Land-Grant Institutions, the Public, and the Public Interest

The land-grant institutions constitute a revolu tionary concept in education. Each state, by passage of the Morrill Act of 1862, was given a grant of public land. Later acts appropriated federal funds to pay part of the operating costs of these institutions and established agricultural experi ment stations and the Co-operative Agricultural Extension Service to be operated by these institutions. These institutions fulfilled the need for educating the youth of the farming and "industrial classes." From "colleges of agriculture and me chanic arts" these institutions have broadened their curricula and have become for the most part universities. Although cur ricula have undergone great changes in number and in special ized content there is now a great need for further adaptation to the vast complexities of present-day national and interna tional realities. The urgency for widespread understanding of peoples will require much less specialization at the undergradu ate level and much more synthesis of material which will cut across rigid, traditional course lines. Establishment of divisions or centers for international problems and policies should be accelerated. To develop consumer understanding of agricul tural programs and problems, the land-grant institutions should consider the development of more educational programs among workers and their families.