EDUCATION
ICA Helps Africa Ease Its Teacher Shortage International Cooperation Administration plans $10 million in educational aid for Tropical Africa An acute shortage of teachers in Somalia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Liberia is slated for special attention from the International Cooperation Administration this year. ICA's education office expects to spend S10 million on the problem under a Special Program for Tropical Africa. Some physical facilities will be furnished die African countries, but ICA's primary goal is to help these countries help themselves by showing them how to train teachers among their own people. Although the African program is a big one, it hardly outweighs the education aid given to other regions during the 13-year life of ICA and its predecessor agencies. ICA is an outgrowth of World War II's Marshall Plan, the Point Four Plan, and other programs. It now operates as an autonomous unit within the State Department. The agency's educational activities have accounted for something like S30 million a year over the last five years or about 20% of ICA's
total budget for technical assistance. ICA's education office in Washington, D.C., is headed by Dr. Ralph W. Ruffner, has divisions specializing in Latin America, Africa, the Near East and South Asia, and the Far East. This office backstops the operations of ICA's 40 chief education advisers, stationed in as many countries. Projects start when a country requests specific aid from the ICA mission in the country. ICA reviews the request and, if it is approved, an agreement is made to provide the necessary help. The cooperating gountry assumes part of the financial responsibility for the program, such as furnishing buildings, personnel, or capital. ICA's programs are financed through Mutual Security appropriations. Its Technical Assistance Program involves four main areas—education, agriculture, industry, and health—although other fields also receive attention, depending on the needs of the country. Africa Needs Teachers.
ICA's edu-
cation chief for Africa says requests for education aid, particularly for teachers, have been received from four countries. Ethiopia has asked for aid in building a teachers' training center, an auditorium, and a library unit at Haile Selassie University, which includes schools of medicine, law, science, agriculture, and liberal arts. The proposed project would cost about $16 million; of this, ICA would put up $2.5 million. The balance would be furnished by other countries and by educational foundations. ICA plans to help Somalia build schools where teachers can be trained for work in rural areas in a $3 million project, shared by ICA and Somalia. Liberia also has asked ICA for aid that would cost about $3 million. Its needs include a teachers' training program for Booker T. Washington Institute and a plan for reorganizing Liberia's Ministry of Education. ICA has already approved Liberia's teacher training program in part. And Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and Prairie View A&M College in Texas have sent advisers and instructors to Liberia to set up the program. Nigeria has three institutions of higher education, and teacher training programs are under way at these schools with ICA assistance. These projects will cost $3.5 million. Advisers and professors from Ohio University, Michigan State University, and Western Michigan University are working in Nigeria in the sciences, industrial training, and languages. Nigeria has also requested ICA's aid in establishing a fourth new university near Lagos. However, ICA is studying this project thoroughly. It doubts that Nigerians are making full use of their three existing universities at the present time.
Developing ICA HELPS TRAIN ENGINEERING TEACHERS FOR INDIA. Professor Howard Mason of Georgia Institute of Technology instructs students at the Bengal Engineering College, Howrah, India, on the working of a model air cooler. Glass cutout section allows them to watch its operation 56
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Human
Resources.
ICA's stress on self-help in underdeveloped countries, as used in the African program, stems from an ICA education conference held last November in Washington, D.C. The conference
SEATO GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING. This school in Bangkok, Thailand, is supported jointly by the SEATO nations. The U.S., through ICA, furnishes engineering equipment and U.S. instructors under a contract with the Colorado State University. Here, Dr. Elihu Geer of the University of Detroit lectures to a class in structural engineering theory
brought together all of ICA's chief education advisers to review recent trends in American education and to initiate broad policies to guide ICA's educational activities in the future. According to Dr. Ruffner, the conference seemed to agree generally that the human resources of an underdeveloped country should be emphasized rather than its material resources. Although this may be an obvious course, he points out, ICA stems from the Marshall Plan which dealt with material needs, and the idea of stressing human resources has not yet been fully developed. Although physical facilities will still be supplied through ICA, Dr. Ruffner says, personnel (advisers and instructors) will be used to a greater extent in future programs. Another point stressed at the conference, Dr. Ruffner says, is that the American educational system has something unique to offer underdeveloped countries. The point here, Dr. Ruffner adds, is that the resources of U.S. universities can be used more effectively in helping new nations expand and reorganize their educational systems. This does not mean transplanting the tradition or form of American schools abroad but it intends to use their solid educational systems to help others. ICA expects to issue a report from its education conference in the near future.
ICA and Universities Cooperate. ICA implements its ideas for using U.S. educational know-how abroad through contracts for the services of
university staff members. It then sends these people abroad to serve as advisers on educational redirection and expansion. For example, India called ICA's attention to its shortage of engineering teachers several years ago. India had 80 technical schools, but all of them were understaffed. ICA's education adviser in India, working with the Indian government, developed a program that would provide more teachers. The students pledge their teaching service in personal bonds made with the Indian government. In the program, three U.S. universities—Michigan State, Illinois, and Wisconsin—under contracts with ICA have sent 15 professors to Indian universities where they are training young Indian engineering graduates to become professors. They are working at the Poona College of Engineering, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the Bengal Engineering College at Hbwrah, the University of Roorkee, and the Guindy Engineering College in Madras. The university contracts for India, planned for three years, will cost $2 million which will be shared by the Indian government and ICA. In addition to the work of the U.S. professors in India, ICA has also provided graduate study opportunities in the U.S. for Indian engineers. In 1958, 59 engineers from India arrived in the U.S. under this part of the program, 145 in 1959, 60 in 1960, and 40 are expected this year. When their training is- completed, they will
serve as professors in Indian engineering institutions for at least three years. Another project undertaken by ICA involves a graduate engineering school in Thailand. This school (The SEATO Graduate School of Engineering) was established under the sponsorship of the SEATO member nations (Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, United Kingdom, and United States) in September 1959. Engineering equipment and U.S. advisers are supplied under a contract with Colorado State University. Other SEATO members also are supplying professors and equipment for the school, which is located in Bangkok. The SEATO graduate school is open to students from all Southeast Asian countries. During its second year, which started in June 1960, it has 47 students (34 from Thailand, nine from Pakistan, three from the Philippines, and one from India) and programs in hydraulic, structural, and transportation engineering. A fourth major, sanitary engineering, is planned for the 1961 school year. Besides these programs the SEATO school holds special evening training courses and seminars for graduate students and Bangkok practicing engineers. Because of the SEATO label on the school, Colorado State University reports that it has had difficulty recruiting students from strict neutrals such as India, Malaya, and Burma. However, with one Indian student enrolled, it believes that the ice may be broken for more students from these countries in the future.
DR. RALPH W. RUFFNER, chief of ICA's Washington, D.C., education office . . . American Universities have something unique to offer underdeveloped countries FEB.
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Classroom Shortage Still Exists
How to get drier or cooler AIR or GASES at low cost NIAGARA AERO AFTER COOLER cools a compressed gas, or air, b e l o w the temperature of the surrounding a t m o s p h e r e , thus p r e v e n t i n g t h e condensation of moisture in your lines. The gas will contain only half of the moisture left in it by conven tional methods. Even drier gas can be produced if you require it. In working w i t h controlled at mospheres of inert gases to prevent undesired reactions, this dryness of the gas at l o w cost is a great ad vantage. T h e cost of the Niagara method is l o w because it uses evap orative cooling, saving 95% of the cost of cooling water (and its pip ing and pumping). This direct sav ing of cost pays for the N i a g a r a cooler in less than t w o years.
If you use compressed air to operate instruments or pneumatic equipment you will get better re sults by using the Niagara Aero After Cooler. Write for Bulletin 130, or ask nearest Niagara Engineer if you have a problem involving the in dustrial use of air.
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The U.S. Office of Education, in its preliminary 1960-61 school statistics, shows a shortage of 142,000 public school classrooms, compared to a shortage of 135,000 in 1959-60. In the new total, 66,000 class rooms represent those needed to take care of pupils in excess of capacity. The other 76,000 are needed to re place unsatisfactory facilities, USOE says. It believes, though, that part of the 7000 increase in classroom shortage this year is due to improved data collecting procedures used in some states. Last year, among other critics, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce chal lenged USOE's classroom shortage estimates, saying the agency's total had little relationship to reality. It found, in a private survey, that the states did not agree on a basic num ber of pupils per classroom; that their figures were not always up to date; and that their reports often contained duplications. In fixing the national classroom shortage this year, USOE says, the states' reports are on a sounder basis than ever before. In most instances, it adds, the figures came from ques tionnaires completed by local superin tendents rather than from state esti mates, as was often the case in the past. The USOE report also shows that the states have been adding about 70,000 new classrooms a year for the last five years. And, it estimates that another 70,000 will be completed in 1960-61. More Pupils, More Teachers. Pub lic school enrollments jumped by more than a million this year, according to USOE. They now total 36.3 million with 24.5 million pupils in elementary schools and 11.8 million in secon dary schools. And, the agency esti mates that some 685,000 of these stu dents are attending school in short sessions or on half-day schedules. USOE counts 1.4 million full-time and part-time classroom teachers in U.S. public schools for the 1960-61 academic year, a gain of 55,000 (4%) over the 1959-60 total. The states show that 91,500 (6.5%) of this year's teachers have not met full cer tification standards. Their figures in dicate a small improvement over last year when 7% of U.S. classroom
teachers were not fully qualified academically according to state rules. The National Education Associa tion's 1960-61 school statistics agree generally with those of USOE. ΝΕΑ reports further that the average sal ary for classroom teachers this year is $5215, up 4% over the $4995 aver age in 1959-60. When the new Congress attempts to write an aid-to-education bill, it will use these school statistics both to support and defeat proposals. However, USOE says, its new figures clearly confirm that the U.S. still faces a serious problem in providing enough facilities for its public school children.
/fere's how you can MEASURE OPTICAL PATH DIFFERENCE with the AO-Baker Interference Microscope
BRIEFS More than 115,000 students at 1357 schools received funds under the Na tional Defense Student Loan Program to help finance their college educations during the 1959-60 academic year, re ports the U.S. Office of Education. Loans totaled more than $50 million, averaged $438 each. USOE estimates that 457c of these student borrowers plan to teach in public schools when they finish college. If they teach for five years, the Government will can cel up to 50% of their loans.
1 B First, as shown in the photomicro graph* above, the microscope ana lyzer was rotated until the background was brought to extinction. Readings were taken directly from the analyzer scale. Averaged settings resulted in read ing of 70.4°.
3
The Optical Path Difference, in degrees, is twice the difference between the two readings: / 135.6° \
OPD = 2 (138.2°-70.4°) = 1 3 5 . 6 ° ; or O P D = 1
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, plans to hold its annual short course for superintendents and oper ators of water and sewerage systems March 15-17 this year.
1.546 = .206 Microns.
Optical path difference measurements can be made to an optimum accuracy of 1/300 wavelength. This unique ability to measure optical path thick nesses is in itself of great importance. But even more important, these meas urements can be converted into a vari ety of quantitative information of great potential value. Water and protein con tent of a cell, for example, may be meas ured. Materials such as glass, plastics, emulsions, textiles can be examined.
The Atomic Energy Commission is sponsoring an eight-week summer in stitute in nuclear physics for faculty members of small colleges. The pro gram will be held at Oak Ridge from June 26 to Aug. 18. Oak Ridge In stitute of Nuclear Studies, P.O. Box 117, Oak Ridge, Tenn., will furnish further details on the course.
Five courses in paint technology for industry personnel start at Newark College of Engineering, Newark, N.J., on February 13 and 15. Two courses are on coatings technology, one on corrosion, and the other on advanced lacquer coatings systems. A 16-week seminar in applied polymer technology is scheduled for Feb. 14.
2 . Next, the analyzer was rotated until the nucleus of the cell was brought to extinction. Average settings resulted in reading of 138.2°.
While the AO-Baker Interference Microscope is primarily a quantitative instrument, it also offers unique advantages for qualitative observations through variable intensity contrast and dramatically effective variable color contrast. * Photo micrograph s taken by Mr. Lynn C. Wall, Medical Division, Eastman Kodak Co. Data: Epithelial Cell. AO-Baker Interference Microscope, 40X Shearing objective, 10X eyepieces. Corning niter CS4-120 with AO Model 630 Pulsarc Illuminator to transmit monochromatic light at .546 microns.
WRITE
FOR COMPLETE
American Optical Company
INFORMATION
Dept. P194 Please Send me your NEW COLOR BROCHURE SB7 on the AO-BAKER INTERFERENCE MICROSCOPE. NAME_ ADDRESS. CITY
_ZONE
FEB.
STATE_
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