Retooling the Colleges

The role of the college in building an American fighting force is at last clear. Army announcement of the deferment of a pool of prospective officers until the completion of their education makes every college an American training camp, for it recognizes that only the colleges can provide the highly trained manpower necessary to lead the modern army. American education must arm itself to face this challenge. Preparation for a democratic offensive must take its place in the curriculum.

President Conant's speech yesterday outlined the problem facing the colleges. Always the essence of democracy, equality of educational opportunity is an absolute prerequisite when the colleges become the source of our military leaders. Unless all men are granted the opportunity for college training which financial restrictions have kept from so many, modern education and the modern army become class structures, and America suffers as a fighting power. When less than twenty per cent of an available 1,200,000 men are able to attend the nation's colleges, the army loses a force of at least 160,000 officers. President Conant's recommendation that Congress appropriate funds for military scholarships for all officer material is the only logical remedy. It is the organization of manpower that will help win the war.

But if federal subsidy is immediately and vitally necessary for the war, its implications for the peacetime future of education cannot be ignored. Continued government participation in education will be necessary if any large scale higher education is to continue in the postwar world, for the already apparent redistribution of wealth will cut heavily into the college's income. any plan adopted will necessarily be carried over, in part, into the post-armistice world, and only careful planning now can ensure a sound educational future. Formal standards for admission and the granting of degrees may be lowered but they must not be thrown to the winds. Government directives for specialized education may be adopted, but they cannot be permitted to dictate educational policy.

From the private college, the nation expanded to include the state university in its trend toward the ultimate goal of universal higher education. With the war, American colleges are entering upon a third stage which may finally guarantee equal opportunity for all. Government subsidy of higher learning is essential to victory, and thoughtful planning can make such subsidy a potent weapon in a democratic post-war world.