Page 8 - CROSSROADS
MAY 1972
Of
Courts
And
Colleges
COACH CAN’T FORCE
PLAYER TO WEAR SHORT
HAIR. Harris v. Teaneck Board
of Education, Decision of N.J.
Commissioner of Education,
1970. The decision held that it
was improper to deny a student
the right to participate in
athletics because he refused to
cut his hiar. Coaches may select
team members on the basis of
individual competence, but
eligibility rules should not in
clude limitations on hair style
and length.
(The School Law Newsletter.
Vol. 2, No. 6, May - June, 1972.)
(P.E. TEACHER’S BIKINI
UPHELD?) Matter of H.
Martin. 10 Ed Dept. Rep., N.Y.
Comm. Decision No. 8156. T^e
New York commissioner or
dered the Board to rescind its
ruling concerning a “bikini”
bathing suit worn by a P.E.
teacher. Apparently, there was
no substantial evidence that the
bikini was a distracting -
disruptive factor or that it in
terfered with the teaching -
learning processes. ?
(The School Law Newsletter,
Vol. 2, No. 6, May - June, 1972.)
Task Force Warns
Jobs And Manpower
At Critical Stage
A task force created last year
by the National Education
Association warned in an interim
report this week that the nation
“will under-utilize increasing
numbers of college educated
people unless larger numbers of
appropriate employment op
portunities are opened for
college graduates.” For the first
time in many years, the panel
said, “the characteristics of the
new supply of manpower are
considerably out of phase with
the characteristics of em
ployment opportunities.”
The task force, appointed last
June, declared: “The supply of
young manpower is growing at a
record rate, the number of jobs
is not growing as rapidly as a few
years ago, and the situation is
more critical for college
educated manpower than for
workers who have not attended
college.”
“The country needs to use its
college educated manpower to
accelerate its progress toward.
the achievement of national
goals in education, welfare,
justice, transportation, housing,
and many other areas,” the task
force said. “Action is needed
now to assure that large num
bers of jobs are created which
are consistent with national
goals and which also are ap
propriate to the capabilities of
the increasing supply of college
graduates.”
NEA said it decided to issue an
interim report as a national
warning bell because the task
force became convinced that the
need for immediate and long
term planning and action is
urgent.
The report indicates that the
number of young people ready to
enter the labor market will
continue to set records yearly
until the early 1980s as a result of
the high birth rate in the late
1940s and through the 1950s.
Growth of the entire male labor
force will have been an
estimated 30 percent from 1960 to
1980, while the 20-to 24 year-old
male labor force will have in
creased 78 percent.
The task force said it elected to
quickly explore the employment
situation of young males as a
starting point and noted: “It is
reasonable to assume that if the
trend is toward an undersupply
of jobs for male college
graduates, the same trend
probably will be applicable to
female college graduates to an
equal or greater extent.” The
report notes that not only will the
young work force become a
greater percentage of the total
work in the future, but that a
greater proportion of the college-
age people will be getting
degrees than in the past.
Declaring that appropriate job
opportunities “have been
withering away,” the report
states that in 1971, for example,
the increase in the number of
male white-collar workers was
less than one-fourth as large as
in each of the preceding five
years. Between 1970and 1971, the
report states, the number of
male employees in professional-
technical occupations actually
decreased by 100,000. It said
surveys of employment offers to
prospective college graduates
“underscore the shrinking job
opportunities.”
The report states that the
unemployment rate for 20- to 24
year-old white males rose from
4.2 percent in 1968 to 9.7 percent
in 1971. For nonwhites the
situation was even worse - an
increase from 6.6 percent to 16.3
percent.
In urging the creation of more
jobs in public education, the task
force said there was a drop of an
estimated 15,700 positions for
beginning teachers between 1970
and 1971, whereas NEA
estimates that 565,000 additional
teaching positions are needed
“to provide quality education
programs for all children.” The
report urges that additional
teaching positions are needed to
reduce maximum class sizes,
provide special education ser
vices to students needing but not
now receiving them, establish
kindergarten and nursery school
education for all children in that
age group, and enlarge the scope
of school offerings. More sup
portive personnel also are
recommended in such areas as
school libraries, guidance, and
psychological, health, and social
services.
The report warns that unless
action is taken, “the possibility
of achieving our national goals
will continue to elude our grasp,
and the quality of life and work
will deteriorate for large number
of citizens who will become
either dissatisfied with the jobs
for which they are overly
qualified or demoralized as the
result of having to accept a
series of ‘make-work’ jobs
created to reduce unemployment
among those who have been
displaced by over qualified
college graduates.”
(Higher Education and
National Affairs, Vol. 21, No. 11,
March 17, 1972.)
Something New
Florida International
University will initiate the state
universities’ first external
degree program in September.
Students will be able to take up
to 10 years to complete the
degree, and each will work under
a contract that is individually
tailored to the student’s needs.
Independent study, regular
courses, media programming,
testing, seminars and short
courses off campus will be
utilized.
Madison College, Va., students
had the option of charging tuitic^
of a major credit card beginning
this semester. The school pays
no fee for the service. Gifts by
individuals also can be charged.
East Carolina University will
begin a B.S. degree program in
environmental health this fall.
Allied health courses and
chemistry and microbiology
instruction are included in the
curriculum.
South Georgia College reports
initial success in a program that
seeks to help college students
with poor academic
backgrounds by having them
tutor elementary students with
similar difficulties in reading
and math.
(Regional Spotlight, Vol. 5,
No. 7, March, 1972.)
Faculty Openings Increase
The Cooperative College
Registry reported March 30 that
colleges and universities on that
date listed 14 percent more
vacancies for faculty and ad
ministrative positions than on
the same date a year ago.
Elizabeth S. Fisher, executive
director of the registry, pointed
out, however, that the increase is
“not spread evenly across all
disciplines.” In some areas,
particularly English and modern
languages, there were further
declines.
The accompanying table
prepared by the registry shows
vacancies and registrants for 23
disciplines with at least 25
registrants each. Mrs. Fisher
said the total number of ap
plicants declined this year
because it was necessary to
institute a $10 service fee. For
eight years the registry listed
persons without cost. The
registrants in the table include
those with earned doctorates
except M.D., D.D.S., and D.V.M.
plus those who expect to have a
doctorate in hand before Sept. 1,
1972.
Biology vacancies, reflecting
new college-level ecology
programs, rose to 63 this year
compared to only 31 a year ago.
However, there are 334
registrants, second only to 337
prospective history teachers.
Colleges and universities also
listed 125 administrative
vacancies, up sharply from 66
the year before.
Mrs. Fisher said change in
modern language requirements
are largely responsible for the
decline in demand for French,
German and Spanish teachers.
DISCIPLINE
REGISTRANTS
’72
VACANCIES
’71 ’72
ART 28
BIOLOGY 334
BUSINESS ADMIbT. 27
CHEMISTRY 321
DRAMA 57
ECONOMICS 138
EDUCATION 265
ENGINEERING 72
ENGLISH 148
FRENCH 38
GERMAN 35
HISTORY 337
MATHEMATICS 151
MUSIC 60
PHILOSOPHY 116
PHYSICS 155
POLITICAL SCIENCE 208
PSYCHOLOGY 212
RELIGION 176
SOC-ANTHRS. 150
SPANISH 27
SPEECH 70
ADMINISTRATION -|-|-
TOTALS+ + + 3,353
NOTES: ++ Registrants
counted in disciplines in which
Doctorate earned; Doctorates in
Education Administration
counted in Education.
968 1.103
-f-f-fTotals also include
disciplines not listed above.
Total registrants including
Master’s level: 5,308.
HIGHER EDUCATION AND NATIONAL AFFAIRS, Vol. 21, No. 13.