Education
"In life today, learning can no longer be limited to the classroom between ages six and the mid-twenties. It must begin at birth and continue through life. The lifelong student must be able to change his career both to accommodate his talents and to fill the manpower needs of the time." Harrison A. Williams, Jr., Crossroads U.S.A., 1968.
Equality of economic opportunity was essential for full inclusion in a Great Society that valued individual initiative and achievement. Education was the critical ingredient in leveling this economic playing field, or at least providing a path for raising low income individuals from poverty. Further, education was the means by which each individual, and the nation collectively, could adapt and achieve their highest capability in a technologically complex and ever-changing world. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 was the federal government's first significant initiative in providing funding to local schools. The legislation required periodic reauthorizations, providing built-in opportunities for debate at the federal level about the nation's educational system. Continuing into the twenty-first century, these reauthorizations included the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Other legislation sponsored or co-sponsored by Williams was aimed at supporting innovative educational possibilities—such as Head Start for pre-school age children, federal funding for two-year community colleges, and vocational training through the Job Corps for adults—and at expanding access to education in terms of both numbers of students and the demographic groups served.
Cover page of "Progress Report I," from Riegel Community Foundation, Inc., Riegel Ridge Development Center for Pre-School Children (Milford, N.J.), Project Head Start II, December 1-February 28, 1967.
Great Society programs aimed at expanding education all along the age spectrum. Head Start targeted children age 3-5.
Front page of The Corpsman, Vol. 4, No. 20, 15 October 1968.
Published by the Job Corps, this number of the publication featured articles on the Corps's police training programs at Camp Kilmer, N.J.
Hands That Work award, National Association of Home Builders, Vondal S. Gravlee to Harrison Williams, 17 October 1979.
In addition to recognizing Williams for his ongoing support for the Job Corps vocational training program, Gravlee's letter acknowledges the successes of a program that was often criticized for ineffectiveness.
Cover of Junior College Journal, Vol. 40, No. 1, September 1969.
In his article "To Close the Opportunity Gap" in this journal, Williams argued for increased federal support for the nontraditional, postsecondary opportunities and broader access to higher education found in community colleges, then still in their early, formative years.
First page of S. 6, A bill to provide financial assistance to the States for improved educational services for handicapped children, 4 January 1973.
Williams sought to expand access to public education by students with disabilities. Although this particular bill failed to pass, Williams persisted by re-introducing it in the following Congress, leading to its successful passage and signing by President Ford in 1975.
Cover of Fall Program of Evening Courses at Montville High School, Montville
Williams saw the need for a variety of forms of education to ensure that Americans could be lifelong learners, both for personal self-fulfillment and, perhaps more importantly, to retrain themselves to maintain their income-earning ability over time as technology impacted job requirements. Assistance to community adult education programs was one such nontraditional education alternative.