The outlook for American education
This is an important book to be read by any citizen who believes in life fulfillment through learning and the creative process.Dr. George D. Stoddard, now Distinguished Professor Emeritus, New York University, and formerly President of the University of the State of New York and of the University of Illinois, is a renowned and respected scholar, educator, and author. Singly or in collaboration, he has written fifteen books. His concern for the human condition as it relates to education is amply reflected in his service outside the American academic community.In this latest, and perhaps penultimate, expression of his thought and study he brings into focus a wide range of educational problems and processes, among them the self-contained classroom and the all-purpose teacher, the so-called open classroom and the year-round school, racial desegregation, performance contracts for teachers, the education of women, parochial and church-ruled schools and collegesliterally dozens of present concerns of parents, educators, public officials, teachers, and students. Some of his suggestions no doubt will not be popularfor example, his stand against the current pressures estranging church and statebut his is no jeremiad but, rather, a broad, humanistic appeal to reconsider the mission of the common school as the hallmark of a free society.Recent significant trends such as the abandonment of pass-fail grading systems bring into relief what Dr. Stoddard has to say and underscore the urgency of his message. Dr. Stoddard s "Outlook "is certain to provoke discussion for some time to come."