EDITORIAL
DISENCHANTMENT WITH SCIENCE
Some recent publications have disclosed disquieting facts. That people in general and those with political power are disenchanted with science and scientific achievements should not be news to most of us. This disenchantment was the subject of a special essay in the April 23 issue of Time magazine (entitled “Second Thoughts About Man”). This essay, however, quotes scientists as saying “science as we know it has outlived its usefulness” and that “there should be room (in science) for the nonobjective, mystical, and even irrational.” The latest report from the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education predicts that about one-fourth of this year’s graduates (B.A.-B.S. level) will be accepting jobs previously held by nongraduates and a good share of these jobs will not make use of the holder’s education. In other words, although unemployment will be less of a problem this year, underemployment is becoming increasingly common. The job market for Ph.D’s, on the other hand, appears to be considerably more discouraging than for the new Bachelors and Masters. An easy solution to the imbalance between graduates and job opportunities is to tighten requirements for entrance to college and to graduate schools to the point where there is a realistic balance. But this easy solution, which all too many people are glibly proposing, is very much like killing the goose that lays eggs of gold. Our desire for easy solutions to problems actually has been the primary cause for our current situation. I think that the United States has been an outstanding example of the value of universal education. But, slowly over the years, vocational and practical education subverted the original objective-viz., intellectual and cultural education. Education to do a specific task gained impetus during World War I1 and even greater impetus during the 1950’s. Consequently, colleges and universities went through a period of great expansion during the late 1950’s and through the 1960’s with the encouragement and financial assistance of federal and state governments. From 1950 to 1970, undergraduate enrollments expanded from about 2 million to about 7 million and graduate enrollment from about 200,000 t o about one million. Yet, over this period, our economy was able t o absorb the educational output, and even ask for more, that is, until the economic dislocation that began in the late 1960’s with the federal government’s drastic reduction in aerospace programs. This initiated a chain reaction that went through almost every sector of the industrial world and which most recently has been felt in the academic world.
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Journal of Chemical Documentation, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1973
Even though the employment situation today is more favorable than it has been for the past several years, it is predicted that up to 1.5 million new college graduates will be working in jobs for which a college education is not required. It is further predicted that through the 1970’s, 80% of the job openings will require no more than a high school education. Apparently many high school students no longer see college as the next step in their life plans. This is being reflected in a lowering of the percentage of high school graduates entering college, and a decline of student enrollment a t many colleges, the first in ten years. The total enrollment next fall, however, is expected to be 9.2 million. The decline in enrollment a t many four-year colleges, especially private institutions, has been offset by the increasing enrollment at the cheaper and lower-demanding two-year community and technical colleges that mushroomed during the past decade. Many chemistry professors have told me that enrollments in their chemistry departments are appreciably lower, but more students are taking elementary chemistry courses as electives. Graduate chemistry majors are considerably fewer than they have been for many years. Possibly the most important message in the above facts is that a college degree does not guarantee one a job. It never did, but the great demand for chemists over the past 20 years made it appear that this was so. Consequently, many students majored in chemistry, not because they were motivated in chemistry, but because they thought chemistry was a good route to the good life. And as long as they could choose from among many offers, there was no reason for them to think otherwise. It should not be surprising that widespread disenchantment has arisen among those whose career choice ignored motivation in the career. In a large sense, however, these people are not to be faulted. They were subjected to a communication system sponsored by governmental agencies and educational institutions that outdid Madison Avenue in its total effect. Yet, the governmental agencies and educational institutions did what they thought was right a t the time. But, once the error was discovered, the government overcorrected in withdrawing its supportand so began the massive disenchantment. The problem is complex, so complex that we can almost be sure that simple solutions and abrupt actions will make the problem even more complex. HERMAN SKOLNIK
