USA > New York > A short history of New York State > Part 63
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After World War I enrollments continued to increase as they had after the Civil War. The number of individuals enrolled in elementary schools during the thirty years 1920-1950 was approximately 96 per cent of all persons in the state between the ages of six and thirteen years; the number in secondary schools was 78 per cent of all persons between fourteen and seventeen; and the number enrolled in advanced and pro- fessional schools was nearly 25 per cent. In the decade 1940-1950 popu- lation growth turned sharply upward, with the consequence that it soon became apparent that there were not enough elementary school build- ings and teachers and that the same would soon be true of the secondary schools. The educational statistics for the school year 1953-1954 were testimony of this fact when approximately 3,275,000 students were registered in New York educational institutions. Of these, 2,300,000 were enrolled in public schools-1,453,706 children in grade six and be- low and 849,109 in grades seven through twelve. There were approxi- mately 560,000 pupils in elementary grades and 95,000 in secondary grades of the private and parochial schools. About half of those in at- tendance at parochial schools were in New York City.
New York's facilities for higher education were enlarged after the Civil War. Cornell, which opened in 1868 with the aid of a 960,000-acre grant under the Morrill Act and a $500,000 gift from Ezra Cornell, offered programs in engineering and agriculture as well as in the tradi- tional liberal arts subjects. Equally notable were the increased opportu- nities for women desiring a college education. In addition to Cornell, which was coeducational, there were a number of new women's colleges.
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A SHORT HISTORY OF NEW YORK STATE
Table 21. Fifty years of progress in education in New York State.
1903-1904
1951-1952
Total number of school districts
10,696
3,175
Public school houses and sites
11,936
5,785
Public secondary schools
655
¢
978 *
Private and parochial secondary schools reporting
145
299
Universities, colleges, and professional schools
74
111
Net value of property
Public schools
$107,553,134
$1,789,617,268
Private and parochial schools reporting
13,010,823
328,594,583
Universities, colleges, and professional schools
99,758,763
468,358,652
Volumes in public school libraries
2,009,820
8,017,430
Total expenditures
Public schools
43,750,277
686,883,519 +
Private and parochial schools reporting
2,096,029
39,537,260
Universities, colleges, and professional schools
13,398,425
262,532,145
Number of children between 5 and 18 years of age
1,760,986
2,629,812
Registration at schools
Public elementary schools
1,211,390
1,540,162
Public secondary schools
88,675
518,864
Part-time and continuation schools
15,864
3,766
Indian schools
791
1,754
Institutions for defectives (deaf and blind )
1,995
1,619
Private and parochial elementary and secondary schools
213,105
578,087
Universities, colleges, and professional schools
Liberal arts
7,707
176,301
Professional and other schools Total
46,370 #
443,989 ¢
Number of teachers
Public elementary schools
32,189
54,980
Public secondary schools
3,363
28,983
Private and parochial elementary and secondary schools
10,945
19,038
Universities, colleges, and professional schools
4,220
21,950
Graduates
Public secondary schools
6,756
94,351
Private and parochial schools reporting
943
18,098
Universities, colleges, and professional schools
Without degree
3,227
2,254
Bachelor's degree
3,403
39,942
Master's degree
259
11,395
Doctor's degree
793
2,573
Source: Harlan H. Horner, ed., Education in New York State, 1784-1954 (Albany, N.Y., 1954).
* Includes senior, middle, and junior high schools.
f Less moneys received from bonds, bond anticipation notes, and capital notes.
# Including summer school and, in 1952, extension schools.
Vassar held its first classes in 1865; the Normal College, which was re- named Hunter in 1914, was established in New York City in 1870 as the first free college for women; and Barnard College, which was af- filiated with Columbia, was founded in 1889. To these should be added
38,663
276,688
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THE EXPANDING CLASSROOM
Elmira, which was chartered as a women's college before the Civil War. The Elmira Female College (in 1890 it became Elmira College) held its first classes in 1856.
During the same years substantial progress was made in graduate education. As early as 1857 Samuel B. Ruggles, a Columbia College trustee, had worked out a program for transforming the college into a university. Columbia established a law school in 1858, the School of Mines in 1864, Teachers College in 1888, and the School of Engineering in 1896. Meanwhile German standards of graduate training were intro- duced at Columbia with the creation of the School (later Faculty) of Political Science in 1880 and the faculties of Philosophy (1890) and Pure Science (1892). Under the direction of Nicholas Murray Butler, who became president of the university in 1902, Columbia built up one of the world's outstanding communities of scholars.
Although New York, unlike many other states, did not establish a state university, the government took an active part in higher education. Under a program approved by the legislature, the state awarded four-year tuition scholarships for Cornell to one student from each of the state's assembly districts.1 It was with Cornell, moreover, that the state first developed its plan for farming out various fields of public instruction to private institutions. Thus, the College of Agriculture, established by Cornell in 1878, was taken over by the state in 1904. Students attending the College of Agriculture paid no tuition, and the Regents approved and supervised the college's budget. Similar arrangements were made for the Colleges of Veterinary Surgery and Home Economics at Cornell, the College of Forestry at Syracuse University, and the College of Ce- ramics at Alfred University. By 1914 the state also operated the State Nautical School (founded in 1875 and renamed the State Merchant Marine Academy in 1929) in New York City; schools of agriculture at Canton (1906), Alfred (1908), Cobleskill (1911), Farmingdale (1912), Delhi (1913); and eleven normal schools and teachers colleges.
After World War I the institutions of higher learning in the state ex- panded even more rapidly than the elementary and secondary schools. During the prosperous 1920's when a college degree was often viewed as a badge of social distinction and a passport to business success, large numbers of boys and girls, who in earlier years would have been satis- fied with a high school diploma, decided that their formal education would not be complete without a bachelor's degree. At the time of the Depression, when it was often impossible to obtain a job, many young people preferred four years of college to the harsh realities of the busi-
1 After 1913 this plan was expanded, and provision was made for 750 four-year scholarships of one hundred dollars each for study in any New York college or uni- versity approved by the Regents.
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A SHORT HISTORY OF NEW YORK STATE
ness world. Because of these considerations college enrollments steadily increased.
To accommodate the ever-increasing number of students seeking edu- cation beyond the secondary level, both private and public institutions expanded their facilities and enrollments. In New York City, for example, two new free colleges-Brooklyn College (1930) and Queens College (1937)-were established to help City College and Hunter College take care of the steadily mounting number of students. By 1956 these four tuition-free colleges were handling seventy-eight thousand students. Nine- teen private colleges and universities located within the metropolitan area also offered broad programs of higher education. Elsewhere in the state, large institutions such as Syracuse, Cornell, Buffalo, Vassar, and Rochester felt the pressure of added numbers. Even the smaller private colleges like Hamilton, Colgate, Hobart, Union, and St. Lawrence felt the pres- sure. In 1941-1942 no less than 31,600 New York youth went out of the state for their college education. True, 17,453 students migrated to New York colleges, coming principally from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
The veterans of World War II also imposed a severe strain on the state's institutions of higher learning. Although the Department of Edu- cation had as early as 1943 begun to prepare for the influx of college students at the end of the war, few authorities realized just how many veterans would take advantage of the educational provisions in the federal government's G.I. Bill of Rights. By 1946 it was evident that existing educational facilities were inadequate, and in the spring of that year Governor Dewey called together eighty-six college and university presidents to consider the problem. Following the conference's recom- mendation that the state sponsor a junior-college program, the legisla- ture appropriated funds for the establishment of three two-year colleges. In the fall of 1946 Dewey formally opened Sampson College at the Sampson Naval Training Center, Champlain College at Plattsburgh, and Mohawk College in Utica. In their first year, the three institutions had a total enrollment of 5,000, and in 1948 they were attended by 8,500 students. Later, when the state system expanded, these three colleges were abandoned.
It was in part the increasing pressure for higher educational facilities which led to the establishment of the State University of New York in 1948. This organization converted the various state colleges and schools into a single system, which included eleven state teachers colleges, six agricultural and technical institutes, five experimental institutes of applied arts and sciences, the New York State Maritime Academy (became a college in 1949), the State College of Forestry, and the five contract col- leges of Agriculture, Home Economics, Ceramics, the State Veterinary
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THE EXPANDING CLASSROOM
College, and the State School of Industrial and Labor Relations. In 1950 two health and medical centers were added: the Downstate Medical Center became a reality when the State University took over the facilities of the Long Island College of Medicine; the Syracuse University College of Medicine was acquired by the state and became the State University Upstate Medical Center. In 1950, also, an extension center, previously operated at Endicott in Broome County by Syracuse University, was taken over by the State University and transformed into a new four-year liberal arts institution named Harpur College.
To meet the ever-pressing needs of those seeking education beyond the high school level, the Young commission, influenced in part by the action of California, gave special attention to the desirability of creating a system of publicly supported community colleges limited to two-year programs offering a combination of technical training and general edu- cation. This recommendation-together with others which would elimi- nate discrimination in admissions to colleges and universities of the state on the basis of race, color, creed, or national origin, enlarge the state scholarship plan, and make better financial support available for teacher education in the municipally supported colleges of New York City- also received legislative approval.
Jamestown Community College was the first institution of its kind to become a part of the State University. It accepted its first students in 1950. Since that date five similar institutions were established in Middle- town, Auburn, New York City, White Plains, and Staten Island. In 1953 the State University organization comprised thirty-seven units of which ten were community colleges. Special state schools include 133 schools of nursing, three institutes for the blind, and six for the deaf.
At the beginning of 1956 the State Education Department reported that 325,370 students were enrolled in the colleges of New York. Of these 112,526 were women. The total was an advance of 7,000 over the enroll- ment of the previous year. First-semester freshmen showed an increase of 15 per cent over the corresponding semester of 1954-1955 and again emphasized the need for securing more good teachers. Expenditures for higher education in the state during the last fifty years increased in round numbers $83,000,000 to $270,000,000. The full-time instructional staff has increased from approximately 4,000 to 23,000.
One of the most outstanding sources of encouragement to young people to continue their formal education beyond the secondary level has been the state's scholarship program. Established in 1913, it first provided for 750 scholarships each year, carrying an annual stipend of $100 for four years of undergraduate study. In 1946 the annual stipend was increased from $100 to $350, and the following year the number of awards was increased from 750 to 827. In 1949 the number was doubled to 1,654.
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A SHORT HISTORY OF NEW YORK STATE
This was far short of the Regents' 1944 recommendation of 12,000 yearly scholarships of $350. Prior to 1944 these awards were based on the average marks in the Regents' examination; since 1944 the awards have been made on the basis of the scores achieved in a comprehensive ex- amination prepared under the auspices of the State Examinations Board. In 1946 the state began to award medical scholarships of $750 a year, and, also under the Dewey administration, 4,800 scholarships, each worth $350, were created for veterans.
One of the most significant and encouraging developments in the long history of the state has been the growth of adult education under both public and private auspices. No survey of education in either the state or the nation would be complete without some mention of the Chautauqua Institution. Organized at Lake Chautauqua in 1874 as a summer study group for Sunday-school teachers, Chautauqua soon became the most notable force in adult education in the United States. Although the major emphasis was placed on the lectures and concerts given in the annual summer sessions, the Chautauqua University offered a full and varied program of continuous study through extension work and both reading and correspondence courses. The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle directed a four-year reading program for local groups of interested adults; the Chautauqua Book-a-Month Club supplied such books as John Richard Green's Short History of the English People to an esti- mated half-million readers; and during the summer Chautauqua audi- ences were addressed by outstanding authorities on a wide variety of subjects. The Chautauqua summer sessions proved so popular that within a short time similar meetings were being held in many other parts of the state and nation. In addition, city dwellers were provided with numerous opportunities for adult education on a year-round basis. In New York City evening lecture series were conducted by The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, the People's Institute (founded in 1897 by Charles Sprague Smith), and the Board of Educa- tion. Extensive adult education programs were also offered by the Brook- lyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, and similar institutions in other cities throughout the state.
Adult education at this time was carried on chiefly by private phi- lanthropy and special interest groups. Public adult education dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century and was occasioned in part by the great new wave of immigrants flooding into the state. By 1912 continuation, home, factory, and evening schools were serving 200,000 adults. Fifteen years later the number had increased to over 300,000. Free night schools were opened, supervisors appointed, and teachers trained for special work with the foreign born. Though immigration was
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THE EXPANDING CLASSROOM
severely restricted by the federal acts of the 1920's, the continued presence of large numbers of foreign-born adults, the steady influx of displaced persons of two world wars, and the recent arrival of hundreds of thou- sands of Puerto Ricans have kept the Americanization phase of the adult education program constantly expanding.
But adult education was not limited to the foreign born. The Depres- sion, World War II, and increased leisure occasioned by mechanization stimulated the movement. During the Depression years much emphasis was given to consumer education and occupational retraining. No less than 400,000 adults were enrolled in the enormous W.P.A. project for upstate relief. Large numbers of adults studied cultural subjects in their enforced leisure time.
World War II gave not only adult education but all education a tremendous push in the direction of vocationalism. Following the war it became more and more evident that education was a continuous process that should go on from birth to the end of life. The State Educa- tion Law was amended to provide financial assistance to the local public schools to enable each community to meet its own adult education needs. The response exceeded expectation. In the seven-year period 1946-1953, the number of community programs for adults increased from 65 to 569 and the enrollment from 51,000 to 58,700. Opportunities for public adult education are now available in 98 per cent of the state's cities and in 91 per cent of the centralized district schools.
Meanwhile the colleges and universities of the state, both public and private, have established night schools and hundreds of extension courses for adults. The New York Adult Education Council, the New York State Citizens' Council, and other organizations have rendered outstanding service of various kinds and types in the cause of adult education. Several of the leading foundations have contributed to adult education projects within the state. Nor should the contributions of radio and television be overlooked in this respect.
The schools and colleges of the state and radio and television and other agencies which contribute to the education of adults have revealed the inability of most of us to resolve the problems posed by two con- trasting-and often conflicting-patterns of culture. On the one hand, there is the machine civilization with its relentless pressure toward con- formity and standardization. On the other hand, there are those who protest that mechanization, standardization, and conformity do not mean progress but "robotism," stagnation, and spiritual and intellectual decay. Unquestionably the machine can provide us with many more social and material advantages than have ever been available to man in the past; unquestionably, too, it is capable of destroying man's individualism and making him its slave.
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A SHORT HISTORY OF NEW YORK STATE
New York's educational facilities were immeasurably improved by the development of the state's libraries. In 1865 the few public libraries in New York had small collections and elaborate rules that seemed de- signed above all else to prevent readers from obtaining books. Although a state library law was enacted in 1872, it was not until the mid 1880's that any substantial progress was made. The individual most responsible for the growth of libraries in New York was Melvil Dewey, who founded the first library school (at Columbia College) in the United States and served as state librarian from 1888 to 1905. At his instigation the books in the district school libraries were used as a nucleus for new public libraries, traveling libraries were established, extension courses and lec- ture series were offered, and the State Library at Albany was made a clearinghouse for all public libraries in the state. At the same time, several wealthy individuals supplied libraries with books, money, and buildings. In 1895 the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden libraries-each of which was the product of private philanthropy-were merged to form the mag- nificent New York Public Library. Andrew Carnegie gave approximately $6,500,000 to cities and villages in New York for the erection of more than one hundred library buildings. By 1920 New York had more than 660 libraries.
In the last twenty-five years many of the libraries of the state have been compelled to expand. The Depression, in particular, boomed public library circulation. In small and large urban areas, the public library became a poor man's club. Circulation of books in larger communities such as Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, and New York City in- creased almost 50 per cent in the single year 1933. New York City, housing approximately half of the state's population, has three public libraries. Smallest of these is the Queens Borough Library. Brooklyn Public Library has an annual circulation of over five million volumes. The New York Public Library serving Manhattan, Bronx, and Richmond (Staten Island) is the largest and most important. The Circulating Division with almost seventy branches has a daily circulation of enough books to make a stack two and one half times as high as the Empire State Building. More than three million people come each year to its Reference Library, which is second only to the famous Library of Con- gress. The Reference Library at the state capital is also one of the best of its kind in the nation.
In retrospect, anyone who reviews the history of educational endeavor in the state of New York will be impressed with the over-all record of progress. On occasion, voices have been raised in opposition to the chang- ing character of the educational pattern or the increasing demand for financial outlay in support of education. But these have not long delayed the great progress that has been made. With passing years more of the
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state's inhabitants have realized that education is a liberating process- liberating in the sense that it frees us from ignorance, superstition, fear, and unnecessary physical handicaps. They have come to realize, too, that education at all levels should help us to discover ourselves-our strengths, weaknesses, aptitudes, latent talents, and potentialities. They have come to see that education teaches us how to plan, to work, to play together, and to have respect for facts, excellence of performance, the aesthetically beautiful, and moral and ethical values. They have come to understand that education is the most potent weapon that free men have for the defense of freedom. Finally, they have come to appreciate that, in the last analysis, the greatest power on earth stems from educated, unregimented, highly committed men and women dedicated to human betterment.
Chapter 41
The Cultural Ascendency of the Metropolis
We have been two months in New York. . . . It's immensely interesting. ... There are lots of interesting young painting and writing fellows, and the place is lordly free, with foreign touches of all kinds all thro' its abounding Americanism: Bos- ton seems of another planet.
-WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, April 14, 1888
IN THE years following the Civil War, New York City supplanted Boston as the leading center of intellectual activity in the United States. Manhattan not only provided writers, artists, and educators with a cosmopolitan and stimulating atmosphere, but it was also the single largest source of the wealth that was used to finance their endeavors. Most of the major publishing houses were located in New York City; the city's news- papers and magazines were among the most famous in the nation; it served as the home office for several national religious organizations; more authors and painters lived there than in any other city in the United States; it possessed excellent library and museum facilities; and it was the home of most of the country's richest art patrons. As American culture was increasingly organized along business lines, it was both fitting and understandable that New York City should become the intellectual as well as the business capital of the United States.
It is easy, however, to exaggerate the importance of the city's pre- eminence in intellectual affairs. It set styles, but it also reflected trends that were nation-wide. The city dominated the state in many respects, but the state was also a part of the nation, and as such it was not im- mune to developments beyond its borders. As a consequence, the course of the state's intellectual and social history was determined not only by the somewhat unique features of New York City's relationship to the rest of the country, but also by certain national forces that affected all
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THE CULTURAL ASCENDENCY OF THE METROPOLIS 603
Americans to some degree. In general, New York's religious history was not unlike that of many other states, while in literature, the arts, and drama New York City enjoyed a position of undisputed leadership.
In religion New York tended to conform to a larger pattern of thought and development that was a product of forces that transcended state lines. In both the state and nation, religious views and church organiza- tion were altered to meet new intellectual theories, the rise of big busi- ness, urbanization, and the increase in immigration. New York's wealth, size, and diversity gave it a certain pre-eminence in religious affairs; but pre-eminence, at least in this instance, should not be confused with leadership. Nor was New York's religious history necessarily unique, for deviations from what might be termed the national norm were in large part differences in degree rather than in kind.
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