Soviets to Boost Number of Science Grads Accelerated program to produce 250,000 scientists and engineers annually in the 19607s-more than double the projected U.S. rate In the 1960's the U.S.S.R. plans to accelerate its program to increase the number of its scientists and engineers. In this decade the Soviets expect to graduate 250,000 scientists and engineers each year. This is more than double the projected rate for the United States and reflects the total Soviet commitment to developing science and technology as economic and political weapons of the state. So says Nicholas DeWitt of Harvard's Russian Research Center in a 900-page study, "Education and Professional Employment in the U.S.S.R." Three years in the making, the study was performed under a National Science Foundation grant administered by the National Academy of SciencesNational Research Council. The Soviet Union -already has a greater number of scientists and engineers than the U.S., Mr. DeWitt says. And the Soviet rate of growth in these fields is a little more than twice that of the United States. At present, the U.S. graduates 90,000 scientists and engineers each year; the U.S.S.R. graduates 190,000. At the same time the number of full-time students in Soviet institutions of higher education is only about 25% of the number of students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities. A measure of the Soviet orientation toward science and technology is the fact that 57% of all 1959 graduates at the bachelor level were in engineering and science. This compares with 24%- in the U.S. And the accelerated program will increase this orientation. In 1965 the Soviets expect the total enrollment in institutions of higher education to be about the same as at present. Yet the number of science and engineering graduates will jump to 250,000 a year, an increase of 60,000 a year over present levels. But numbers do not tell the whole story. How good is the training Soviet scientists and engineers get? In Mr. DeWitt's opinion, Soviet higher education in most scientific and engineering fields is at least equivalent to, and sometimes more extensive than, that in the United States or West Europe.
Nicholas DeWitt Soviet professional is made a tool
Specialization. The goal of education in the U.S. is to teach the individual how to think and act, how to develop and perform a skill of his own choosing for his own benefit. In the U.S.S.R., Mr. DeWitt says, the educational system is designed to serve the collectivist state; it is only within the confines of choice determined by the state that the individual may develop his personal abilities. When economic considerations dictate the need for more skilled manpower, the educational system is adjusted accordingly. When strategic considerations dictate the need for developing specialists in certain fields of science or technology, the appropriate resources are made available to stimulate such efforts and the manpower policies and educational process are adjusted accordingly. Industrial expansion and the development of a complex new technology have caused Soviet educational policy to put increasing stress on those types of training which equip the individual with specific vocational, technical, and scientific skills. Thus, the individual will be able to perform certain specialized or professional functions in the national productive effort. As a result, professional in-
struction provided for Soviet scientists and engineers is directed toward narrowly defined specialties with the main purpose of equipping the individual student to perform a specific job. For example, a Soviet chemical engineer could graduate in the specialty of technology of silicates—binding and cementitious materials. Or the specialty might be technology of fuels, with coking and residual compounds or synthetic liquid fuels as one of the even narrower specialties. Some Differences. In engineering courses the time devoted to general engineering and sciences is about the same in both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. But the Soviet student devotes nearly half his time to the narrow specialty which will be his future occupation. Soviet chemistry students must work considerably harder than their U.S. counterparts. The Soviet university chemistry major spends about one third more time on chemistry subjects than is the case in the U.S. The range of subjects is about the same, but many courses which are elective in American colleges are required in the U.S.S.R. In addition, the Soviet chemist must study subjects such as mechanics and strength of materials which are not usually found in U.S. chemistry programs. The role of women in science and engineering is much different in the U.S.S.R. than it is in the U.S. About one third of all Soviet engineers are women. This compares to 1% in the United States. In 1956-57, 36% of all the engineering students in the U.S.S.R. were women; women comprised 60% of the enrollment in chemical engineering technology. However, the number of women studying engineering is dropping off somewhat, falling to 32% in the 1959-60 scholastic year. This may be due, Mr. DeWitt says, to new entrance requirements which give preference to army veterans and those with prior work experience. Although women make up a large part of the Soviet professional, technical, and managerial labor force, only a small fraction of the top echelon positions are held by women. Thus, women are restricted as far as top jobs are concerned, although their possibility of career advancement seems more favorable in the U.S.S.R. than in the West. In Mr. DeWitt's opinion, this may be partially attributed to the fact that women themJAN.
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selves tend to gravitate toward jobs which, though lower paid and generally of a routine nature, are more convenient and compatible with family obligations. Getting a job is also quite different in the U.S.S.R. The graduating scientist or engineer does not pick a job but instead is selected for a job. Each year individual schools set up committees on placement. Committee members are representatives of the school, the appropriate trade union, the Young Communist League and the Communist Party, and the economic administration and the individual factories concerned. The committee examines the record of each prospective graduate and tells him in an interview details of the job for which he is being considered. The committee, if it chooses, may ask for his comments. Then, by a simple majority vote the committee decides which students will be assigned to individual jobs. If the student is dissatisfied with the decision, he can appeal for reconsideration, but if the appeal is rejected, the decision is final. An Evaluation. The Soviet type of one-sided scientific and technical education, Mr. DeWitt says, produces specialists who are little interested in human and ethical values. This is considered to provide the most suitable and pliable kind of manpower for running the affairs of the Communist state. The development of professional competence and technical rationality, he says, is deliberately divorced from the acquisition of broad humanistic values. This makes the Soviet professional a tool, witting or unwitting, in serving the aims of the Communist regime. If the aim of education is to develop a creative intellect critical of society and its values, then Soviet higher education is an obvious failure, Mr. DeWitt says. But if its aim is to develop applied professional skills enabling the individual to perform specialized functional tasks, then Soviet higher education is unquestionably a success and poses not only a temporary challenge but a major threat in the long-run struggle between democracy and totalitarianism. Copies of "Education and Professional Employment in the U.S.S.R." may be obtained for $5.50 from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C. 28
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Merck President Attacks Kefauver Hearings Charges Senator with serious abuses of the democratic process Senator Kefauver's two-year investigation- of the drug industry "involves serious abuses of the democratic process," John T. Connor, president of Merck, told the Pharmaceutical Advertising Club in New York City. He charges that the Senator's proceedings are "a masterpiece in the art of propaganda, but the reverse of what thoughtful citizens expect in a democracy/' Mr. Connor maintains that the Senator fails to define the issues in ad-
impression that such a markup is the actual profit figure. Mr. Connor charges that Senator Kefauver asks loaded questions, disregards facts that undermine his line of argument, and singles out any real or seeming excess to make it appear typical of the whole industry at all times. A great danger in Senator Kefauver's attack, Mr. Connor believes, is that "it may tend to solidify and even cause retrogression in fields that by their very nature must have the vigor, creativity and willingness to experiment that characterizes a dynamic and competitive society. Once this has been done, no one will ever know the irreparable harm that has been done, and no calling to account can ever occur." Mr. Connor adds that despite the attack, "the pharmaceutical industry has never been more alive and vital than right now."
Gain in Fertilizer Use Seen for '62
John T. Connor Masterpiece of propaganda
vance of public hearings, and uses personal attacks and surprise witnesses to give a distorted picture of the pharmaceutical industry. He says he expects the charge of high drug prices to be made again, despite recent testimony that pharmaceutical prices declined between 1949 and 1960, while the wholesale price index for other consumer nondurables increased. According to Mr. Connor, the committee staff uses carefully selected figures to support predetermined conclusions. As an example, he says, the staff shows figures for the most favorable profit year for the most favorable product in the most favorable product group and. then compares the production cost figures with the final sales price for the products. This gives the
Demand for fertilizer this year will be 2 to 3 % ahead of 1961's, the Business and Defense Services Administration predicts. Consumption of fertilizer last year, BDSA says, was 3 to 5% above 1960 consumption, setting a new record. BDSA estimates the value of fertilizer shipments last year at $1.3 billion. The increase, it figures, was primarily in nitrogen materials. Final export figures for 1961 are expected to show a 3 % increase over the 1960 export value of $119 million. BDSA says exports may increase this year as a result of new procurement policies of the Agency for International Development. It expects imports to continue at about the same level as in 1961. Some tightening in European sources of potash may lift demand for U.S. output, but the start soon of potash production in Canada and future expansion in Israel and Jordan will keep world potash markets highly competitive. U.S. Capacities. During 1961, U.S. ammonia capacity increased from 5.4 million to 5.8 million tons per year. During 1962, capacity probably will rise to 6.5 million tons. BDSA figures 1961-62 expansions in phosphates will increase capacity for concentrated superphosphate by 2 5 % and that for ammonium phosphates by more than 100%.
