Today's President's Day Blog Appears in the Washington Post, the text is also below.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/02/19/the-higher-education-legacy-of-our-presidents-and-how-to-carry-that-forward/?utm_term=.bb87c46f6cea
U.S.
Presidential Leadership and Higher Education
In
the current climate of anti-intellectualism, Presidents Day provides a valuable
opportunity to reaffirm the deep connections between higher education and
democracy and the efforts of U.S. Presidents in support of our colleges and
universities.
The
founding of the United States and the rise of American colleges and
universities are inextricably linked, and U.S. presidents have played an
important role in cultivating those institutions and shaping the role they
played in strengthening the nation.
Our
first five presidents provided important early leadership in education:
George
Washington’s belief in the critical role education would play in our national
development continued throughout his career of public service. The draft of his
first inaugural address embraces the foundation of liberal education:
Whenever the opportunity shall be
furnished to you as public or as private men, I trust you will not fail to use
your best endeavors to improve the education and manners of a people; to
accelerate the progress of arts & sciences; to patronize works of genius;
to confer rewards for invention of utility; and to cherish institutions
favourable to humanity. — G. Washington, Draft of the First
Inaugural Address, c. January 1789
John Adams was
a co-founder of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Of all his
accomplishments, Thomas Jefferson took his greatest pride in having established
the University of Virginia. James Madison and James Monroe were charter members
of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, and Madison succeeded
Jefferson as Rector of the University. Madison and Patrick Henry helped to
establish the charter of Hampden-Sydney College in January of 1776, making it
the last college founded in the colonies.
These
presidents and their contemporary national leaders recognized that the
persistence of a democratic republic was dependent upon broadly and deeply
educated citizen leaders. Their efforts to foster institutions of liberal
learning were convergent with their work to create a successful government and
nation.
In addition to
Jefferson and Madison, four other U.S. presidents served as a university
President or Chancellor: Garfield at Hiram College; Fillmore at the University
of Buffalo, which he helped to found; Woodrow Wilson at Princeton; and
Eisenhower at Columbia. To date, twenty-six U.S. president have served as board
members or founding benefactors of American colleges and universities.
In his final
annual address to Congress, Washington outlined his dreams for a new nation,
calling for the formation of a national university and a national military
college. Our military academies were formed from this effort, but it was four
score years later that Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Morrill Act, creating
our land grant universities. These state-supported universities assumed the
role of the national institution Washington believed was necessary for the United
States to become a true leader on the world stage, and they greatly expanded our
scope and range of educational offerings.
A century
later, Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act of 1965, and the dream of
democratization in higher education finally became a reality to millions for
whom a college education had not been possible. The initial Act, which has been
reauthorized eight times since its adoption, provides federally supported
financial aid in the form of grants and low-interest loans. These have included
PELL grants and the Perkins, Stafford, and PLUS loan programs, which have made
it possible for tens of millions of Americans to attend college. It also
created incentives for newly trained teachers to serve in low-income school
districts. Much of the social and economic progress in the past 50 years can be
traced back to that momentous legislation.
A college
education continues to be the best investment for a young person to prepare for
a prosperous future, likewise higher education is a critical investment for the
future prosperity of our nation. Each day, I see hundreds of students on my
campus building bright futures that are only possible because of these
programs. It is an investment in their careers that benefits all of us by
strengthening our communities and our citizenry. On Presidents Day, we would do
well to honor the historic efforts and commitments of the occupants of the
White House by advocating for the reauthorization and expansion of the Higher
Education Act to preserve our democracy and to invest in what truly makes
America great.
