No Future

The U.S. Office of Education has little to do with setting educational policies. Its main job is compiling bales of statistics. It also supervises the spending of federal funds by land-grant colleges and vocational schools, and sponsors an interminable round of education conferences. Its uniformly dull publications tread warily between the controversies. Most U.S. educators prefer it that way.

John Ward Studebaker, once an educator himself (superintendent of Des Moines's public schools), also prefers it that way. In 14 years as U.S. Commissioner of Education, he has stayed out of trouble with Congress and professional educators. Said the 450,000-member National Education Association: "Under Dr. Studebaker, the Office of Education has done admirably the things government should do in education, keeping out of those it shouldn't."

Last week, hardworking, colorless John Studebaker, 61, quit his $10,000 job. "Along with too many other men," he wrote President Truman, "the time has now come when I can no longer afford to remain in the Federal Government." As vice president of Scholastic Magazines and editorial chairman of their five classroom publications, he would make considerably more.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.