A New GI Bill

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The current plans to draft college students (or potential college students) must reconcile two great national needs, a supply of servicemen and a supply of engineers, doctors, and other university trained experts.

How to avoid a drying-up of the flow of young men into our colleges in the next three years is a problem for those who have the necessary information on military manpower needs and statistics on the composition of the classes born between 1933 and 1935. How to insure, however, that even after a term of military service, a sufficient number of these young veterans re-enter college is a different question.

After World War II millions of veterans did re-enter colleges in spite of an interruption which often far exceeded 24 to 27 months. The reason was the "G.I. Bill." Only a similar measure can make sure that the draftees of the next two or three years will also return to continue their education. If, for example, a semester's expenses and subsistence were paid for each four or six months of military service, the colleges would be certain of a supply of students more numerous and better qualified than the present. The students with best minds could study, regardless of their personal financial condition. On the other hand, if no such "G.I. Bill" is included in the military training law, in two or three years only a small proportion of the new veterans will be able to return to the classroom.

Spokesmen for universities should exert their influence to secure the inclusion of a new educational "G.I. Bill" in any military training act which may be passed. George Giblan 4G   Teaching Fellow in English