The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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NEW YORK—It interests me very much that more and more business concerns are participating in the educational field. Such action must hearten us all because education needs this support for as long as we hope to run our educational institutions privately as against those supported by the government.

It seems advisable that there should always be such educational institutions to spur on government institutions and perhaps to make the experiments that later will be adopted by our public schools and by our state universities.

One disquieting factor does appear here and there, however, and that is that occasionally this private aid is given in ways which mean that those who give the aid have an opportunity to further some special interest of their own. If they are hopeful that the young people of the future will see things in a certain way they make sure that the aid they give is given in a way which serves their interest.

When this aid, however, is given without any strings attached to it, we should be happy and proud about the development in business of a broader vision and an appreciation of the values of education.

Along this line it was recently announced by Procter & Gamble that 46 colleges and universities in 15 states throughout the country would participate in two new scholarship programs. Eleven women's colleges have been included, and it is the first time that a major U.S. company has instituted an aid-to-education program with special provision for women's colleges.

These scholarships given by Procter & Gamble are completely unrestricted as to course of study or future employment and they will provide full tuition and an allowance for books and supplies. In addition, each scholarship will be accompanied by an unrestricted grant of $500 a year to assist the college or university in meeting its expenses. The plan also will provide funds for the appointment of a faculty adviser for scholarship holders.

The colleges and universities participating in the selection of students for these scholarships will do so on the basis of their own standards of academic achievement and of the financial need of the student. Two-thirds of the scholarships are to be in the field of liberal arts and the balance are to be technical scholarships.

Quite naturally, institutions supported to a considerable degree by federal, state or city funds are not eligible. The institutions selected were those private colleges and universities from which in recent years the largest number of personnel serving Procter & Gamble and its subsidiaries has been drawn.

It seems to me this is wisely set up, with complete freedom of opportunity, and I hope other businesses will follow suit on the same unrestricted basis.

(Distributed by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)

E.R.


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, May 11, 1955

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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