EDITORIAL
A pox on everybody's house? Until the several components of the system consider each other's problems we may remain out of stride
T
he present administration in Britain seems not to be making out well with its efforts to apply the results of scientific research more purposefully to its national efforts. That message is presented strongly in the New Scientist, Sept. 26. Prime Minister Wilson's 1963 prediction of a white-hot revolution is the subject of derision in some of the articles in that issue. One author, Clive Jenkins of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs, says that science is the camp-follower of politics and that the changes in power structure and education in Britain have not happened as predicted. Remarkable development in the United States is held up as an example of what the British should aspire to but are not moving toward. What has happened in the U.S. in the past quarter century has indeed been remarkable. However, as rapid and powerful movement along a given path can allow development of problems that can be ignored for a while but not for long, we can now see a set of such problems that need attention in the U.S. Without effective attention, they could make our strong development begin to wilt. These problems include academic-industrial relations, student discontent with the system, and reduced public support of science. Careful attention to these problems might bring forth ideas and points of view that will get the whole activity back onto a highly productive track. But if the various elements involved don't look at the problems from the viewpoints of the others concerned, things may get sticky enough to slow down further. How badly has the academic scientist's case been weakened by a public impression that scientists feel their research ought to be supported without accountability? Will industry, perhaps miffed over having been jilted by the universities when federal money flowed so freely, fail to respond to the needs of the universities that are,
or ought to be, training the scientists and technologists it needs? If the college generation is not convinced that the training it can get in chemistry and the other physical sciences will open the way to work that relates to the most important problems of our society, then science and technology may be in for a slow time. Previous generations of students in American universities have, for the most part, been a bunch of tame cats as compared with their fellows in other parts of the world. But the European situation was even more violent a few centuries ago than now, according to Lord Bowden, principal of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. In the early days of the University of Bologna, for example, the students not only dominated the university, they dominated the city as well. And when the professors finally gained control of the situation, according to Lord Bowden, the avarice of the professors and the restrictive practices they were able to introduce nearly ruined the university. Students in many American universities today are discontented with the system and, until they see some convincing changes, they are not likely to calm down. The universities and U.S. business and industry need to take a more sympathetic and cooperative view of each other's problems, and also give thoughtful hearing to the intellectually discontented ( as distinguished from the simply politically ambitious) student group to see what might be constructive in their ideas. Until this is done, there is doubt as to whether our system can regain its full stride, despite the fact that we are now managing a flourishing economy.
flZt&xAj £ rfuty**-OCT. 28, 1968 C&EN
