Philip H. Coombs


Philip Hall Coombs, was an American teacher. An undergraduate study was at Amherst College and post-grad work was at the University of Chicago. He taught economics at Williams College and was a program director for education at the Ford Foundation.
Coombs was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to be the first Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Culture in February, 1961. He was an advocate for overhauling the educational system, saying that every school district should put 2% of its money into educational research and hire a "Vice President in charge of heresy." During his stint in this post, he went to live in Paris, organizing the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning. This UNESCO-created group advised countries on improvements to their systems of education. Being dissatisfied with the pace of change, he resigned from the U.S. State Department in 1962 and, from 1963 to 1968, held the post of Director of the International Council of Economic Development. He served as vice-chair and chair of the ICED until 1992, when he retired.
During his career he wrote several books on foreign policy and education. He was married to Helena Brooks for 65 years and had two children, Peter B. Coombs and Helena H. Weeks.

Published works

Problems of economic mobilization, by Philip H Coombs, 1947Education and Foreign Aid: Ways to Improve United States Foreign Educational Aid by Philip H. Coombs, 1965The World Educational Crisis: A Systems Analysis, Oxford University Press, 1968Managing Educational Costs, by Philip H. Coombs and Jacques Hallak. 1972Attacking Rural Poverty: How Nonformal Education Can Help, A research report for the World Bank. Edited by Barbara Baird Israel, by Philip H. Coombs with Manzoor Ahmed, 1974Education for Rural Development by Manzoor Ahmed and Philip H. Coombs, 1975Meeting the Basic Needs of the Rural Poor: The Integrated Community-Based Approach, by Philip H. Coombs, 1980The World Crisis in Education: The View from the Eighties, by Philip H. Coombs, 1985Education and Foreign Aid: Ways to Improve United States Foreign Educational Aid by Philip H. Coombs, 1988Fourth Dimension of Foreign Policy, by Philip H Coombs, 1990