Sunday, March 24, 1974

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Page Five

PERSPECTIVE

Inr

I~ me:.

In

VIEW FROM THE TOP
The role of higher education in
times of job-conscious students

By R. W. FLEMING
IT IS FASHIONABLE at t h e
moment to speculate about
whether students. h a v e turned
toward more vocationally oient-
ed courses, and if so wha: this
suggests for the future of higher
education.
A meaningful answer to that
question is hard to give without
recognizing at the outset both the
enormous diversity of instjtutions
of higher education and the fact
that much of the public support
for mass higher education has
always been generate l by the
conviction that it improved one's
opportunities in the employment
market. Most of the great state
universities on this country
(though not the University of
Michigan which was fo:nded in
1817) came into being as the re-;
sult of the famous Morrill Act
of 1862, signed by President Lin-
coln. The act specifically recites
that is it to further the training
of citizens in "agriculture and
the mechanic arts."
If one tries to step aside and
look at the University of Michi-
gan, certain things are evident
imediately. One is that -i number,
of our schools and colleges offer
specific professional tra ning,
and always have. In this cate-
gory would fall Architecture and
Design, Business Admiai;ration,
Dentistry, Education, Engineer-
ing Law Library Science Medi-
cine Music,b Nursing,ePharmacy
and Public Health. Even Natural
Resources would be thought of
as an area in which the student
receives specific training in cer-
tain areas. For all practicai pur-
poses that leaves the Catlege of
Literature Science and the Arts
as the main area in which ques-
tions seem to be raised about the
relevance between the degree
and the world of employment.
The exception is a large one, be-
cause in terms of students ap-
proximately half of the entire
student body is in the LS&A Col-
lege. One must also remember
that most of the students who
are enrolled for degrees in the
professional colleges either have
a prior degree in liberal arts, or
take a large share of their aca-
demic work in the first two years
of undergraduate study in that
college.
Some of the current trends
which we see within the Univer-
sity of Michigan are the follow-
ing:

HERE DO appear to be stu-
dents who once would have
pursued a Ph.D. with a view
toward a teaching career, but
who now see law or medicine, for
example, as a better career
choice. This doubtless accounts
for the very heavy demand on
law and medical schools all over,
the country, and for the current
interest in the State of Michigan
in providing additional rpportuni-
ties in those fields. It also repre-
sents a realistic judgment or. the

populace, might consider ably ex-
pand the need for teachers. Nev-
ertheless, at this moment in time
students correctly perceive that
the opportunities for teaching ca-
reers are curtailed..
A third develonment is that en-
rollment in Engineering schools,
which had been down for sev-
eral years, is now making a
gradual recovery. This too is di-
rectly related to the state af the
employment market. Termina-
tion of the space program fo us-

relatively normal trends. One
therefore comes back to the un-
easiness which liberal arts grad-
uates feel as they begin to think
about job opportunities. Much of
that uneasiness, which most cf
us at the University who have
obtained liberal arts degrees
have felt at some point in thei
lives, is caused by an imprezise
view of the nature of the world
of work. It is true, as we have
already noted, that there are
many positions which require
professional training. But it ii
also true that there are far mora
positions which do not require
specific skill training, but which
demand a general education. This
is very often because the de-
mands of a particular position do
not include specific skills, or
that if they do such skills are
best learned on the job.
It is fair to conclude that there
is an increased awareness on the
part of students of the relation-
ship between their education and
the job market. At the University
of Michigan this does not se-mn
to me to portend any long-term
trends, as distipguished f r o m
short-term adjustments, except
in the graduate area. For rea-
sons which I have already indi-
cated, students who would have
beeh candidates for teaching ca-
reers in higher education a r e
clearly not going to have the
same opportunities as did the
previous ,generation. Their sights
wil have to be adjusted toward
new horizons, and our faculties
will need tochange some of the
thrust of their programs.
BECAUSE WE are currently so
conscious of the job market,

III
x ,

NqjhJ1I 1 Vc I

"Students who w o u Id have been

candidates

for teaching careers in

higher education are clearly not go-
ing to have the same opportunities
as did the previous generation."
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we ought not to be blinded into
thinking that the only purpose of
an education is to prepare for
employment. The kind of stu-
dents who come to Michigan are
bright, intellectually curious, and
in search of broader horizons.
The demands of their employ-
ment will never occupy mocxi
than a portion of their lives. The
quality of their lives, and t h e
degree of self-fulfillument wlich
they feel will bear a direct re-
lationship to their education be-
cause it will open whole new
worlds that are limitless in their
attractiveness.
R.W. Fkeming, who wrote this
Iiece at the request of the Mag-
azine, is President of the Univer-
sity.

J, O IAA M EIN I'SG L IPe F CL U

at HILL AUDITORIUM
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l



part of students of the situation
in teaching. Population statistics
alone make it apparent that there
will no be the same exparsion .n
higher education in the next de-
cade which took place in the past
two decades. In the absence of
that pressure there will not be
the same number o f teaching op-
portunities, and a higher propor-
tion of graduate stude-ats w i 1
have to find outlets for their tal-
ents in other areas. That m; why
it is important that we reconsider
our graduate program-. There
are, in my view, opp, rtunities,
but not in the same areas which
have absorbed so many people
during the past quarter of a cen-
tury. But that is anortier story,
beyond the purview of the cur-
rent inquiry.
A second trend is -ha fewer
undergraduate students are look-
ing toward K-12 teaching careers
than would formerly have been
the case. This too is a reflec-
tion of the state of the market.
There are nevertheless real dif-
ficulties in making judgments
about the number of teachers
who will be needed. The answer
is highly dependent upon whethtr
we are willing to fund and staff
child care centers, spe.:i?l learn-
ing opportunities, and maintain
appropriate student-staff ratios.
A sudden change in attitude upon
the part of the state and federal
governments, as well as the local

sed public attention on what
seemed to be a surplus of en-
gineers. After a short interim.,
however, the energy crisis and
environmental problems began to
generate new demands for en-
gineers.
MOST OF THE other proies-
sional schools seem to have


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