Review

Source: AAUP Bulletin, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Jun., 1969), p. 293

Published by: American Association of University Professors
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a word today, it is an incantation.
It is a kind of psychic wonder drug,
powerful and presumably painless,
and everyone wants a prescription."
In truth, however, "Creativity re-
quires the freedom to consider 'un-
thinkable' alternatives, to doubt the
worth of cherished practices."
"The greatest American educa-
tional invention of the nineteenth
century was the land-grant college.
The greatest American educational
invention of the twentieth century
is the two-year community college."
"Faculty mobility may be excessive
today, but too much of it is better
than too little of it." "The question
of anonymity and impersonality of
student life is also a real issue in
many institutions, a problem worthy
of all our wisdom and inventive-
ness." In dealing with the federal
government, "universities must be
highly selective," more so than in the
past when many chased federal dol-
lars indiscriminately and some still
do. "They not only do not look a
gift horse in the mouth; they don't
even pause to note whether it is a
horse or a boa constrictor." Univer-
sities must be at the same time
havens for dissent and the breeding
ground of social action.
"The sad truth is that a great
many of our organizations are badly
managed or badly led"; their leaders
are skilled in the modern art of
" 'How to reach a decision without
really deciding/" "I would lay it
down as a basic principle of human
organization that the individuals who
hold the reins of power in any enter-
SUMMER
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prise cannot trust themselves to be
adequately self-critical." "The first
and last task of the leader is to keep
hope alive
cerpts do that effectively.
Directory of American Scholars,
edited by the Jaques Cattell Press,
Jaques Cattell Press / R.R. Bowker
Co., N.Y., N.Y., 518 per volume.
The procession of the fifth edition
of the biographical directories of
American Scholars is well under way.
"Volume I: History" appeared in
February, "Volume II: English,
Speech and Drama" in March, "Vol-
ume III, Foreign Languages, Lin-
guistics and Philology" in June, and
"Volume IV: Philosophy, Religion
and Law" will be available in Au-
gust. These standard reference works
are companions to the directory of
American Men of Science.
The Building of the American City,
Report of the National Commission
on Urban Problems to the Congress
and to the President of the United
States, U.S. Government Printing
Office, $4.50 paperboard, 504 pp.
This report was prepared by a staff
of 46 headed by Mr. Howard E.
Shuman, working for approximately
two years under the direction of a
16-member commission chaired by
former Senator Paul H. Douglas.
The report is Congress's response to
President Johnson's call for a study
of city building codes, zoning, devel-
opment standards, and local and
federal tax policies in order to pro-
vide data for dealing with slums,
1969
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
housing, and urban growth, sprawl,
and blight. It should be an essential
source book for universities or in-
dividual academicians undertaking
public service projects in our trou-
bled cities.
The World Educational Crisis: A
Systems Analysis, by Philip H.
Coombs. New York: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1968. 241 pp. The idea that
higher education can profit by em-
ploying sound business methods has
been around for some time. The idea
has much to recommend it, and
Mr. Coombs updates it by means of
the techniques and vocabulary of
systems analysis. Though the author
begs off from more than a general
prescription, the reader may still be
disappointed, after reading much
about innovation and moderniza-
tion, to find . neither treated with
satisfying specificity.
The Brass Factories, by /. Arthur
Heise. Washington, D.C.: Public Af-
fairs Press, 1969. 190 pp. $6.00. Mr.
Heise, writing from first-hand ex-
perience as a faculty member at the
Air Force Academy, frankly ap-
praises all three service academies.
His book may be useful to facul-
ties confronted with a decision
about continuing or discontinuing
R.O.T.C. One of Mr. Heise's sug-
gestions is that the services might
save money and improve the intel-
lectual quality of their officer corps
by sending officer candidates to Har-
vard or other non-military academic
institutions.
F.W.W.
293