Decade for Decision

With the Soviet launch of Sputnik, America went into high gear to close the education gap. This short extols the "urban university" and its promise for the future, with a closer look at the University of Buffalo. Alas, this institution has changed its name to "The University at Buffalo". Apparently I'm not the first to think of asking how educated our bison need to be.

Is this another of the industrial films created by a particular institution (the University of/at Buffalo) and then offered to RKO for release to theaters? Could be.

Sputnik is the inciting incident. This Pathe-RKO short starts arguing for more education. For some reason, it goes to Buffalo. With 1957 and the title, I assumed that this would be something different. It is disappointing to say the least that this is little more than a pitch for higher education. Well, somebody had to do this. Not every educational news shorts are dealing with compelling subject matters.

University of Buffalo is used as the example of an "urban university" which uses the entire industrial scene as a teaching aid rather than having an ivory tower mentality.

The film pushes the idea that we have to teach in high school the physics that we are now teaching in college in order to catch up with the Soviets. We have to offer high school grads both a science/math background for the space race in "the present emergency" as well as liberal and fine arts. Applied science allows work on actual problems on farm or industry. Many of the students are plant workers who commute and are often financed by their employers to attend evening sessions if that fits their shifts. The emphasis is on the diversity of the student body, all ages and backgrounds.

The university evolved from a medical college and is involved in pure research on things like the heart. 59 years before, the first organized research on cancer began at this school. If people would give up cigarettes they could afford to pay teachers a decent wage. (Whether that is a nod to the cancer research is hard to say.) Pay for teachers is lagging way behind so inflation-adjusted wages are at 1940 levels which is why it is hard to get students into that field when we need them to build up the availability of higher education. 1970 was mentioned so the film seems to be anticipating the baby boom will create a big demand. The meshing of grads and industry benefits both. College is a right not a privilege. Come preserve our nation. Come and learn.

As with most of these short subjects, this is excellent as history and a lot of it rings true today, particularly the importance of matching the needs of business with the studies of the college students.