In teaching, you have chosen one of the noblest of occupations. In
all the relationships between men, I can think of none finer—with
the exception perhaps of parent and child—than that of master and
pupil.... The salvation of our ideals, our institutions, our way of
life, will be determined by the success or failure of your mission. The
heaviest part of the burden, as I have said, falls upon your shoulders.
But those of us who do not teach are aware that we, too, have heavy
responsibilities.

It is our obligation to provide you with the tools to do the job—to
provide you with classrooms, laboratories, libraries and all the materials
and equipment you need to perform your tasks. Recognition by the
State of Maryland of its responsibility in the field of education is
reflected in the effort that has been, and is being, made to improve our
school system. We know, or we have reason to believe, that enrollments,
from kindergarten through college, will double in the ten to twelve years
ending in the early 1970's.

Maryland's expenditure for lower and higher education—operating
budgets, capital improvements and related fields—roughly have doubled
in the six years since 1956. Allocations of public funds for education
now are increasing proportionally faster than student enrollments. Mani-
festations of this policy are to be found in the improvement of faculty
salaries, in the expansion of physical plants and facilities to meet the
enrollment growth, in the increase in the quality and quantity of serv-
ices offered in the various other fields related to public education. As
an example, close to home here, of our efforts to keep well ahead of the
problem of enrollment increases, I refer you to an announcement I
made yesterday regarding my recommendations for increased allotments
for capital projects at the five state teachers colleges.

Since I took the oath of office as Governor of the State, these allow-
ances for teachers college capital improvements, considering my recom-
mendations for the 1963 year, have increased by 38 per cent. The best
estimates indicate that the enrollment in these colleges over the same
period will have increased by only 31 per cent. In short, what I am
trying to point out is that at the same time we are trying to make pro-
visions for the ever-increasing student population we are also making
every effort to improve the quality of the education we are offering to
our young men and our young women. If this policy is pursued, with
prudence and under careful supervision, I have every reason to believe
that Maryland will be able to maintain the enviable position it now
holds as one of the leaders in education among the fifty states.

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