Toward a new world; Reflections on the Truman Doctrine, part two

And as Greece faces up to the fierce competition which is fast approaching in his dealings with the European Economic Community countries she will need all the vigor and skills obtainable to meet that competition successfully. Some ominous trends are already apparent. Greek exports to the ECB have grown at a slower rate since 1963 when she joined the EEC then have her import from ECB and other words she is already taking on some of the characteristics of a colony and that she is exporting essentially. Raw materials and some manufactured goods but importing more exports. Now education may very well be the key. I think it is the key in large part to whether or not Greece finds genuine economic stability and adequate new development. Yet it is in this field that one finds very disturbing evidence of the inadequacy of the recovery and development program.

The percentage of persons who had completed secondary education of all kinds did not increase as between 1951 and 1961 and the percentage of those who had completed higher education rose only very slick and other words. There was no acceleration of the educational production at key levels in the population. The Greek government has only recently come to realize fully the importance of vocational and technical education and absolutely essential necessity to match educational programmes with development plan economic planning began seriously in 1954. Creation of the economic develop development financing organization that was followed in 1960 by the establishment of the Industrial Development Corporation and then as I said by a comprehensive development plan but no comparable effort in the education

and training of manpower was even begun until very recently in 1959 the Ministry of Education made some tentative steps in this direction especially in organizing technical training but they mood very slow. As a consequence as late as 1964 the OEC de survey of Greek manpower was obliged to report that quote Despite the crying shortage of technicians in the Greek labor market. Technical Education still plays a far weaker role in the country than it should do even though there was an improvement from 1955 to 1960 to the enrollment ratio for secondary technical education in Greece is the lowest in Europe. That's the ratio not numbers of people. Roman nation. And of course. The persistence of high prestige for non-technical education. Classical Studies and otherwise probably accounts for this

low enrollment ratio and for the acute lack of qualified teachers and in adequate financial support for technical education. I'm going to interject here that I think that this is partly a consequence of an unfortunate kind of nationalism which looks too much to Greece's glory in the past and the believe that the Greeks who once were the model for the Western world already had it made so to speak and didn't need to borrow or innovate or to adapt what others had done. This is what I meant when I said that plan nationalism becomes a limiting force and keeps the people from taking advantage of what others have done because of their own pride and pride they think they're good enough. Then as when the UK and Greece I think is paying a very high price for this kind of nationalism.

In 1960 for example students in Greece in higher education were still predominantly in the humanities fine arts social sciences and medicine engineering natural sciences and agriculture accounted for less than 17 percent of all the students. And I say again this isn't a country that needs desperately to develop and says it wants to develop but isn't producing the people who will make the development possible. By 1963 the situation had improved considerably with natural science engineering and agriculture constituting about 30 percent of the total enrollment. But still law and medicine combined provided about 40 percent of all higher education in Rome. Is any one thing that Athens can spare its surplus lawyers. Having by the thousands and but this was the field of study it along with the fine arts and humanities which brought prestige in times past.

In 1965 the distribution of students and teaching staff in Greece showed only fifty three thousand students in technical schools out of a total enrollment in secondary schools of three hundred and sixty eight thousand other words only one in seven. By contrast take a country like Taiwan which has recognized its need for training manpower has been willing to relate education plans to economic needs. And in the same year Taiwan had a ratio of about one student and technical schools to four and a half and other. Schools other words almost twice as good as Greece. To conclude this data heavy discussion on Greek education and human resources I call your attention to a very provocative book published in 1964 by for the Congress and Charles Myers in the title education manpower and economic growth

strategies of human resource development. By applying several human resource indicators the authors arrive at the rank order district distribution which puts Greece in the category of a semi advanced country. Almost exactly at the medium of a group of 21 countries in the same category. But quite significant they say Greece is well below the median for the number of teachers and engineers in the population. And in terms of expenditure on education as a percentage of national income. Recent decrees by the military government of Greece promised some invigoration of the education program in mid May of this year and I was there it was announced that the government allocations to education for the coming academic year would be increased one hundred and ten percent. That is more than double. Additional subsidies to education I anticipated through loans from international banks and investment organisation. The technical services of the Ministry of Education of the Directorate of school buildings have been merged

in order to expedite the realisation of educational projects with a stress technical education especially to cover the needs of the problems of the outside of Athens and thus the law making. In addition the government has also announced that all fees and subscriptions of all kinds to all public schools building those of technical education will be abolished. All students regardless of economic status to be provided with free books of all levels of education. Primary secondary and university. These measures are long overdue for many students have had to abandon their education for lack of funds especially for the purchase of professors books which in some cases in Greece had been a deplorable racket. I trust that I touch on my toes here. Now if he's very commendable measures enforced and maintained in the following years there can be a tremendous upsurge in the development of the human resources. A grave sad truth is that the need for trained manpower and

especially training facilities in the rural areas was not recognized and not built in the earliest years of the development plan. Now in light of this last comment one may ask if the United States did all that it might have done to help Greece develop her human resources. To answer this question is a qualified no. Certainly as far as the. US government programs of aid degrees are concerned early aid programs quite naturally concentrated on very. Urgent requirements for food fuel fertilizer for the fields restoration of communications networks conk canal and the re building of port facilities resettlement of over a million refugees from rural areas and the reconstruction of the minimal minimal apparatus of the society. But under the heading of long term programs for Greece the scene in 1949

the US aid mission saw a need for only seven and a half million dollars of equivalent in foreign exchange for education. Out of a total estimated need of five hundred and forty five million less less than one and a half percent. In other words and made it the next lowest item in the total review of foreign exchange me the Greek government on its part didn't have a much higher estimate by the figure of only 10 million almost 11 million out of a total estimated to be five hundred and seventy two million. And it is obvious that both governments at this point did not see what is clearly coming in terms of the need for education. This is explained perhaps in part. By. The feeling that this is an area of some sensitivity and that the United States has an outside government

body to keep education and example in 1960 in the reported tide of years of cooperation which was a USCIS publication. Circulated mainly for government officials and to people very much interested in education. They said this The American aid program has during the past decade tried to help improve the Greek educational system always remembering however that the education of children is primarily the responsibility of the Greeks themselves. The American mission limited itself to improving Greek educational facilities building schools helping build schools. The mission has not involved itself in the question of the type of studies Greek students receive. And another part of the report however they note that any of us has a quote again any plans for the expansion of Greek industry in trade rested upon the training of sufficient

technicians to run the machines in the new factories and shops making due allowance for the sensitivity of any country about outside meddling in it said occasional systems. It is apparent that as late as 1960 the United States government had not put as much pressure on Greece as I think it might have. To encourage the Greeks to provide a more realistic education for a society in desperate need of rapid economic development. Earlier I asked what the U.S. might have done by way of direct aid to Greek education and what might have been done to strengthen American sponsored schools in Greece. One could easily give a lecture here on the role of the American sponsored schools in Greece. Several such schools the oldest being the Hill School which pilots at the foot of the Acropolis is not named for geographic reasons but it's named after John Hill of New York who

founded it in 1831 in terms of Grace's need for manpower equipped to cope with the problems of a modern industrial and agricultural production therefore American schools of special note. Athens college for boys Pierce College for girls and at only a college and the American Farm School both of which I knew Thessaloniki the American sponsored undergraduate colleges have been supported almost entirely by tuition and by private American resources with very small amounts of aid from Greek sources. Despite the fact that the schools are for Greek students operating under Greek laws and supervision in recent years some aid for these schools has come from the US government from nine hundred fifty eight to nine hundred sixty five. About five million dollars of U.S. government funds have gone to these American schools. And in the past three years about another minute or so all told about six million dollars

of US government direct grants. Considering the fact that there are about 3000 Greek students enrolled in these four American schools and even more waiting to come in if they could get them this is not a very generous subvention on the part of our government to an enterprise of major significance for Greece and also for great American relations in the standards of teaching. The caliber of the product innovation of laboratory work and open library shelves which these schools have introduced prove their worth many times over their coffee. Greeks will readily concede this to them. They think I can honestly say they are proud of these schools and yet it seems to me a pity that the Greeks themselves give so very little support to the schools. If they gave more. I'm quite certain the United States would give some up to the US government to private assistance to Greek educational research and cultural institutions

from 1950 to 1965 amounted to only twenty six million dollars out of the total that I mentioned to you. Hundreds of millions of dollars and economic and military aid there's been some additional aid to be sure in the Fulbright program providing for the exchange of scholars and students all told some 2000 American Greek Americans and Greeks up or dissipated in this program. But here again one finds some odd emphases from a little study that I made of the American scholars and teachers going to Greece under the for about program on a. Only a very very small fraction of our grantees our senior scholars and lecturers. Were in fields like agriculture marketing statistics and industrial management. The great preponderance of our Senior grantees have been in classical studies.

American civilization and English literature and very often at the request of the Greek members of the Fulbright Commission in Greece. I'm not arguing that all of the efforts of Greek and American educators should be focused on the educational requirements for modernization but I am concerned that the classical tradition in education should be subordinated. If Greece is ever to achieve the kind of economic stability and vigor that she sees for herself and that we have tried to help her achieve for 20 years it is simply a case of directing and developing educational support and activity along those channels which will definitely contribute to the creation and maintenance of the kind of modern society that Greek leaders repeatedly have said they want to achieve. No society has to modernize. But I'm convinced that no society can modernize without a very

heavy investment in education and research that will advance that objective. Only other way to raise the level of living on a per capita basis is by constant imports of outside aid. In other words to be dependent on outside sources or by exporting one's own people and neither one of these. Certainly as a people or a country that wants to be genuinely modern since 1961 Greece has been participating in the Mediterranean regional project for education one of these European undertakings organized and coordinated by the organization for European economic development which is a joint research project for Greece Italy Portugal Spain Turkey and Yugoslavia. And at assessing the educational needs of each of the country particularly those needs relating to scientific and technical manpower in the context of economic growth targets for the year 1975.

The targets determine for Greece by 1975 are staggering. Significant projections include a doubling of student enrollment in technical and vocational education and in higher education. These targets will require an increase in teaching staff of almost double the 1961 staff and technical and vocational schools and even more in higher education. General secondary school teaching staff will also have to nearly double just by seeing this projection into the future. You've got another view of what hasn't been done in the past 20 years since these needs are in the high cost area of education. There will have to be an unprecedented increase of public and private expenditure on education in Greece moving up from percentage one point to the something like 3.5 at least of her gross

national product. Can Greece meet these targets assuming that they are reasonably accurate projections of essential though. There are so many variables in the total projection that it is very difficult to estimate possible success or failure even in the data on education of course there are significant variables in such items as teacher pupil ratios new teaching methods and equipment which could very cost productions vary considerably. And the amount of outside help that might come either as volunteers like some of the young people who are teaching in the American schools or outside help in the form of financial support more basic perhaps than all of these rather technical questions is the question of the conviction and the commitment of the Greek people and the government to make an unprecedented annual investment in education and training especially in areas of study hitherto neglected or grossly under emphasized. In Greek

society. Cultural and social values normally do not change quickly under the compulsion of outside pressure for example the impact of Russia's Sputnik in 1957 on the United States and our attitudes toward the need for more mathematics and physical science in our high schools. Oh by the very strong hand of a determined leader such as came a lot of talk in Turkey societies can make major alterations in their educational patterns and institutions. In my recent visit to Greece I did not sense any such revolution in that country sufficient to support these ambitious targets. It may come and ironically it might come from the strong military government now in the control. I believe that is a basically conservative orientation in the new regime despite some reforms in education. But the root of all of these problems of economic stability and order in the political processes lies of fairly

simple dogma. It is that there can be no great society anywhere. Until there is a genuine concern on the part of the whole society. For every individual in the society and this is just as important until every individual has a strong commitment to support the welfare of all the society. This simply means that human capital needs to be developed with as much concern and support and constant boldness as the physical resources and the physical cap and the financial capital. Few countries ours included have fully achieved this ideal balance of all three sources of production and grace under development of the Human Resources is a major challenge for the future. If Greece is to be truly modern We will have to help

as we could help with a new kind of Marshall Plan for the intensive development in Greece of the resources of the human mind and spirit. Given this kind of undertaking a straw poll of leadership Greece could become a model for the developing world for so many countries on exactly this same situation. And the experience could be invigorating for us also and all others that are more developed more industrialized and able to help. I would hope that sometime in the future I come back you may hear I can give a talk on looking back on the second Marshall Plan the development of human resources. Great thank you. Thank you John for your excellent presentation.

I'm delighted to see that you tonight he's back in the audience because there were some references made to him at the beginning of the speech when the game said that he received a Ph.D. from eel a couple of times. And of the rest of the four times and there are three other people and about her who have not received any. And I wonder if the fact that he spoke about agrees has anything to do with his Ph.D.. And the questions written or oral. With. My. Mom. But I can't. The next thing we have. I think the most common condition that I think it was made almost

bearable is that there be clear evidence of self-help in other words we are asking for system the way that we have. We are to give help. We must know what the country is doing to help itself. This will probably in most cases take the form of a very carefully worked out development plan. For years this was the pattern followed in the organization for European economic cooperation the plan went to the organization it was in Europe. You know it was over and we observer it was only after the 16 participating countries had reviewed the country's proposals and plans. Then came to. Ask us. What help we could give in the intermediate stage it was very important and I think again we are going to strive

as that having asked first what are you doing to help yourself. We're going to press more and more on what are you doing in a cooperative way with others in conditions similar to yourself or who have some reason to be helping you develop in other words mutual aid. So we move as a set of conditions through self-help mutual aid and then you have say this can mean that something like the Mediterranean regional project and this field of education we might conceivably want to wait a couple more years. This project is near its target date and then say alright the six of you together working through Hoey she d have identified without any question certain essential goals in me. These are convincing to us we will put up X amount you put up wired and

somebody else will put up see and the way we go. But I think without any doubt this is this is minimal. Now we've gone beyond this and the number of cases required that there be clear indications of improvement in primary education and social reforms and tax reforms. If ever we could get many of the beneficiary countries to apply honestly and regularly proper tax system they wouldn't need a lot of the heat that they get from us from others and be a whole lot less of their capital coming to the United States for investment in US stocks and Parkman so there would be getting depressed too and that's getting right into the heart of the political card. When you say that we're asking our economic conditions are just so poor person. A letter from Paul. John if I ask a question in connection with your answer does it mean that we are now grounding age two countries which first established a

national entity. Secondly move into the market national relationship with others and on that then we move without economic aid. Well I'm not sure that it goes in exactly that the ground movement for example in some cases in the media they may be maybe liar or maybe you know Arkansas and now were not rude about you know all that we poured into billion dollar power what to do with the other person. With the weapon we are stronger than we thought we would be OK without the thing to do with the love brought to the Down For Whatever. And I might never find the work combo

done that contributed to it. So wherever possible we can strike the instant of mutual hate. This can be had to do. Evidence of self-help and some cases having achieved both with what is happening is a tremendous input of America because the evidence of. A vigorous bill of the innovation as in Taiwan and then American capital builds them and thank God. You have been listening to the Institute on world affairs a series of lectures and discussions held each year on the San Diego State College campus. At this session the principal speaker was Dr. John Gaines the director Institute of International Studies and

oversees administration for the University of Oregon. The institute brings together noted leaders from all walks of life who address themselves to the perplexing problems that face mankind. The Institute on world affairs was broadcast and recorded as a public service by the ABS radio and television facility of San Diego State College San Diego California. This is the national educational radio network.