Speakers Find Practical Science Too Much Emphasized in Education

The United States has failed to prepare "for the educational Pearl Harbor toward which we are rushing," charged Eric A. Walker, president of Pennsylvania State University, at the opening public session of the Conference on Education and Science, Monday night.

Rather than dealing with the problem itself, Walker said, "everyone is busy trying to fix the responsibility for its solution on someone else." And while the nation has demonstrated its willingness to protect itself from military aggression, it has not shown a desire to protect itself from "ideoligical aggression."

Walker then listed the six major problems facing education. The first of these, he claimed, was the need to devise "graduated, flexible" educational programs to educate students on different levels: artisans, scientific aides, ordinary engineers and scientists and creative scholars."

Secondly, he called for "some bold, basic research" to determine how superior teaching can be extended to an increased number of qualified students. Next, he said, the U.S. must re-examine its aims and methods, noting that the present process of analysis and dissection is "not creative," but merely "an excellent method of producing cultural and scientific caretakers."

In addition to better training, this nation needs better methods for early identification of student talent. Walker suggested a nation-wide system of pre-college qualifying exams, one in ninth grade and a second in the twelfth. His fifth point called for a change in the attitude toward scholarship held by both students and adults. The educator closed with a plea for more funds to be channeled into education.

Following President Walker's speech two scientists gave ten minute commentaries. The first was Gerald Holton, associate professor of Physics. Dael Wolfle, the second commentator, is an executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.