The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1951-02-22
Statement Concerning
Public Schools
TASKER G. LOWNDFS
President State Board Of Education
January %, 1851.

their very existence primarily to
youth of eighteen, nineteen, twenty,
and twenty-one years of age. In
brief the major power that stands be-
tween US and destruction is our youth,
many if not most of them still in
their teens. On the battlefields of
Asia and in the camps Of Europe they
are our first line Of defense, and here
at home we live in peace, prosperity,
and comfort owing them debt that
we can never repay.
Every day all over this nation par
ents are giving up their 'teen-age
youth to the armed forces. Certainly
for the next few years and possibly
for many years to come, this offering
of our youth to the armed services
must continue and all for the purpose
that we. adults and children. might
have a chance to live, and to live, let
us hope, with some degree of peace
and prosperity, even if they be inter-
mingled with anxiety.
Our plan Of preparation for war is
greater than anything we have seen
in the past. In the final analysis, our
real power will be our youth. Our
lives and our future will be preserved
by the intelligence, the power, and
the attitude of young boys and girls.
As a nation and as a people we have
no moral right to require any youth
to endanger or maybe give his life
for our protection unless we have
seen to it that he is armed with every
resource it is within our power to
give.
The efficacy of the American sol
der and his superiority over his coun-
terparts in other nations lie in his
splendid attitude toward his country,
his intelligence, and the training Civ
en- him in our schools. In my opinion,
the first priority of any program of
civilian defense is the proper training
of the youth so that he may have
every possible chance to perform his
duties, military or civil, in a manner
that will preserve him and us.
This is no time. when we are call
ing upon children to defend US, to
talk about curtailing the opportunities
to which they are entitled, not only as
individuals in a democracy but as our
physical protectors. 1t is a SOLDERING
thought, but no fair-minded person,
above all no parent, who realizes the
inevitability of the armed service to
be rendered by his child, will deny
that it is sin, if you please, to de-
prive any youth Of that which edu-
cation may be able to offer him for
the life into which he must go.
As a moral people, as a fair minded
people, and as parents we must see
to 1t that our program Of education is
not weakened in any respect; rather
that we should see to it that educa-
tional opportunities are strengthened
because Of their great necessity and
urgency This is not sentimental or
an emotional prelude to a discussion
of the important problems facing pub
lie education in Maryland 1t is, l
hope, statement of a simple truth,
that we must render unto them who
shall serve US that which they are due
The Improvement in the Maryland
school system has stretched over a
long period of years with certain
retrOgressions due to national and
world conditions. The later war per-
iod was highly destructive of the
quality of the schools, despite every
effort that could be made. Teachers
left the schools in droves, recruits to
the teaching profession failed to APP
pear, no buildings could be constructed
and children were housed under all
sorts of conditions, thousands were on
part time, but as is frequently the
case, the seriousness of the situation
caused the people of Maryland to take
action in splendid manner.
1t is not necessary to recount what
has taken place in the Maryland
schools within the past few years.
suffice it to say that they stand to-
DAY, even with their imperfections,
among the best in the nation We have
reasons to be proud of the education
al opportunities our children are en-
Joylng, but as sensible people we
realize there are many things to be
done if we shall give our children
those things that thoughtful people
believe they should have The prob
lens that face the public schools OF
Maryland for the next ten years OIL
more have been discussed in the re-
cent publication by the State Super
mtendent Of Schools entitled "a Dec
ade of Progress in the Maryland Pub
lie Schools 1939-1949." We are con-
1ronted now with an immediate stu
alton which had its conception in the
struggle that is now taking place il
Korea. This is a situation that has
come upon us within the past few
months. 1t is an unhappy statement
10 make, but it looks as though it Is
fhn