For the Next Quarter of a Century The next twenty-five years is a part of what may he the most excit.ing, challenging, but most, crucial century that this civilization has ever faced. Evidence for the predicted critical nature of the century is the accumulation and pressure of a number of problems-many of them scientific and technological-that must. be solved if the viahi1it.y of eiviliaation is to continue. Solutions to these problems must he found within this next century and very likely within the first twenty-five years of that century. Someone has said that man has thirty years to decide whether he wants to continue to live on this planet! But also this next twenty-five years can be an exciting and challenging part of the next century, for during that time we have the wodd for our classroom and the universe is our lehoratory! I n this century we will have analyzed the soil of a. satellite and perhaps of another planet; studied the close-up pictures of the surface of several af the planets; obtained maps of the locations of the genes of the chromosomes; and developed a reasonable model of t,hat world within the tiny world of the atom known as the nucleus of the atom. We in science education must "gear up" to meet the challenge of such a century. As we gaze into our crystal ball, assess OUF resources and opportunities, and prepare to meet the opportunities that are before us, I am recommending to you that we give serious attention to the following six major programs: Prepare to develop a science of humanity. Search to learn how to teach the full cycle of learning and education-a cycle that makes continuing education a way of life. Re-evaluate and search to capsulate what is important to learn and to teach. Launch a search to develop a fresh approach to "teaching the teachers!' Bend every effort to develop strong group effort and stimulation toward professional m a t u r e tion. Plan to meet the challenge of: education toward the world we want. If you raise the question, "Upon what does the viability of civilization dependl" you quickly get the answer that you undermine the viability of civilization if you undermine man's urge to (1) search to interpret the universe, (2) search to find out how he can live most effectively in that universe, and (3) search to communicate that information to his fellow men. If we undermine those by allowing these mejor problems that are on the horizon today to erode man's physical conditions such that he loses interest in these searches, then we can expect the viability of civilization to be doomed. If we are to meet this challenge in the next quarter of a century we must develop the science of humanity-and to do so we need the finest effort of the entire intellectual community.
. ..Taken in part from an address by Professor A. B. Garrett, Vice President for Research, The Ohio State University, and currently President of the National Science Teachers Associstion, a t the annual convention of NSTAin Dallas, March 21, 1969.
576 / Journal o f Chemical Education
