Speed-up or Charlatanism?

Should bright youngsters who have finished junior year in high school be allowed to skip into college, earn both a high-school diploma and a year of college credits at the same time? This plan was recommended last fortnight by a joint committee of the National Education Association and the American Association of School Administrators. The committee predicted, its widespread adoption by next autumn.

Purpose, said President Edmund Ezra Day of Cornell, is to "give young men a 'toe hold.' in college before they enter military service. ... If we don't do this, college education for the duration is the privilege of the women and the 4-F men."

The proposal was attacked and ridiculed as soon as it appeared. "Bargain-basement education . . . smacks of Alice in Wonderland . . . educational charlatanism," growled Dr. Edwin R. Van Kleeck, New York's assistant commissioner of Instructional Supervision. The speed-up "would make more headaches than it would cure," warned Dean Herbert Hawkes of Columbia. Students "would be coming into the colleges with a year less maturity, and the difficulties.of adjustments would be even more serious than they are now."

Many high schools will fight the plan. In many states, high schools get state grants based on their enrollments; the speed-up would cut their income.

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