Higher Education for American Democracy was a report to U.S. President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

on the condition of higher

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The commission to write this report was established on July 13, 1946, and it was chaired by

George F. Zook George Frederick "Fred" Zook (April 22, 1885 – August 17, 1951) was an American educator who was President of the University of Akron, U.S. Commissioner of Education, and President of the American Council on Education. Life and career Zook was b ...

. The report is significant not only for its six-volume size but for the fact that it marks the first time in United States history that a President established a commission for the purposes of analyzing the country's system of education, a task typically left to the states as prescribed by the Tenth Amendment. Such Presidential commissions are, today, relatively common. See, for example, President Ronald Reagan's,

A Nation at Risk ''A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform'' is the 1983 report of the United States National Commission on Excellence in Education. Its publication is considered a landmark event in modern American educational history. Among oth ...

, and President George W. Bush's, "A Test of Leadership," sometimes known as The Spellings Report. The Truman Commission Report, as it is sometimes known, calls for several significant changes in postsecondary education, among them, the establishment of a network of public

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

s, which would be free of charge for "all youth who can profit from such education".Harry S. Truman: Statement by the President Making Public a Report of the Commission on Higher Education
/ref> The commission helped popularize the phrase "community college" in the late 1940s and helped shape the future of two-year degree institutions in the U.S.AACC , Significant Events
/ref> The report also calls for increased Federal spending in the form of "scholarships, fellowships, and general aid".

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of the report {{DEFAULTSORT:Higher Education For American Democracy Education policy in the United States Higher education in the United States Works about academia