Posted on 06/05/2008 5:46:40 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
In Dr. Edwards’s opinion, which will contribute to the controversy over Federal aid, “the conclusion appears inescapable that the national interest in education can be met in no other way than by a policy of liberal Federal aid to education in the States.”
In the meantime, for millions of children the opportunity for anything more than a modicum of meager, formal education depends largely upon place of birth and if that condition continues for a long period of years, Dr. Edwards is convinced, the effect on our culture and on our representative political institutions may be appalling.
To support his statement that the educational load, as measured by the ratio of children of school age to the supporting adult group, is far greater in rural than in urban communities, he cites figures showing that the Northeastern States have 29.66 per cent of the nation’s children of school age, 5 to 17, but they have 42.93 per cent of the nation’s total income.
By contrast, the Southeast has 24.41 per cent of the nation’s children, but its share of the national income is only 10.01 per cent. Children of 5 to 17 in the Northeast and Far West combined constitute 35.14 per cent of all children of school age; these two regions receive 51.80 percent of the total national income.
By contrast the Southern States (southeast and southwest) have 32.54 per cent of the nation’s children, but, in dividing up the national income, they receive only 15.23 per cent.
“Education can be made a force to equalize the condition of men; it is no less true that it can be made a force to create class, race and sectional distinctions,” according to Dr. Edwards.
“If formal educational attainments condition entrance to some social and economic spheres, and if great opportunities for educational advance are open to some groups while the educational facilities for others remain meager, it is obvious that education becomes an instrument of social stratification and of regional and racial inequality.
“If in some settings education becomes a vital, stimulating intellectual process, while in other situations it remains formal and disassociated from daily life, the schools may functions as a mechanism of social differentiation.”
And these inequalities of educational opportunity result primarily from the unequal distribution of the educational load, says Dr. Edwards, from regional and community differences in economic well-being, and from the long-established tradition that the school should be supported in the main from local and State revenues.
“In large areas of the United States the economically productive age group of the population has the responsibility of supporting and educating twice as many children as the corresponding age group in other areas,” he adds. “Everywhere the burden of providing an adequate education for youth rests relatively lightly on the urban dweller and correspondingly heavily on those who live in the open country.
“With few exceptions, areas having a high plane of living and receiving a disproportionately large share of the national income contain a relatively small child population. In contrast, areas sharing least in the distribution of the national income and characterized by severe pressure of population on the resource structure are faced with the responsibility of rearing and educating far more than their share of the nation’s children.”
There seems to be no way out of this situation except Federal aid, Dr. Andrews holds. “In most States failure to support an adequate program of education is due primarily to lack of taxable resources. Many of the American States, try as hard as they may, find it entirely impossible to offer their youth educational opportunities at all comparable to those provided in States of average wealth.
“The only agency through which the necessary financial adjustments can be made for more nearly equalizing educational opportunity is the Federal Government.”
That every part of the country has a vital concern in the educational opportunity of every other part is Dr. Edwards’s theme.
“It has been fundamental in the American tradition that the democratic State can rest securely on no other foundation than the broad base of popular intelligence,” he asserts.
“However much public education may have been thought of as contributing to personal and individual ends, its support by American commonwealths has found justification primarily in the duty of the State promote the general welfare.
“In a democracy the fact cannot be lost sight of that in the long run public policy rests on the judgment, the good sense, and the emotional balance of the great rank and file of the citizenry whether living in crowded urban centers, remote hamlets, or the open country.”
From the education section. This article points out the impractibility of the Constitution. How can our nation survive without a federal Department of Education?
A small piece of the genesis of the Federal Government illegal intervention into the educational process. This article makes no direct empirical correlation between geographic and economic factors and functional educational outcome. In this piece, the subtle tilt toward progressive educational concerns and issues, nestled in the supposedly obvious link between dollars expended and results achieved is most insidious.
The advance of the libtards has not been in great leaps and bounds, but in the slow, slinking oozing toward a social fabric based on equality of outcomes rather than opportunities.
Sad, sad, sad. A great nation brought low by progressives gnawing incessantly at the foundations of this grand experiment.
I fear for the future of America.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllll Homer, I wanted to know what I could about Dr. Newton Edwards, and did a search. Couldn’t find anything about him personally, but did find the following of interest, thus I contribute:
http://encarta.msn.com/sidebar_461501184/1939_Education.html
Thanks for the link. People were really into their statistics back then weren’t they?
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