REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL.

The article presents information on a report submitted by a commission appointed by U.S. President Harry S. Truman on higher education. The report is a public document of the greatest concern to the future of American higher education, and what it says, not what members of the Commission hold as private views or meant to say, must be the basis of debate and judgment. All parties endorse the Commission's prime contention that neither the economic condition of a young person's parents nor his race, color, or creed should determine his educational opportunities. There is generous agreement, too, with several of the proposals for making educational opportunities available to more people, such as a national program of federally financed scholarships and fellowships, an expansion of community or junior colleges, and greatly increased opportunities and facilities open to adults. Debate regarding the report is limited to the following areas--enrollment predictions, that is, the number of qualified youth who might go to college if they had the money; liberal versus general education; the status of nonpublic education; the financial structure; the participation of government; and the philosophy of the report.