schooling of adult Americans has risen to 10.8 years (and will be 12.2 by 1965). Against 95,000 graduates in 1900, U.S. high schools this year produced 1,500,000, and half of them are going to college. And out of public schools in every corner of the land have marched armies of the nation's future leaders...
...enterprise is staggering. From less than 16 million in 1900, enrollment has jumped to 36 million. From less than $215 million in 1900, the annual cost has soared to $14.4 billion (about 3% of the Gross National Product). Of all U.S. families, 40% have one or more children in public school.*Of all living Americans, one out of five is a public-school student...
...anything so vast be excellent? It has no leader, no philosopher, no hand on the tiller. Public education is a headless wonder. The problem: to give its body-the citizens-faith and direction. Few men have tried with calmer good sense to work to this end than James Bryant Conant, 66, volunteer Inspector General of U.S. public schools...
Splendid & Shameful. The outstanding feature of James Conant's long (1933-53) reign as president of Harvard was his interest in education-notably public schools. Among besieged educators, he was well known (and trusted) long before he became U.S. High Commissioner and Ambassador to West Germany (1953-57). Among plain citizens he has won towering respect since The American High School Today (McGraw-Hill; $1) was published early this year. This fall Conant embarks on a second study: the junior high school. Nobody has already done more to convince Americans that high schools can improve-"with no radical change...
...money is a nightmare, even more vexing is the oddly uneven quality of public education. Compared to Europe's state-run systems, U.S. schools seem an anarchist's brainchild. With their genius for decentralization, the Constitution's writers left education in the laps of the states, which handed it over to local communities. Today nearly all responsibility is vested in 198,108 members of 49,477 school boards. The schools they command reflect vastly different standards. The . teachers they hire receive grossly varying salaries. The results range from splendid to shameful...