Graduate schools require federal support if they are to produce the new knowledge and trained intelligence necessary to the security, prosperity, and cultural life of the nation. Recommendations of the National Commission on Student Financial Assistance are discussed. (MLW)

The United States' precarious place in the world's leadership due to problems in education is discussed and current national policy on education is criticized. Specific program and grant initiatives are proposed as part of a comprehensive national effort to reinstate U.S. world leadership in technological capability. (MSE)

The establishment of a new National Commission on Higher Education Issues, which will look at the overall context of higher education and make specific recommendations on specific problems to specific groups capable of doing something about them, is discussed. Two concerns include quality and reforming basic structures in higher education. (MLW)

The Reagan revolution is making profound changes in the basic assumptions that have undergirded American educational and social policy. The time has come to form a new national consensus whose unifying idea is educational quality. The declining quality of teachers poses the gravest threat to the quality of education. (MLW)

The chancellor of the California community college system has begun a controversial effort to achieve higher academic standards through governance reform. (MSE)

Themes, impacts, and major recommendations are outlined for eight recent reports on educational quality: "Action for Excellence,""Academic Preparation for College,""A Nation at Risk,""The Paideia Proposal,""America's Competitive Challenge,""Meeting the Needs for Quality in the…

The national politics of American education have clustered around four major issues: the federal effort on behalf of minorities, the poor, and other disadvantaged groups; the national politics of private and religious schools; the quality of schooling as a concern of the federal government; and educational strategies for the government. (MLW)

Two recent reports (Boyer's "High School" and Goodlad's "A Place Called School") on the current state of U.S. education and the goals and means of improving it are discussed. It is concluded that public policy must match the needs expressed in these and other reports on education, and that it is critical to support the teacher and humanize…

The liberal consensus that has shaped national education policy is seen as succumbing to dubious ideas and undesirable practices. Issues discussed include: educational equity, equality and quality; measures of educational achievement; accountability; "need" and ability; statism and monoply, pluralism and diversity; federal role; and…

Public v private competition for students and ways that institutions and policymakers should deal with it are discussed. Private institutions vulnerable to competition from the public sector, how private institutions can survive, the tuition gap, and planning policies of public higher education are described. (MLW)

Commentary on a National Commission on Student Financial Assistance report examines: federal role in graduate education, reauthorizing the Higher Education Act of 1965, restoring university research in science and technology, redefining graduate education, transition to an information society, excellence and the graduate student. (MLW)