Patterns of Education "Corporations are spending somewhere between $40 billion and $100 billion each year in corporate training, compared to total university operating budgets of $20 billion to $30 billion." This observation by A. K. Weinstein, an analyst for Arthur D. Little, is startling when taken a t face value. The implications are interesting too. The fact that the industrial sector out-spends the tertiary school system in this country on education might indicate to some that industry perceives problems with those who are educated by that system. There may well he problems, but we should recognize that industry's interests generally tend t o be specific and short-range, whereas the goals of the tertiary educational system are more fundamental and therefore of longer range. Given these somewhat diverse goals, it seems reasonable that graduates of the tertiary system be required to ohtain additional. more snecialized education in areas deemed important b; their ekployers. The remedial component in that industrial educational effort, on the other hand, represents a problem which cannot be ignored by educators. It has been reported that industry has to do a"1ot of remedial math and remedial writing" education. Academia's response to Weinstein's observation quoted in the first paragraph must be carefully weighed. Attempts to "do more-as ~erceivedbv industw-for our students so that for their jobs" could divert even they will be better more attention from the importance of providing students with a broad, basic education in the sciences. Care must be exercised so that science departments are not turned into trade schools. Clearly there are ~ r o b l e m swith parts of the curriculum which do-not gieestubents a balanced view of certain subjects. These prohlems are readilv apparent in the sciences and eneineerinz. the discinlines that underlie the technoloev on which i;dustry is cased. The basic sciences, by theiGery nature, are constantly evolving. Therein lies the fundamental problem for teachers. How does one incorporate new principles and ideas in an overcrowded curriculum while continuously leading students through it? In their enthusiam to
share new ideas with their students, teachers in the basic sciences often fail to recognize the curricular iu~plicatiunsof change. For example, the current trend to expand certuin theoretical areas of physical chemistry a t the expense of thermodynamics has undoubtedly had an adverse affect on recent chemistry graduates' ability to deal with some very practical industrial problems. This is not to say that theoretical chemistrv should not be included in the undermaduate curriculum; however, it is less immediately useful for students who go into industry followinggraduation than a goad working knowledge of thermodynamics might be. In spite of the emphasis which economic realities place on short-term solutions, industry has a stake in the traditional goals of academia. These are the bases upon which industry's educational endeavors are built and from which new technologies derive. The industrial sector has shown its concern over the general malaise which currently permeates the entire formal educational system in this country. However, the problems are perceived to he so big, bureaucratic, and complex that it is difficult to see how to meaningfully assist in their solution. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why so many large companies are investing in in-house education to meet their own needs. In this way they can at least control the quality and efficiency of their educational endeavors which have very specific missions. Industrial assistance to the formal educational system has been forthcoming. Gifts of equipment to update iaboratory instruction a t an levels, consortia which support basic research, and even salary supplements to encourage the retention of teachers at the college and high school levels are tangible evidence that industry recognizes its future is a t stake too. Industry and academia are mutually dependent. However, if academia is doine its iob uro~erlv.i.e.. orovidina for the broad-based education dfsciknc> st;dents;there will always be a natural tension between them. Tertiarv science education will be in even deeper trouble should this natural tension JJL disappear!
Volume 59 Number 11 November 1982
893
