University of Virginia Library

Education: Falling Back Is Out Of The Question

—Ed.)

We have gathered here today at
a critical time in the life of the
institutions we represent—and in
the life of the people of the state
our institutions serve.

I use the word "critical"
optimistically—not negatively.

We are called on to assure the
continuing support for higher
education in Virginia and we must
maintain it if we are to meet the
demands of the 1970's. Standing
still will not be enough. Falling
back is out of the question.

Moving forward is what we're
about and why we are here today.
This is the business of the day...the
business of higher education in
Virginia.

We take up this important
business at a time when there are
those among our citizens who feel
that our institutions of higher
learning are not fulfilling their
proper function...that they are
focusing on frills and forgetting the
basics...that they have abandoned
the discipline required in education
for a freedom of unlimited bounds.

Some are disenchanted with our
faculties. Academic freedom, they
say, is being abused.

Some say we are nothing but
another bureaucracy...growing big
for the sake of bigness.

Many Examples

We could, of course, debate
each point...and successfully, too.
We could point to many examples
of student involvement in the
solution of campus and community
problems...to the new and
important knowledge new faculty
members have brought to our
campuses and to our state...and to
the goals we have achieved in
meeting the needs of Virginia's
growing college-age population.

But to debate these issues at this
point would be to deter us from
our objective. It would also put us
in violation of that fine, old rule
established by that new member of
baseball's Hall of Fame, the
illustrious Satchel Paige.

It was Satch who said, "Never
look back; someone might be
gaining on you."

We are here today to look
ahead—to look ahead to the
Virginia of the 1970's and to the
kind of system of higher education
that we must have to serve our
fellow citizens in this time of
growth and change.

Last May, at Madison College,
former Governor Mills E. Godwin,
Jr., had this to say:

"Today our leaders build their
own monuments, not so that their
position, or their wealth, or even
their good works will be
remembered, but so that those who
follow them will have a better
chance to achieve their objectives in
life. This is evidence of our
maturity in America."

Governor Godwin's words have
meaning for us.

The monument we must build is
a system of higher education equal
to the task of providing the best
education for every citizen
according to his need and within his
ability.

It is not our job alone. We
cannot do it alone...even if we
wanted to. We want help, we need
help, and we can get help if the
message that we carry forth today
is clear and relevant. I am sure it
will be.

We must make clear that the
very future of our state is
dependent on continuing and
improving the pattern of support
for education that was established
by the General Assembly in the
second half of the 1960's.

And we must assure Virginians
everywhere that we are making the
maximum use of each facility we
have...that we are operating more
efficiently by the day...that we are
in a war on waste of every
kind...that we are, as Governor
Holton wants, both lean and strong.

This decade is going to put
greater demands on our public
system of higher education in
Virginia that we have ever known
before. Virginia's rate of civilian
population growth will continue to
outstrip the national average during
the 1970's. Only Florida will grow
faster in the Southeast.

The in-flow of people from
other states will continue to be
high. We will continue to see a
change from a rural population to
an urban population. We will see
greater industrialization. And with
it all, we will see greater emphasis
on human needs.

What does all this mean to us as
we gather here today?

It means, first, that we will
have to be concerned with greater
numbers of students. Our
college-age population is expected
to rise from 325,000 to 380,000 by
1980.

We will have to put emphasis on
retraining and the development of
new skills in citizens long
accustomed to one way of life but
thrust into another.

Urban Virginia—like urban
America—brings forth problems in
the areas of housing,
transportation, land use,
government and environmental
pollution—and we will have to
educate people to solve those
problems.

We cannot wait. By planning
now, we can avoid, hopefully, the
chaos that other urban areas have
known. But planning takes
planners—and we will have to
produce them.

We must make a greater
commitment to graduate and
professional education... for
example, we have a catch-up job to
do in the development and training
of physicians and paramedical
personnel. Some communities
don't have a single physician, much
less a specialist for serious illnesses.

Our list could go on. Suffice it
to say that the demands will be
many and the need for a diversity
of educational opportunity will be
great. Fortunately, Virginia has
started down this latter road.

We have recognized that the
four-year college is not the answer
for every Virginian. Nor can any
one school or type of school even
hope to meet the educational
challenges that lie ahead.

What are our responsibilities...those
of us who have
gathered here today in support of
the institutions we represent?

Time And Effort

First of all, we must believe in
what we are about...in our
institutions, in our system of higher
education and, mos of all, in
Virginia and her people.

Then we must take the time and
effort...the dedication, in fact...to
communicate this belief to those in
our own communities who look to
us for guidance on matters of
higher education.

We must believe deeply in what
is true...that we have outstanding
educational institutions...not
perfect...they make mistakes...but
the truth is that they are
outstanding.

We spend time at our colleges
and universities and if your
experience is the same as mine, we
come away inspired by what is
going on.

It is now time to inspire others.

The young people we are
educating are this state's and
country's future leaders...not
because they have to be but
because they deserve to be...they
are entitled to be.

They are bright and they are
concerned and for every misfit
there are a hundred or more in
whom we can put the greatest trust.

Our objective, then, is clear and
sound. We must move now to
maintain the momentum toward
educational excellence that was
started in the 1960's.

This we must do is we are to
responsibly serve those future
generations of Virginians who have
had faith in us and who will be
called...as we are...to meet
tomorrow's challenges from a solid
base of past performance.