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N.Z.U.S.A. Congress 1959. Curious Cove - New Zealand University Student Press Council

University Education in the United States of America

University Education in the United States of America

"In New Zealand, as in the United States," said Professor B. Lamar Johnson from the University of California at Los Angeles, "the values of a democracy place the emphasis on the importance of the individual. Education in a democracy aims to make it possible for every individual to be educated to his highest potential."

This was a constantly stressed point in Professor Johnson's address, which dealt more particularly with trends which could be expected in the United States in the next 25 years, with particular regard to trends in higher education. Trends in the United States may be somewhat similar to trends in New Zealand, said the Professor.

The present-day system of higher education in America was outlined. There is a six year elementary school, then a six year secondary school (Junior and Senior High), and then College, which is a four year course. In addition, there are the Junior Colleges, which cater for the first two years past the High School standard. The curricula of these colleges are based on the needs of a particular region—for example, citri-culture might be taught in a Californian college.

The Professor then went on to enumerate the trends which would probably occur in the United States in the next 25 years. The population would expand substantially, probably from the present 170,000,000 to about 225,000,000 by 1984. Increased birth-rate and longevity were vital factors. New sources of energy and power would be explored. Some scientists have gone so far as to suggest that eventually power may be so plentiful "that it would not be worthwhile to meter it".

Automation will be developed further, and its use sharply increased, so that it will take over many functions now performed by men. Professor Johnson quoted from "America's Next Twenty Years", by Peter Drucker, emphasising that its impact would not be on employment but on the qualifications and functions of employees. More highly skilled jobs will be available and many of a managerial type. Men will have to be educated to fill these jobs.

As a result of automation and increased sources of power, national and individual income and production will rise. Leisure time would increase, because the working week would be shortened, perhaps to 30 hours, by 1980. A serious problem will revolve around how to use this leisure time profitably.

Relationships between man and man would become more important as they became more difficult, said the Professor. Little in these trends suggests a lessening of tension in the home or in the nation, or between nations. Education is one means of working on these problems.

One of the most important trends in higher education is the sharply increasing number of enrolments for colleges and universities. In 1900, only 4% of the people in the 18-21 age group went to college. Now it is 32%. By 1984, the college enrolments may very well have trebled. The Junior College would bear an increasing proportion of the teaching burden involved in the greater numbers. Students may take a two-year "terminal course," or go on from Junior College to universities.

Many more adults will go to college and university to study. Just as the increased complexity of jobs makes for more specialised training, so the increasing complexity of life and human relations means more study in the humanities. This is of great importance in aiding people to use their leisure time profitably.

In the future, more students will attend tax-supported universities. Until recent years, about 50% of the student population attended privately supported colleges. In 1958, the proportion was 56%. The private colleges are not so ready to expand, to plan for the increasing number of students, mainly because they cannot afford to.

Ideas on the process of college teaching are in "a certain ferment", said Professor Johnson. The research done by psychologists, especially in the field of group psychology, "will lead to plans for a more active student participation in studentship than is now found in the majority of college classes". New methods of communication, such as T.V., must also affect teaching methods.

"Nevertheless, the importance of personalised education is also seen. T.V., films, and so on must be used in a way which will yet maintain personalised education and active participation."

Research in all fields will be encouraged. The great accretion of knowledge in some fields, for example, medicine, might well lead to increasingly long courses.

Along with these things goes an increasing determination to serve the higher student in all fields, intellectual and artistic. These people must be educated to their highest potential. There would be a renewed emphasis in the curriculum for all students on the importance of human relationships—"our dominant problem".

These trends are continuations of developments already identified—increases in population, wealth, comforts and leisure, the Professor said in summing up. The problems of adaption to changes, and fuller understanding of the complexities of human relationships will confront everyone, since these trends will have "a rate of acceleration which may at times be cataclysmic in effect on both society and on its agencies of higher learning".

By Mr. B. Lamar Johnson—Professor of Higher Education at University of California, Los Angeles.