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University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Monday, Oct. 21, 1985
Japanese group studies U.S. schools
The Associated Press
PRINCETON, N.J. — Dialogue began on a jocular note as East met West over lunch at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, where three members of a blue-ribbbon Japanese council came last week in their search for ways to improve their schools.
"What would make Japanese education better? Is that possible?" an American educator asked the delegation from Japan. "We hear it's perfect."
The retired Japanese diplomat suppressed a smile, shook his head and replied, "We think it's struggling."
They told their host, Ernest L. Boyer, president of the Carnegie Foundation and former
U. S. commissioner of education, of their discontent with the quality and breadth of higher education in Japan, where two national universities — Tokyo and Kyoto — sit atop a sharp pyramid that produces the Japanese elite.
Ryozo Sunobe, the retired diplomat, spoke admiringly of the U.S. system in which many of the most prestigious universities, such as Princeton and Harvard, are private.
"We should have more variety of higher education so that every student can be happy and can (enter) the university of their choice," said Sunube, a professor of international relations at Kyorin University.
Sunbee, Toshibitsugu Saito, president of the Japan Junior Chamber of Commerce, and Ryoichi Kuroha, editorial editor of the Nohon
Keizai Shinbun, were among 25 people chosen last year by the government to scrutinize Japan's highly centralized school system. They and three other council members are on a two-week tour of schools and campuses in the United States and Great Britain.
The Provisional Council on Educational Reform, in its first of four reports last June, concluded that Japan's schools — the driving force behind the country's postwar economic boom — face numerous problems.
The emphasis on rote memorization in the early grades thwarts creativity and prevents children from developing the ability to think, the council said.
Students, staff plan to try to save college
United Press International
BENNINGTON, Vt. — Students at Bennington College — the nation's most expensive with annual fees of $17,200 — are taking dance and theatrical shows on the road to keep the financially ailing institution afloat.
Faced with a $700,000 deficit, trustees are even pledging their own money to stave off creditors.
While the period of austerity has officials considering cuts in faculty pay, it also has sparked a resurgence of school spirit at the private college with 550 students and 68 faculty members, best known for its
literature and performing arts programs.
"Look, we are a valuable and viable resource," said Student Council President Melissa Rosenberg, explaining the students' willingness to help. "We love this place. We have no intention of letting it slip."
In a series of meetings over the past two weeks, student and staff task forces have cooperated to propose spending cuts and ways to raise funds.
The meetings ended with the college's 32 trustees promising to raise $150,000 of their own money as a
stopgap measure to help pay the bills.
Students pledged to help in a nationwide recruitment drive and to look for places to cut the school's $6 million budget.
The enthusiastic pupils will help sell the school by showing a student-produced video around the country and by taking student dance and theater performances on the road.
Bennington tuition plus room and board is always at or near the nation's top, although officials say it requires a separate fee that receives some form of financial aid.
interest on the school's $6.4 million Visual and Performing Arts Center, a state-of-the-art building that is now a financial albatross, said college spokesman Charles Yoder.
But the steep costs do not cover the
Debt service alone on the performing arts center, which opened in 1976, comes to $400,000 a year. he said.
Trustees had considered a variety of budget cuts before last week, including a plan to eliminate 18 positions at the school.
But Rosenberg and Yoder said cutting staff was quickly discarded as an option because the school's low student-to-teacher ratio was one of its main drawing cards.
Poll says more adults plan higher education
United Press International
BOSTON — The cost of higher education is skyrocketing, but a record number of adult Americans plan to pursue higher education, a national survey has found.
About 40 percent of the adults questioned in the 1985 National Survey of Public Attitudes Towards Higher Education said they looked forward to undertaking education beyond high school. The figure was up 16 percent from 1982 and four percent from 1984.
The largest proportion of those hoping to continue their educations, 26 percent, anticipated enrolling in vocational or technical schools. That represented a five-point increase from last year.
The survey also found that despite the increased interest in higher education, 75 percent of the 1,004 questioned expected the costs to continue rising, even beyond the reach of Americans. Seventy percent said they would need low-interest loans or grants to continue their educations.
The survey found that while most expected to need financial aid, support for federal aid for higher education declined, particularly for low- middle-income students.
Another 21 percent — two points more than last year — hoped to enroll in two-year public junior or community colleges. Twenty-one percent expected to enroll at four-year public colleges, which is the same percentage as last year.
Backing for aid for needy students fell from 63 percent last year to 53 percent. Also, in a ranking of priorities for federal support, aid for needy students dropped from third of 14 priorities to seventh within the two years.
Support for low-interest loans for middle-income students also declined, but not as sharply as for the poor. Since 1983, support for low-interest loans has fallen from 51 percent to 40 percent. Along with the drop in support for aid for low-income students, there has been a decline in support for aid for college students with a high proportion of low-income students. That support has eroded from 50 percent in 1983 to 37 percent this year.
Public support for academic research also diminished, the survey found.
Support for research in the physical sciences declined from 79 percent two years ago to 74 percent while opposition grew from 15 percent to 22 percent. Support for research in the social sciences fell from 75 to 61 percent.
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