MIDCENTURY WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH

On 3-7 December 1950 the White House Conference on Youth and Children, held at the beginning of each decade, brought together over six thousand delegates and observers from the United States and abroad. The conference was the culmination of two years of preparation by 464 national organizations, including the National Education Association. The first attendance by children was in 1950.

The conference was a nonpartisan, nongovernmental project with only one-fifth of the funding coming from federal sources. The purpose was "to consider what we need to do in order to develop in children the mental, emotional, and spiritual qualities essential to individual happiness and responsible citizenship; and how the physical, economic, and social conditions of our society affect this great goal." A set of sixty-seven recommendations and a pledge to children resulted from the four days of panels and sessions. Among the many recommendations were several related to education including:

* That elementary, secondary, college and community education includes such appropriate experiences and studies of childhood and family life as will help young people to mature toward the role of parenthood.

* That further federal aid be provided to the states for educational services, in tax-supported public schools, without federal control, to help equalize educational opportunity; the issue of auxiliary services to be considered on its merits in separate legislation.

* That it be made possible for qualified youth to obtain college or university education which would otherwise be denied them because of inability to pay.

* Recognizing that knowledge and understanding of religious and ethical concepts are essential to the development of the moral and spiritual health of our nation and the work of religious education in our homes and families, and in our institutions of organized religion, we nevertheless strongly affirm the principle of separation of church and state which has been the keystone of our American democracy, and declare ourselves unalterably opposed to the use of the public schools, directly or indirectly, for religious educational purposes.

* That the Federal Communications Commission reserve television channels for noncommercial educational television stations so that some part of the limited number of frequencies to be allocated by the commission may be reserved for educational uses and purposes which contribute to healthy personality development.

* That local boards of education accept full responsibility for providing adequately for the education of children with physical and mental handicaps.

* That racial segregation in education be abolished.

* That school lunches be provided and that children unable to pay for their lunches be furnished them free.