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CONANT, JAMES B. 1893-1978

Calling for Education Reform

In 1953 James B. Conant vacated his position as president of Harvard University to become the U.S. high commissioner for Germany. He did not abandon his role as an innovator in education, however. Throughout the decade he continued to draw publicity as he pressed for reforms in America's school system. His call for higher standards in American education culminated in the 1959 publication of The American High School Today, which sold over half a million copies.

Revamping the Public High Schools

While at Harvard, Conant gained a reputation for championing the concept of liberal education, with its emphasis on a broad curriculum of study for college freshmen and sophomores. After leaving Harvard, he began to focus his attention on American high schools. Pro-claiming the "typical" American high school to be a myth, Conant argued that schools differed widely from one education district to the next, given America's cultural and geographic diversity. He called for comprehensive high schools that would offer a wide range of academic and vocational classes so that all students of varying intellectual abilities would be best served. In such schools courses of study would be tailored to meet an individual student's abilities and aspirations.

Education and Democracy

Inherent in his recommendations was a criticism of private schools. Private education, Conant believed, ran counter to his notion of the comprehensive school that would bring together students of not only various intellectual abilities, but of differing cultural backgrounds as well, He asserted that his comprehensive school would capture the spirit of American democracy and promote upward social mobility. He continued his push for public-school reform during the 1960s.