Radio Education

The recent expansion of the Lowell Institute's adult education program is worth attention and support from radio listeners. The Institute, which is rebroadcasting college lectures by such men as Seymour Harris, points more directly than ever to the tremendous potentialities of radio as a constructive force for education.

At the present time, a radio set is the most intimate means of mass communication. Other countries have used it to considerable advantage in raising the educational level of their population.

Before the war Austria provided a remarkably varied program of educational programs, often of an advanced and technical nature. The British Broadcasting Company has programs directed to school classes, with teachers on the spot amplifying the instruction. In Poland, scattered professional men--such as country doctors--were kept in touch with the latest techniques and progress in their fields. In Holland, radio is now used for giving primary education to children of bargemen, who cannot attend a regular school.

The great distinction between the majority of these countries and the United States, of course, is that their radio stations are subject to direct government control. This means program planners can give listeners what they ought to have rather than what they want, without fear of detrimental consequences. In this country, few sponsors have the courage to sponsor a direct form of education because they know their chances of holding listeners are better if they give away ice-boxes or tell how a woman can enjoy life beyond the age of 35.

Clearly, any edvances in the field of radio education must start in a spirit of experiment and must be backed by peculiarly idealistic sponsors with at least a little imagination. It is conceivable that someday you could flick the dial on your radio and hear something like this "...so just send in two box tops and 10 cents, ladies, and you will receive a neatly packaged, simplified version of Professor Kluckhohn's stimulating new text, "The Curious Habits of Navaho Married Couples.'" But it is also conceivable that radio could be a very strong educational force--especially for adults and isolated communities.