 It's time for the Laun Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour, brought to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. A presentation of the Laun Jean Wittner Watch Company, maker of Laun Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Wittner, distinguished companion to the world-honored Laun Jean. Good evening, this is Frank Knight. May I introduce our co-editors for this edition of the Laun Jean Chronoscope? Mr. William Bradford Huey, editor of the American Mercury, and Dean Nelson Hibschman of the Pratt Institute. Our distinguished guest for this evening is Dr. Henry T. Heald, Chancellor of New York University. The opinions expressed are necessarily those of the speakers. Dr. Heald, it's a pleasure to have so distinguished an educator as you tonight on the Chronoscope. I believe, sir, that you've been president of New York University for only about six months. Isn't that correct, sir? Yes, I came to New York University in February of a few weeks. And prior to that, you were in Chicago, weren't you? I was in Chicago as president of Illinois Institute of Technology. And to complete your story, I believe you're a native of Nebraska. That's correct. Well, sir, I suppose that a man who is president of what I believe is the largest university in the world, one of the largest, that one of your problems is the problem of military training today. Isn't that correct, sir? The problem of military training is a problem that faces every young man in the country, and of course faces college students. Well, what is the attitude toward those two years now that a young man must give to the military? Is there resentment toward it on college campuses? I think there's no resentment toward it. I think the college students of the country, like all the rest of us, are not very enthusiastic about a set of world conditions which require that we have to maintain a large military force. Nevertheless, realize it has to be done. How many young Americans are in college now, Dr. Heald? Well, our total college enrollment this fall will probably run 2,400,000 men and women. And what percentage of that people of college age is that, sir? Well, of the people of the college age group that perhaps represents one-sixth of the total population of that age group. And in short, one American out of six who is of college age is now going to college, and five out of six are not going to college. That's probably a rough approximation, I should say. Would you say that that's too many Americans in college? Well, the percentage of our population going to college has steadily increased every year since 1900. We are, of course, at a higher percentage than we've been before, but I don't think it's too many. Well, there's a great shortage of engineering and scientific personnel today. What is being done about that, Dr. Heald? Well, the engineering societies and the employers of engineers and everyone else interested in that problem is trying to make it clear to young people that this is a field which offers opportunity for qualified young men. Is it true that every engineering graduate today has the choice of a dozen or so jobs? Certainly there's great competition for all of the engineering graduates today. What causes that, sir? Is it a decline in the supply or is it an increase in the demand for engineers? It's caused by both. There has been a considerable decline in the supply because of smaller freshman enrollments in the last three or four or five years. And, of course, the high level of employment and the defense program and mobilization is taking a very large number of engineers. Well, you are, of course, our distinguished engineer yourself, sir. Is it a sign of the times that an engineer like yourself has been chosen as president of the largest university in the country? Well, engineering is important, but I suspect that I was chosen because of the shortage of university presidents. With the rising costs of higher education and the general feeling that it should be available to all, some people think that higher education should be subsidized by federal funds. How do you feel about that? Well, in general, I think higher education should not be subsidized by federal funds, but then there are good money qualifications which one has to apply because higher education for individuals such as the veterans is subsidized by federal funds. It's been on that, sir. It's now been seven years since the end of the Second World War, and I know that our viewers would be interested in your opinions as to what's a proper judgment of the government's large-scale entry into the field of paying for education. I think almost all of the educators and certainly some millions of young men who have taken advantage of that would conclude that the expenditures for, as an aid for GI education, have been well justified. Are the Korean veterans returning to college now? The veterans are returning, but in very small numbers. The total number of veterans demobilized there isn't very great, and I would guess that only a relative handful will be enrolled in this fall term. Now, how is inflation affecting cost in college? How much does it cost an average young American to go to NYU for a year now, sir? Well, it varies, but if he has to pay board and room and living expenses and tuition, perhaps a couple of thousand dollars per year is a fair figure. About two thousand dollars a year for the man who has to pay board and room. Now, what's the size of the student body at New York University, sir? New York University has about 45,000 students full-time and part-time in all of its various branches and divisions. And how is it supported? Is it state supported? It's not state supported. This university was founded more than 120 years ago as a privately supported, privately endowed university. It has never had any state support. Your experience in Chicago at the Illinois Institute of Technology was such as to indicate that you were able to bring education and industry together. How do you feel about the responsibility of industry for the educational, the private educational institutions in its community? Well, I think industry, corporations, businesses have a responsibility for citizenship, which extends into the area of education, just as I think education has a responsibility to business and industry. There's a mutuality of interest, and there are a great many areas in which they can cooperate, one of which, of course, is in the problem of support for private higher education in order to make sure that it will be strong and continue to take its right for place in the total educational structure. You mentioned, Dr. Hill, that New York University is supported by gifts. Now, how are taxes affecting those gifts today? How much money was given to the university last year? Well, the university last year received gifts of a little more than six million dollars, a fairly sizeable sum, but not very large compared to the size of the university. Well, are gifts falling off, or was that six million an increase over previous years? It turns out that that was an increase, but the university's need is also increasing, and all privately supported educational institutions have that factor in common. And that, I believe, is one of the things, one of the chores that the presidents of these institutions has, isn't it, to help raise money and to induce people to give money to schools? Well, that's one of the problems that presidents have. There's no doubt about that. Do you see a future for television and education as a tool of general education? Television is one of the most exciting tools that has been made available to education. Most of us haven't discovered exactly how to use it yet. Do you think the universities and colleges will make wide use of the opportunities afforded by the FCC, for instance, in this new allocation of UHF? The universities and colleges of the country are tremendously interested in it. They have the practical problem of, first, how to find money and have to get the stations on the air, and then after they get stations on the air of supporting the programs. I'm sure our viewers would like your comment on this, sir. It's been said that college students today are considerably more serious-minded than they were in the past. Do you think that's true? I think college students are somewhat more serious-minded than they have been in the past. Certainly that was true of all of the veterans that we had, and that's conditioned the students in the years since the veterans. And pursuing that same thought, it's also been said that, as a matter of fact, young men have been criticized from some directions for being more security-conscious today than they were in the past. Someone has jokingly said that the young man is more interested in the pension plan of some business now than he is in how much money he receives at the start or what his opportunities are. Is it fair to say that they are more security-conscious today? I'm afraid this whole country has been somewhat conditioned to be more security-conscious, but I see no particular evidence that that is limited to college students. As a matter of fact, I see a good deal of evidence that college students are still interested in the same kind of things that they were good many years ago when I went to college. You don't think that it's a proper indictment of the young people today? Certainly it's no indictment of the young people. It may be an indictment of our older people as well. Well, Dr. Heald, I believe it was Mr. H.G. Wells who said one time that civilization is a race between education and catastrophe. I'm sure that many of our viewers have an idea that catastrophe is winning in these days of the atom bomb. Now, what would you care to predict as to whether education is going to be able to defeat catastrophe in our time? First, it's no question of what we face extremely difficult and complicated problems today. But I'm perfectly confident that education will win that race. I'm perfectly sure that the kind of young people, young men and young women whom we have in our colleges and universities today, will be capable of solving these problems, which sometimes look a little insurmountable to us. Well, thank you very much for being with us tonight, sir. The editorial board for this edition of the Laun Jean Chronoscope was Mr. William Bradford Huey and Dean Nelson Hipschman. Our distinguished guest was Dr. Henry T. Heald, Chancellor of New York University. The traditional gift to symbolize achievement, honor or respect is a watch of truly great prestige and the watch of greatest prestige for every presentation purpose is Laun Jean, the world's most honored watch. Now, throughout the world, no other name on a watch means so much as Laun Jean, for no other watch has won ten World's Fair Grand Prizes and twenty-eight gold medals for excellence and elegance and so many honors for accuracy in fields of precise timing. 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