Rickover Suggests Changes in American & chools (EDITOR'S NOTE: Vice Adm. H. G. Rickover, one of the most outspoken men of the times and also one of the most articulate, is unhappy about the state of American education. Here he bluntly states what he thinks is wrong with education and educators, and what he thinks ought to be done.) By VICE ADM. H. G. RICKOVER Copyright 1963, by the Associated Press American education just isn't good enough. That statement is true whether we look at it:from the point of view of the kind of educated youth we need in our complex society, or from the point of view of our competitive position in education vis-a-vis other advanced nations. Every American wants the best for our children. In education, the best we can give them is the chance to stretch their minds and reach the highest goal their intellect can encompass. They do not get this chance in "progressive" schools and permissive homes. Special Excellence "Democracy," wrote the late Dorothy Thompson, "is not to be conceived of as an invitation to share a common mediocrity, but a system that allows each to express and live up to the special ex- cellence that is in him." "Professionalism" educators often accuse me of wanting to foist a foreign school system on our children. Some are going about the country claiming I intend to "militarize" education. Evidently, none has ever read what I have been saying. Any sensible person, recognizing the need for improvement, would look into the ways other democratic nations go about edu- cating their children. The time is past when we were in the uniquely favorable cir- cumstance of being able to get along with schools that were markedly inferior to those of countries with which we were com- peting economically or politically or both. We can no longer afford to waste time and money on an inadequate school system. We do not have the immense wealth in land and resources that in the past offset our educational deficiencies. Of course, we are still a rich country: our resources still exceed those of Europe and perhaps even of Russia. But we should recall this observation by Woodrow Wilson half a century ago: New Life "The stage of America grows crowded like the stage of Europe. The life of the new world grows as complex as the life of the old." What, then, is to be done to improve American education? Well, local communities and state governments have the power to increase the amount of classroom instruction per school year. We have the shortest school day and school year among leading nations. They could eliminate from the curricula everything that can be learned elsewhere. We are the only advanced country where precious school hours are wasted teaching children how to make fudge, twirl batons, drive cars, budget income, handle the tele- phone, catch fish, and similar trivia that any reasonably normal person picks up on his own or learns at home. Teacher Qualifications Most important of all, they could improve teacher qualifica- tions, bringing them up to the level existing abroad, and they could then put the educational enterprise under the supervision of our best teachers, giving them the necessary clerical and adminis- trative assistance. We are the only country where teachers are bossed by educa- tional administrators who often as not can lay no claim to scholar- ship, superior intelligence or higher education, and who may not even have had experience in classroom teaching. All this is important, but I am convinced we cannot put through a really effective reform program unless we set up a national scholastic standard. This would be a permissive standard, of course, but neverthe- less potentially a great influence for good. We are the only ad- vanced national without a national scholastic standard. Now the word "standard" has many connotations. I use it in the sense that comes first to mind: a specific requirement or level of excellence deemed worthy of esteem or reward. I do not use it in the sense of a law, enforceable in the courts: falling below standard would not put one in jail. Nor do I use it in the sense of a conventional rule imposed by society: failure to meet the standard would not get one socially ostracized. Determine Value No one HAS to live up to the standard I propose. It is simply an optional criterion for determining the value of an act or ac- complishment. Everyone benefits when there is a standard. At one stroke it does away with misleading educational labels so that any layman has the means to judge whether a school or college is doing its job properly. By offering a reward of a certified diploma to our children, many who now drift through school would be encouraged to aspire to higher academic goals. See RICKOVER, Page 8 BOARD LIMITS DAILY'S FREEDOM See Editorial Page Y 5k~ia1 A6F ,43 a t I'# WINDY, CLOUDY High-42 Low-28 Partly cloudy and colder tonight Seventy-Two Years of Editorial Freedom VOL. LXXIII, No. 127 I r va+" a+aaaaaaa} t v aq/" ANN ARBORKICIIHIGrAN, SUNDIAY.MARC1H 17. 1963 .QVVVV rvvvc 1mve4vvnm r a ew rr e+r ._ s ..- ., . , .,... .s., ~a~a~va a ,a.Q u "u V''r "'VEN'' a EJIHT PAGES 9 King Denies Threat Of Neighboring War Hussein Predicts Jordan To Join Projected Arab States Federation AMMAN, Jordan (A')-King Abdullah Hussein of Jordan said yesterday he sees no menace to his throne in the revolutions in neighboring Syria and Iraq.1 He said, "I think they do not menace the stability of Jordan in any way. The Jordan family knows what its objectives are . . . we are trying to improve things." Asked if Jordan would consider joining the projected federation of Arab states on a "proper ;basis," Hussein replied, "Certainly. We tare sure this will be the ultimate AHC Seeks To Clarify Right to Act By MARY LOU BUTCHER Romney Wants Delay on Delta; Starts State-Wide Needs 'U' Completes Transaction The University has completed preliminary arrangements with Sylvania Electric Products Inc. to acquire by donation and pur- chase the former Argus Camera property in Ann Arbor. The announcement, made yes- terday, states that Sylvania will donate to the University a two- thirds acre parking lot located be- tween Murray Ave. and Third St. and also that the University will purchase for $265,000 three build- ings, a residence, and a smaller parking lot, all fronting S. Fou.th St. The three have 173,000' square feet of space on a site of three and one-half acres. Vice-President for Business and Finance Wilbur K. Plerpont said1 the agreement reached with Syl-1 vania will permit the University to plan for the removal from the central campus area of many ac- tivities not directly related to the teaching of students. Vice-President Pierpont later pointed out that due to the as yet tentative nature of the agreement the "activities" slated for removal have not yet been named. Vice-President Pierport said the shift of the activities to the new location would free space on thet central camas needed to provide room for the enrollment increases anticipated ir the next few years. Only one of the three buildings will become available immediatelyl for University use, Vice-President Pierpont said. The transfer is subject to leasef arrangements currently in effecti with Conductron Corporation and with Argus' Inc. for two of thes buildings.s end. I hope it will be achieved in the future. We always have want- ed unity on a sound basis. I hope it can be achieved with a mini- mum of delay and a minimum of mistakes. No Obstacle "I will never stand as an ob- stacle to Arab unity," he added. He was asked if this meant he would step down if necessary. He replied, "Yes, if-necessary and pro- vided it would be Arab unity on a proper basis . . . the fact that I am head of this state will never be an obstacle." Meanwhile in Cairo, three-power talks among Syria, Iraq and the United Arab Republic unexpectedly broke up last night and will re- sume "in a few days" to achieve the unity which Arab people "in- sist upon," a joint communique said. Adjourn The communique said the Syrian and Iraqi delegations would return to Damascus and Baghdad, and then return here to resume talks at an unannounced date. Sessions over the past three days "ended with clear and complete identity of view,' the communique said without specifying agree- ments reached. The King said other Arab states are now coming to realize that his, warning in years past on the dan- gers of Communism were right- "our friends in the Arab world who criticized us at the time have come to our way of thinking." Hussein said, "The Arab nation is passing through a phase where we are making mistakes and try-; ing to profit from lessons we have learned. It is a healthy period."i The monarch said he saw no reason for Jordan to be excludedi from the Arab federation because1 it was a monarchy.c "If our aims are the same, thenc sooner or later we shall meet," he t said. c Assembly House Council repre- sentatives and members of Presi- dent's Council were present at a special meeting yesterday called by Assembly Association President Mary Beth Norton, '64, to discuss its statement of authority. The statement of authority, which defined new powers for Assembly, was drawn up by mem- bers of the Executive Board and was submitted to the Officeof Student Affairs for approval in February. Unfavorable reaction caused Miss Norton and Execu- tive Vice-President Lois Fisher, '64, to request that the OSA delay in considering the statement of authority. At the meeting yesterday, the president of Martha Cook hall proposed, as a substitute for the statement of authority, an addi- tion to Assembly's constitution which specified its jurisdiction. The jurisdiction, according to the proposal, would include the establishment of communication channels between Assembly and the individual residence halls, and the making of policy recommen- dations concerning the women in the residence halls to the OSA. The proposed addition also call- ed for "the determining of policy in those areas designated by the Vice-President of Student Affairs as lying in the area of jurisdiction of the resident hall governments and which the individual house governments have agreed, through a two-thirds approval of the in- dividual houses, should be dele- gated to Assembly rather than being retained by themselves." A motion calling for support of the proposed constitutional change was defeated. A substitute motion stating that the power should pass from Assembly down to the indi- vidual houses, not subject to house approval, was passed 13-8. The motion, however, is not bindinghon AHC representatives and will have to be taken up at one of its reg- ular meetings. A motion was also passed rec- ommending that members of AHC should set up a committee to re- define the powers which AssemblyE is seeking and present them in the form of constitutional amend-x ments. It also recommended thatt Assembly request that the grantI of authority which it is requestingN of the Residence Hall Board of1 Governors be incorporated into its v constitution. s Harden Sees 'Near Anarchys Among Michigan's Colleges Attempts to achieve voluntary co-ordination among Michigan's colleges and universities have failed, leaving the state's higher edu- cation system in "a state of near anarchy," Northern Michigan University President Edgar L. Harden charged Friday. Harden suggested "with great reluctance" that an "over-all plan- ning board for higher education" will have to do the job. His assertions were strongly denied yesterday by Regent Eugene B. Power of Ann Arbor, a prime, EUGENE B. POWER S... supports co-ordination AMENDMENT: State's YRs Stage Battle On Unit Rule Special To The Daily abvocate of voluntary--rather than " compulsory-co-operation between the state's institutions.. Lauds Purpose Power is chairman of the Mich- igan Co-Ordinating Council for Public Higher Education, whose purpose is to avoid destructive inter-university conflict by volun- tary agreements between t h e schools involved. He said that such a concept "is not dead at all," and predicted that compulsory co-ordination by a "super-board" would lower the quality of the state's institutions. "The arena of competition would simply ibe transferred from the Legislature to the super- board," Power added. Inadequate Appropriation He claimed that competition between Michigan's schools has been caused by inadequate legis- lative appropriations. "It has forced the institutions into a competitive position, against their natural inclinations, in order to survive," Power remarked. Power's Co-Ordinating Council, which failed Thursday to reach a consensus on the University- branch plan for Delta College, "was not ready to take on a prob- lem of this sort, as it had not established procedures to handle it," Power admitted. "This failure does not mean that we should give up, nor that the process of discussion on this issue has not, in some ways, been helpful."1 But he pointed out that "volun-1 tary co-operation in Michigan is a new effort and we are feelingt our way and learning to work with each other. It is a develop- ing process and learning is always attended by success and failures." n the rights of the individual and s contrary to convention practices >f the senior GOP. Conservative Carl Lady of Michigan State Uni- versity argued that the system is an effective control on delegation- stacking at convention time. Arthur Elliott, chairman of the GOP State Central Committee, was scheduled to address a morn- ing session of the board but was unable to appear. Board members also approved Lim elighters To Tape,, Concert' The Limelighters will appear in Ann Arbor on Wednesday to tape a concert as part of a new televi- sion series called "Hootnanny." They will be here under the auspices of the Michigan Union Creative Arts Festival. Appearing with the Limelight- ers in the concert will be Elan Stuart, Josh White, the New Lost City Ramblers, Bonnie Dobson, Bud and Travis and Bob Gibson. There may be some local groups included in the concert also. All the tickets for the main per- formance which will begin at 7:45 p.m. in the Union Ballroom have w wm ~