Out of the Draft

So far, General Hershey has been interested merely in your age, your glands, and how well you look in khaki. When the latest deferment brainchild is confirmed, he will be interested in your next hour exam as well. To get college men for the army, the General plans to hack away at each class from the bottom up.

The program works roughly like this: the top half of the freshman class enters its sophomore year unscathed. Two-thirds of the depleted sophomore class become juniors, and three-fourths of the residue get a degree. In this way, the educators figure, the army will get its men, and the nation's future scientists and diplomats will get a full college education. Only the top 125 of a 1,000-man Harvard class would be draft-exempt for graduate school.

There are those who spot faults in this program of diminishing returns. Emphasis on "dinner table education" and tutorial work would decline as grades became all-important. With draft boards sifting greedily through the D's and E's, the universities would sponsor rat races for grades. And the plan would recognize no difference between an educational playground and a college like this one.

More important is the discrimination in favor of those wealthy enough and smart enough to go to college. Under the latest plan, a student could stall off his draft board for years.

The army might find that it can get the trained men it needs through a required federal program similar to the National Guard. Or the army might take all men for a few month's service, a form of universal military training, instead of some for the two year period in the proposed plan.

Sponsors of the plan recognize its drawbacks. They should realize its faults make the program unfair to the universities and most men of draft age.