Johnson-Era Education Leader, Former Lecturer Dies at 84

Harold “Doc” Howe II, U.S. commissioner of education to President Johnson and senior lecturer emeritus at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (GSE), passed away Friday in Hanover, N.H. He was 84.

As federal education commissioner in 1965, Howe was responsible for desegregating America’s public schools, changing the way policymakers approach education reform and arguing on behalf of poor children in modern education.

When the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act introduced federal aid for desegregated schools, the duty fell to Howe to oversee these changes.

Former GSE Dean Jerome T. “Jerry” Murphy, who knew Howe and now occupies the professorship that bears Howe’s name, noted the pivotal role played by Howe.

“He was really the point person in the ’60s in desegregating the public schools. He was the person in the hot seat, the person who had the overall responsibility,” Murphy said.

In January 2000, Howe spoke about his role as commissioner during the ceremony celebrating the establishment of a chair in his name.

“I had the job of setting up a system for doing something nobody had ever done before,” Howe said. “In effect, we took on the job of desegregating the Southern schools so that we could give them Title I money.”

Howe’s job as commissioner was the pinnacle of a career that began as a school teacher in the years after World War II.

He taught history at schools in New York and Massachusetts, served as a principal at schools in Massachusetts and Ohio and spent four years as the superintendent of schools in Scarsdale, N.Y. before his appointment by Johnson.

During the 12 years Howe taught at GSE—1982 to 1994—he was a major proponent of expanding the definition of education as it was understood by academics.

“Your education comes not just from schooling, but from all kinds of things,” he said in 2000.

In its review of his 1993 book Thinking About Our Kids: An Agenda for American Education, the Washington Post called Howe a “font of wisdom and good sense about children and schools.”

And former colleagues agreed with this assessment.

“He was a terrific force,” Murphy said. “He brought a deep understanding of public education which came from having every conceivable position, from teacher to principal to school superintendent to U.S. commissioner of education. He brought both a deep understanding of the research and a wisdom of practice that made [GSE] a richer place.”

Howe was a vocal critic to the recent accountability movement, and argued holding children to arbitrary academic standards is discriminatory.

“You test kids who have poor lives and inadequate schooling, flunk them and say they didn’t meet the standards. You must first improve their lives and schooling, and then give the test,” Howe said in 2000.

According to Susan Moore Johnson, the Pforzheimer professor of teaching and learning at GSE, Howe’s infectious spirit extended to all who worked with him.

“He was an incredibly supportive, funny, warm and principled person who reminded us of what was important and why it was important to focus on children who weren’t served well by schools,” Johnson said.

Howe graduated from Yale College in 1940. He then entered the U.S. Navy, serving as a minesweeper captain in World War II before earning a master’s degree in history from Columbia University.

Howe is survived by his three children and five grandchildren. A memorial service is planned for early 2003.