Evening star., 1928-12-23
UNIVERSITY OF ARMY
NEEDS MORE TEACHERS
Student Body of More Than 10000
Men Enrolled This Year i'm
Correspondence Courses.

schools had proved their value in train.
ing men for law and business.
They were convinced that Scientifi-
cally prepared correspondence course
could teach an intelligent civilian 9
great deal about the science of war
They did not then believe. nor does the
general staff today believe, that you
can make good soldier by mail alone
Correspondence work can only help ir
the civilians training, but the help
which 1t can give Is much greater than
many have thought possible.
First Steps in 1924.
In April, 1924, the War Department
appointed board of officers to prepare
| co-ordinated outlines of correspond
ence courses for all branches and for
command and general staff CORE
Spondence course.
AS soon as the chief of staff approved
the report of this board, a correspond
ence course section was established at
each of the Special Service Schools.
Each section was told to prepare and
keep on reviSing-when necesSary-the
material for the course. In addition, a
conference was to be held once a wear
| In order that Army officers, detailed as
students, might become familiar with
| the purposes, methods and organizations
OF the system of Army correspondence
courses.
The War Department also issues a
pamphlet of instruction to authors, set
ting forth what it believed to be the
best methods for correspondence in
struction as they have been adapted to
the special conditions of Army and
Reserve training
Criticism Met.
'The courses are serving their pur-
poSe," declared Lieut. Col. Arthur j.
Klein, who had charge of the establish
ment of the correspondence system,
when an officer takes but single SUBJ
course or studies only the one aspect
OF the work in which he is interested
Criticism Of the correspondence work.
on the ground that few officers finish
the entire courses, arises from failure
to understand this basicl fact. If the
correspondence courses We're such that
all officers would conlpete an entire
course. the content of the courses would
nave to be so simple and inept that
that they would have practically no
value In training for active service"
In one-half the Reserve or National
Guard officers complete the course in
which they have enrolled, the record
"A~ ~SAAAHoAO fCAy 1dfOIdUly WIFI LIldC
OF the chief civilian universities. OF
each 1000 students who enter American
colleges and universities, only TIT reach
sophomore year, 538. answer present
when the roll is called junior year, and
only 322 finally receive their sheepSkins.
Less than half of the students who en-
ter American high schools are grad
uateo. BY comparison, the Army has
reason TO be proud of the tenacity of
its pupils.
All Branches Represented.
The program of instruction lists
ABOUT 400 SubcourseS. Not all of these
are given each year, but most of them
are. Every branch of service has ap-
propriate courses. Infantry, field artil-
lery, military intelligences, coast artil-
lery engineers, air service, chaplains.
quartermaSters and other arms of the
Servlce-all have instruction to offer
the ReserviSt in their special fields. Top
ping all is the command and general
stan course, which is open only to
those who have completed the ad-
vanced course in their arm, or who
held field rank during the World War.
This course, which requires for its
completion in all 500 hours, aims to fit
the Reserve officer for staff duty in
time OF war. It shows how a division
is operated and handled, how a COM
mander reaches his decisions, what are
the problems in transport, supply, ETC.,
involved in maneuvering large bodies of
troops. Map problems play an i'm
portant part here, as they do in the
advanced course generally
The students move armies. issue bat
tie orders, outline the plans of the
commanding officers. If there are still
things they have to know before they
can actually command troops in the
field. they have gone far toward COM
pleting military education of a staff
officer
Recently the War Department has
revised the regulations governing the
promotion Of Reserve officers. Hence
forth, to keep certificate of eligibility, a
Reserve officer must do certain
amount Of work during the five-year
period his commission is in force. He
may NIL the requirements In part by
active duty training, by correspondence
course work and by conferences with
military men. The correspondence
courses offer the readiest means to fill
the requirements.
Henceforth. too man must COM
plete one subcourse a year If he is to
ANSP AAAo t1lG COEEGSUOUQ-
ence school. These requirements will,
1t is felt, increase the number of en-
rollments in the future. The War
Department has under consideration
also other changes in the correspond
| ence school system, TO make 1t even
more efficient and an even greater help
to the citizen components of the Army,
Reading Course Offered.
Another interesting move in the
same direction is the publication by
the Army War College of a reading
course for officers. Several hundred
volumes are on this list It is aimed
to broaden the interests and the views
Of the Army officer, and only a part
of the books on the list are military in
| character History, biography, politi-
cal science and other subjects are also
| included. Though advisory in charac-
| ter, the course is recommended to the
attention Of officers as means of en-
larging their field of information on
subjects closely allied to their profess
sional work
Army officers believe the correspond
ence school system is in its infancy.
Each year, they believe, will see a
| greater interest and better instruction,
and within two years they expect an
annual enrolment of $4,000.
Copyright 1929