N ARRESTING picture which appeared in one of A the popular magazines recently (Saturday Evening Post,December 4, page 16) strongly suggests some
of our educational problems, present and future. A vocational-school class, of four men and seven women between youth and middle age, is gathered around a blackboard. The instructor, a mere slip of a girl, is in the center, explaining a somewhat complicated diagram of a "Half-Wave Rectifier . .with Filter System." Judging by the complacent and unworried expressions, her explanation is either going extraordinarily well or is making no impression whatever. The aroma of comfort and satisfaction pervades the group. The principal figure, next to the instructor, smiles benignly at the blackboard: "Well, what do you know about that!" The youngest girl, with pencil poised,' seems to be wondering why those lines are so wiggly. The caption informs us: "From the class above will come radio instructors for the Army." God forbid. Of course, allowances must be made for the presence of the photographer. Perhaps, in his absence, the class really does know the how's and why's of a halfwave rectifier-but 1 doubt it. Maybe these people can be taught the theory of the vacuum tube and the function of inductance and capacitance in an electric circuit. But anyone who has taught this kind of a class knows that a 2 per cent over-all teaching efficiency is a good record. If one Army radio instructor is to come out of this group the safest bet appears to be the young man whose back is to the reader and whose expression cannot be seen. All this is not meant to discourage us from trying to do an educational job which is difficult, if not impossible. We must, of course, make the best use of available facilities. War conditions make it necessary to train whomsoever may be available to do the jobs that must be done. If the training is imperfect, because of the limitations of the trainer or trainees, we must nevertheless make the best of it-as we are doing in all fields of war production. The Civil Service, for example, is certifying as a "chemist" almost anyonewith a year or two of college training in the science, simply because nothing better can be found. The Vocational Training forces of the public schools, under Federal supervision, have been rendering an excellent service in training millions of workers to do particular jobs; so bas the ESMWT organization at the
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somewhat higher, collegiate level. Methods used have sometimes been unorthodox, but results indicate that they are fulfilling their purpose. Now we are wondering how much of this can be carried over into the postwar period. Judged by normal standards we may have been trying to teach too many people too much. Offer any amount of training in skills to anyone who can absorb it, certainly. But let us not imply that a professional education can be had by any of the convenient short cuts. Much has been made of the difference between training and education. The distinction is clear, and the future will see it made more and more clearly. Every one of our professions is rapidly becoming more complicated, and it is increasingly diicult for anyone to become a "general practitioner." Eventually, there will be few men whose ability, training, and experience will qualify them to occupy the top positions in a profession such as that of chemistry. But there will be many opportunities a t more specialized levels; below these will be still other levels a t which the training requirements will be more limited, down to the "technicians" or "aides," who, according to present standards are the sub-professionals. In the professional fields, as in the larger social world, we will see the organization of larger groups, working on common problems and for the common good, while recognizing the authority of ability and experience. In the distribution of labor, horizontal lines will be more important than vertical. The professional, as well as the social problem of the future is to learn to share responsibility laterally as well as above and below, in spite of one's natural desire for complete freedom and autonomy in his own circle. Ow educational system must fit people to enter such an organization a t whatever level their individual capacities permit. The present machinery of our graduate and undergraduate schools will doubtless adapt itself to this function at the higher levels, but we still lack adequate provision for sub-professional training, and it is hwe that an enormous expansion will probably occur. We are not yet fully awakened to the possibilities of semiprofessionally educated workers, who can be trained to do many of the jobs now performed by those capable of something more original or creative. It is here that some of the wartime educational machinery and methods may be very useful.
