Evening star., 1941-11-24
Draft and Industry
Reduce Enrolment
OF u. 5. Colleges
Some Shorten Courses
To Aid Students Who
Are Headed for Army
fhs Stars Special News Service.

hiO oPSA ollliS Will Sii-
rollments of regular students during
the national emergency as result
of the draft and the call of young
men into well-paying defense in
dustrial positions.
This was. disclosed today in a
survey by the Associated Press OF
reports from more than so uni
versities and colleges in all sections
OF the country which also showed
that:
l.. While numerous institutions
are offering short courses prepara-
tory to defense work in industry,
only a relatively few have stream
lined" their regular courses to
shorten the gap between scholastic
halls and industrial assembly lines
Or the Army. Instead, consid-
cradle proportion are counting on
summer courses as means OF COM
pleting regular courses In less
elapsed time than it ordinarily
takes.
g. That there has been an in
creased interest in the study of the
sciences and engineering and added
emphasis on Latin American cul-
ture, rejecting existing interna-
tional relations and the administra-
tons good neighbor' policy.
Some Show Increases.
A small proportion of the more
than threescore of schools repre-
sented in the survey reported in
creases, but nearly all of them
showed some drop in total attend
ance, ranging from slight" to more
than II per cent.
At the same time, President Ray
mond Walters of the University of
Cincinnati said that in reports from
s73 colleges and universities, 33l
noted fewer students, the losses run
ming from to 20 per cent; 125 held
to their 1910 figures and 1T showed
gains He said the most heavily
hit were teachers colleges, which,
Of g. reporting, had no gains. Only
five held their own, the remainder
showing losses from to IS per cent.
This situation prompted DR..
George Willard Frasier of Colorado
State Teachers College of Education
to declare:
1--WE are exempting some young
men from the draft-young men
who are busily engaged in unravel-
ing the mysteries of poison gas and
explosives But those who will be
the spiritual leaders of America to-
morrow are being taken into the
Army for long periods.
Protests Against Approach.
Prom this campus great many
bows have gone into the Army
boys who were potential leaders in
American education. 1t is dlf-
ficult to understand our Govern
ment. It protects those who can
evolve instruments of death, but
has no part in its plan to protect
those who are to teach the children
of tomorrow. This is my protest
against an unthinking and unintel-
ligent approach to vital problem
Enrolment losses were noted par
ticularly among upper classmen and
graduate students. Brown Unlver-
sitv at Providence, R. l., for ex-
ample. making this report:
Our experience has paralleled
that Of other institutions-we have
admitted the largest freshman class
in the history of the institution, but
Withdrawals from the upper classes
have more than offset the increase
In the entering class"
A notable exception in the trend
toward lower total enrollments was
reported from Washington Uni
vresity. st. Louis, where more men
and fewer women registered, with
q total increase of about 2 per cent.
Harvard Reduces Time.
Harvard University was among
institutions which arranged to re-
duce the elapsed time in school for
some students. It's undergraduate
college put into effect plan under
which students who are candidates
for honors may be graduated in
three years by taking extra courses
and attending summer school. The
Harvard Law School introduced a
two-semester plan so students called
away at mid-year by the draft would
not lose credit for the first half year
of their work.
Previously all law school work at
Harvard was credited on an an
nual basis.
Colgate University worked out a
plan to enable young men getting
out of high school at 18 to finish
their college work before they be-
come of draft age. This was made
possible when the school decided to
admit new students at mid-year in
February, and open summer courses
at the end of the regular academic
year.
Shift Toward Engineering.
At Cornell University, where the
courses In the law school were put
on a three-term basis, extending
over the summer period to get stu
dents through six months earlier,
the principal trend noted was def
mite shift toward engineering by
man students who formerly en-
rolled for general education in the
arts college.
THE reason is two-fold," said a
spokesman for the university. First,
because of the great demand for
engineers and the general defer
ment granted students studying en-
gineering: and secondly, because of
the belief that after the war there
will be a great need for rebuilding
war-torn Europe, and also for new
Industries to replace war industries.
Wellesley College was among the
schools reporting Latin American
cultural studies.
Emphasis upon friendly rela-
tions with South America" said
Ella Keats Whiting, dean of instruc-
ton. has awakened interest in a
study of Spanish. More students
than ever before are studying the
language and literature of Spain.
indicative of this trend, too, was
- ~ H///702NZ0