The Big Wave

The U.S. has always had one fundamental attitude toward education: the more its citizens get, the better off they will be. Last week, at colleges and universities across the nation, that simple attitude was causing both concern and consternation. In 1955 few questions loom as large as: What does the nation do about the vast increase in enrollments expected within the next few years?

In speeches, articles and reports, almost every college president has had his say on the subject. But though some welcome the trend and others view it with alarm, all agree that a new era in education seems to be upon them. Between 1900 and 1950, the population of the U.S. doubled; in the last 20 years, the birth rate has shot up 88%, hitting 3,900,000 in 1953. If the same percentage of young people go to college by 1970 as at present (about 30%), enrollments will jump 75% to 4,219,047. Should the college percentage increase to 40%, enrollments might soar to well over 5,000,000. Thus, says Registrar Ronald Thompson of Ohio State University, "it is no longer appropriate to debate the extent of the need. The children have been born . . . We in higher education have just a few years in which to put our house in order."

Funds & Faculties. Colleges and universities are aware that putting the house in order is easier said than done. Already overcrowded and harassed by budget troubles, they must now find the funds, build new facilities, hire more teachers at a time when they are suffering from a shortage of all three. In 1954 the Economic Report of the President estimated that the U.S. college campus is already $6 billion behind in its building program. Furthermore, says President John A. Perkins of the University of Delaware, "it has been estimated that in the next 15 years as much floor space will have to be provided for higher education as was built in the 300 previous years of collegiate history."

The shortage of teachers is in a sense even worse: if the present ratio of one teacher to every twelve students is to be kept into 1970, higher education will have to add between 351,000 and 555,000 men and women to its faculties. Meanwhile, the number of young people training for the profession is far from enough. One indication: the percentage of doctorates (1.5% of all degrees) awarded in 1951 was exactly the same as in 1940.

Lectures & TV. Some educators think that the present retirement policies for professors should be revised. President Arthur S. Adams of the American Council on Education suggests that additional recruits might be found among educated women whose children have grown up, or perhaps among the growing pool of retired Army and Navy officers. J. F. Wellemeyer Jr. of the American Council of Learned Societies thinks that universities might consider revamping some teacher-training programs, and instead of insisting on the Ph.D. degree, might extend and deepen their programs leading to the M.A. At the University of Toledo, President Asa Knowles has scoured the community and local industry for teachers, now has 75 business and professional men serving part time on his faculty. Other presidents have come to the conclusion that colleges may have to make use of bigger and bigger lecture courses and more and more TV.

With or without enough teachers, campus after campus was last week poring over blueprints for expansion. At his inaugural. Chancellor C. C. Furnas of the University of Buffalo announced that he expected to double his enrollment of 10,000 by 1970. Hamilton College plans to increase enrollment from 575 to 700; the University of Detroit may go up from 8,500 to as many as 12,000. Bradley University plans to increase full-time enrollments from 2,500 to 3,500; Alfred University is starting a building program to accommodate a possible jump of 300 over its present student body of 900; Iowa's Coe College, which has 750 students, hopes to have room for 1,000; and Union, in Schenectady, N.Y., may go from 950 to 1,200. The state universities may be forced to expand beyond either their expectations or desires. By 1970, says President Logan Wilson, the University of Texas may have grown from 16,000 students to 30,000--and that might be more than the university can properly handle.

States & Regions. In Florida, a special council of educators has issued a preliminary report on how to meet the wave of enrollments. Between 1930 and 1950, said the council, Florida's student population grew faster (561%) than that of any other state, will probably jump another 300% to 106,000 by 1970. The council's tentative recommendations: that the state 1) set up 12 to 16 two-year community colleges, 2) establish at least three new four-year colleges in major population centers, and 3) appoint a chancellor to help guide the three state universities in a long-range program of expansion.

In Atlanta, the Southern Regional Education Board, acting for 65 institutions, has taken another approach. It is trying to ease the pressure by keeping the South's campuses from needlessly duplicating facilities. It is making a region-wide survey of courses in international relations and political science; it selected the forestry school of Duke University as the "regional facility" for the Ph.D. in forestry, persuaded Louisiana to set up a much needed animal health research center instead of a superfluous school of veterinary medicine. Indeed, says Executive Director John Ivey, "in this region one can see the day when a college will not try to cover the whole field of liberal arts." Instead of attending just one institution for four years, a student might go to several, depending on which are strongest in his specialty.

In California, where 80% of college and university students attend public institutions, the pattern of the future is already well established. The state now has 66 publicly supported junior colleges, and the University of California has never shied away from opening up new campuses. Elsewhere, says President Samuel Gould of Antioch College, the urban college or university may play an increasingly bigger role in taking up the slack. "The idea of a central college with a number of branches located in strategic and nearby places will become the accepted permanent pattern." Businessmen and community leaders will serve as part-time teachers, the glamour and social prestige of campus life will diminish, the distinction between undergraduate and adult education will vanish. "Young and old will attend classes by day or evening according to the rhythm of their own lives."

All or None. For all these plans and predictions, however, one group of administrators--the presidents of private liberal arts colleges and universities--remain in sharp disagreement over the future. How, much can they expand their campuses without diluting the quality and nature of their education? At one extreme, President Charles Turck of St. Paul's Macalester College feels that the private institution might well plan to grow indefinitely--even if it must rely on Government grants as do the British universities. "Does anyone believe," he asks, "that the public institution men who know that their tax appropriations depend on their numbers are going voluntarily to limit their numbers? Of course not. And if they don't, why should we?" On the the other hand. President Gilbert White of Haverford College has come to the conclusion that "we may be of greatest service in the long run by not expanding," and Professor Douglas Bush of Harvard has warned that unless the nation's colleges shut their gates at the proper time, "the principle of education for all" can lead to "education for none."

Yet, says President Harold Dodds of Princeton, the private colleges and universities do have an obligation to the nation, and never before has that obligation needed more careful defining. "Will Princeton meet it best by insisting upon remaining small and stressing high quality in education? Will she meet it by expanding to accommodate a more sizable number of students and running the real risk of a deteriorating educational performance? If the latter is nevertheless the proper course, how can she obtain the sizable amount of money which will be required? If the former is the proper course, how can we justify the exclusion of many qualified students who may seek the kind of educational experience we offer?"

For hundreds of campuses, the main task of the next few years will be to find the answers to those questions.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.