The Morrill Acts and their impact on American higher education access

Turning Points/Critical Debate

Historians of American higher education consider the Morrill Acts to be seminal pivotal points in American education because it did so much to broaden access to colleges and universities, both for the poor and for minorities (Higher education topics). As a result of the first Morrill Act, education became more affordable and accessible to those who had been left out of the nation's small and elitist system of private colleges and universities. More than 70 new colleges and universities owe their creation to the Morrill Acts. The Act matched the industrial development needs of the United States at that time by emphasizing studies in engineering and agriculture. The second Morrill Act required each state to either show that race was not an admissions criterion, or to allocate a separate land-grant institution for persons of color. This requirement led to the establishment of several of today's black colleges.

Washington and Dubois both want the same thing, racial equality. However, they disagree on how to obtain that goal with Washington stating that, "The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing." On the other hand, Dubois is far less patient, believing in rocking the boat for more immediate change. I agree with Washington's philosophy for social change. People fear change and, for this reason, social change must be a gradual, often slower-than-desired process.