The inauguration by the Graduate School of Education two years ago of a joint program, in which the Faculty of Arts and Sciences began to cooperate with the Faculty of Education for the better training of teachers, marked a momentous change. Not only was cooperation substituted for competition between the two bodies in the University, but the move brought into sharp focus the problems of educational policy as a primary Harvard interest. Now it is impossible to avoid discussion of a fundamental question: what does Harvard want education to be? The future of education has thus become the care of the University as a whole. Unfortunately, that responsibility is not viewed with the proper seriousness, as seen in the several immediate requirements of the School.

The beginning of cooperation in teaching teachers ought to break down the old barriers between the School and other departments. Some day soon the School will seek more cooperation, when it asks the School of Public Administration to help it train superintendents. Teaching should be an important concern of every one in any way connected with education, for no university can advance learning, nor disseminate knowledge, unless its system of education can act with freedom and integrity. The understanding of educational policy, which even transcends the importance of "teaching teachers to teach," is necessary to the very keeping of American civilization. The public tends to underestimate the strength of the teacher's place in the world and to regard his job as merely a job; it is a shame that Professor Whitehead's insistence on the necessity of autonomous professions for the freedom of the modern state, especially education, cannot be more widely grasped.

To carry out such vital functions, and to carry them out well, the School has great need of three things. First, the School is the only graduate department in the University not adequately housed. It has but the cramped quarters of Lawrence Hall, next to the Hemenway Gym, the Palfrey House, somewhere in the woods beyond the Engineering Laboratory, used as a psycho-educational clinic, and the use of a few rooms in Emerson through the courtesy of the Psychology Department.

Visitors to the Tercentenary celebration must have admired the exhibit of books and documents, many rare manuscripts or examples of early printing, to illustrate certain aspects of the history of education. Prepared for the most part by Professor Robert Ulich and Dean Holmes, the exhibit represented only a few items in the School's collection. Unluckily, this library, considered one of the best of its kind, must remain in the depths of Widener, suffering from disuse, deserving separate housing.

Second, the School lacks scholarships to an appalling degree. What few are offered come from the main income. Third, there exist no funds for research in education. Recently a notable research was conducted with only partial outside help: a twelve year study of the physical, scholastic, and mental growth of 3000 children. Although the School does not want to become purely a research institute, unless more funds are provided in the near future it might well have to.

Speedy assistance by the University or the alumni should raise the School to undisputed first place in the field of education and draw consistently the best crop of students to its doors. In addition, and what has greater significance, the School will thereby perform its duty of teaching teachers to bear the torch of civilization forward.