Scientific Deferments

Recent reports say that draft calls in 1953 more than decimated the ranks of the nation's graduate science students, another example of the essential short-sightedness of Selective Service policy makers. Many of those drafted were in the physical sciences, and within a year or so of receiving their Ph.D. degrees. Had they been allowed to finish their studies, they would have been able to stop into high-level positions in industry or government.

They were drafted for the most part because local boards thought it unjust that Johnny Jones down the next-door neighbor was entering his third year of draft-exempt graduate study. And the drafting will continue until Selective Service leaders outline a uniform, nationwide policy on exemptions. Local boards will argue that the immediate injustice done to Johnny Jones and his family outweighs the long-range national benefits of highly trained scientists. England, mindful of the critical need for advanced scientific talent, gives its graduate students blanket deferments.

Not only is a more uniform deferment policy needed, but also a more realistic definition of what a graduate student is. Many Selective Service boards say they will defer full time students who are doing well, but not part-time students who do not fulfill their definition of a "legitimate" curriculum. These boards do not realize that the average graduate science student beyond the first year cannot afford to study full time; to pay his way, he usually devotes half his time to teaching or research. If draft boards insisted that these men do nothing but study, few could go to school at all.

It has been traditional in this country to give great freedom of decision to the local boards. Now that the threat of immediate war has apparently eased, draft calls are being reduced proportionately. But these reductions will almost certainly come in the number of very young men who are called; the calls for men in their early twenties will still be as great. And unless a uniform national policy of exemptions is adopted, raids by local boards on the nation's stockpile of scientific talent will cause as much damage in 1954 as they did in 1953.