Date: 1982-09-23
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. for 60 years the Graduate School of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been serving the Government and the public. I believe the Congress owes an expression of gratitude to this Institution. and I want today to place on the public record my appreciation of its services. The kind of education provided by this school is the type which grows out of one of our most basic traditions. It grows out of the desire of individuals to learn for the sake of selfimprovement. The Graduate School does not grant degrees. Its students do not wear academic gowns. It has no football team. Students who have attended the Graduate School since Its. founding in 1921 have done so for just one reasonthey wanted to learn more about subjects ranging from shorthand to law and from personnel administration to economics and math. in order to improve their ability to work and make progress in their careers. The school is open to adults of all ages. Its faculty. which works on a parttime basis. is recruited mainly from the ranks of Government experts and from educators in the Washington area. By working on this basis. the school has been able to attract and keep a highly skilled faculty in 20 subJect areas. This educational system has. of course. been vpuable to the thousands of men and women who have passed through the doors of the Graduate School over the past 60 years. But. Mr. Speaker. I believe it has also been of great value to the U.S. Goverment and to the people that Government serves. The Graduate School has given us Federal employees who are better equipped because of their voluntary studies to do their jobs in all branches of Government. The training provided by the Graduate School has given us more effective and more efficient public servants. and for that we all owe a debt of gratitude and praise to the school and its students. I think the House should know that the service provided by the school goes beyond the classroom. Since 1922. a great many scholars. statesmen. scientists. and public officials have taken part in lecture series sponsored by the school. The Graduate School press has made many of these lectures available to even wider audiences by a series of books. and it has also produced a series of useful Pnd effective publications in areas ranging from political science to studies in the operation of Government agencies. The Graduate School grew out of a need which was felt by leaders in our Government as far back as 1898. when the Secretary of Agriculture of that time announced there was. a special need for continuing education for young scientists. Finally. after World War I. a joint congressional committee recommended that Government departments give more attention to providing opportunities for the continuing eduction of Government employees. The result was the creation of the Graduate School in 1921 to serve Government employeesthroughout the Government. not just in the Agriculture Departmentand to serve other adults. The Secretary who established the Graduate school in 1921 said: I believe those who may be able to avail theselves of this opportunity will both enrich themselves and enhance the value of the service they render. Mr. Speaker. that was an accurate prophecy. The school has served us well. and it should be congratulated. I have sponsored. with Mr. WAMPLER Of Virginia. a resolution recognizing the 198182 school. year as the 60th anniversary year of this institution which operates on a selffinancing basis with no appropriated Federal funds. Our resolution extends the appreciation of Congress for the flexible. effective and efficient service. rendered by the school. It Is appreciation which has been well earned.