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VOL. LXXV, No. 1 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1964 SECTION 2
GROWING PAINS
ducation an Research
By H. NEIL BERKSON
Editor
IF YOU WERE to sit down and
list every department you could
think of from air science to zoo-
logy, you would have indexed
merely one of the University's 17
schools and colleges. The literary
college (which, besides air science
and zoology, has 30 other depart-
ments and numerous special pro-
grams) is the biggest. But many of
the University's nearly 30,000 stu-
dents never get near it.
They may not even be in Ann
Arbor, for the University offers
degree programs in both Flint and
Dearborn. They may spend all
their time on North Campus doing
advanced research in one of the
University's engineering complexes
or studying music in the brand-
new music school building. They
may study law or medicine,_edu-
cation or business administration,
architecture and design or public
health.
Ifathese are unsatisfactory, the
University also has schools of dent-
istry, natural resources, pharmacy,
nursing and social work. Not
enough? Try the Horace H. Rack-
ham School of G'raduate Studies.
When University of Cali-
fornia President Clark Kerr spoke
of the "multiversity" he wasn't
just playing with language. The
University, which once could be
symbolized by a picture of Angell
Hall, is spreading in every direc-
tion, and nothing underscores this
growth as much as the 17 schools
and colleges with their divergent
educational pursuits.
Population statistics leave no'
doubt that the University will
continue to grow. Preliminary pre-
dictions have 36,000 students here
by 1968, 47,000 students by 1975.
The numbers game is compounded
by the fact that the so-called
boundaries of knowledge are ex-
panding at a phenomenal rate. As
a result, the University is coping
with a difficult period: it must
learn to teach many more things
to many more people-
AMID THIS challenge, the Uni-
versity f acs a prime academic
question: can the "new education"
be framed within the values of the
traditional liberal education? Ac-
cording to these values, the edu-
cited man is first of all one with
breadth, with knowledge of many
fields. Through this broad perspec-
tive he can serve society.
"Religion, morality and knowl-
edge being necessary to good gov-
ernment and the happiness of man-
kind, schools and the means of
education shall be forever encour-
aged," says the University's motto.
But the demands of specialization
are often such that the motto has
little application to the realities of
a university education. If he is not
careful the student in one ficld
will discover he cannot communi-
cate with his fellow scholar in an-
other area.
C. P. Snow has called this di-
lemma "the two cultures.V It has
three manifestations at the Univer-
sity:
-hci e is an increasing gap be-
tween the science-engineering fields
and the humanities-social science
fields. Modern scientists must pu t
so much time into their own fields.
that it is relatively simple for them
to ignore philosophy, history or
government. On the other hand,
modern sciences are so complex
that it is increasingly difficult for
the non-specialist to comprehend
them.
-Research is being emphasired
at the expense of teaching. The
material rewards of research-pro-
motion, publication and reputa-
tion-are greater, and some pro-
fessors even find the academic re-
wards of research greater than
those of teaching. Of course, em-
phasis on research means a corre-
sponding enphasis on specializa-
tion as opposed to general educa-
tion.
Graduate education is being
emphasized at the expense of un-
dergraduate education. This is a
natural result of specialization. In
practical terms it means that a
student's first two years here may
be especially disappointing. An
anomalous situation exists whereby
the freshman - sophomore curricu-
lum has not kept pace with either
the upperclass curriculum or the
growing sophistication of the high
schools.
T H E S E PROBLEMS are n .t
unique to this university, nor
do they make it a bad place to live.
The situations are themselves mani-
festations of a creative institution,
an institution which is groping for
a solution. The residential college,
for instance, could go a long way
toward .eliminating some of the
specialization barriers.
The University is in an exciting
period of flux. It seeks new means
of expansion, new methods of in-a
struction, new ways to impart its
basic valoes. The entering student
must realive he is both the object
of and a full .partner in this
process.
FM