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Show Rep. King Points to Goal Of Education in America The future of American leadership lead-ership will depend upon the ability abil-ity of American education to match Soviet strides in science and at the same time, continue "to show sustained progress in the social sciences and humanities humani-ties and, above all, in spiritual values." On this theme, Rep. David S. King Friday addressed members of the American Rocket Society who assembled in New York City to launch thework of the society's new space law and sociology so-ciology committee. Mr. King, a member of the committee, which is headed by Andrew G. Haley of Washington Washing-ton (a former Utahn) told society members and guests: "All the science in the world will not achieve the fine destiny most of us visualize for our country if we do not also continue con-tinue to nourish our gifts in law, philosophy and effective self-government. self-government. "These are areas in which we have a strong hand. Nevertheless, Neverthe-less, the social sciences are no more static than the physical i ones. They call for continuing research and application of effort. ef-fort. Otherwise, we shall not be able to make maximum use of them in the cause of world leadership," lead-ership," Rep. King said. I This challenge does not demand de-mand that American education emulate Russian education in all things. The Russians, he said, have emulated the United States in pursuing a philosophy of mass education to raise the knowledge level of all their people. "But if the Soviet emphasis is different from ours, if (as our experts allege) it is top heavy in the physical sciences, we cannot afford to ignore what is proving effective in their system." The congressman suggested the U. S. migh profitably take a few leaves from the Russians' book to: 1. Provide wider and better basic scientific training at the elementary and secondary school levels, using revised and up-to-date extras and learning aids. 2. Emphasize languages at the same levels. "By the time a Rus- (Continued on Page 8) ' Rep. King Points to Goal Of Education in America (Continued from Page 1) sian youngster completes his 10th year in school, he not only reads but has conversational competence in a foreign language. lan-guage. Common sense suggests the great advantage of this in reaping the benefit of knowledge knowl-edge which others have acquired in other tongues," Mr. King said. 3. Step up rapidly the translation transla-tion of foreign scientific writings writ-ings into English, and insure their dissemination. 4. Elevate the stature of the teaching profession. "This is probably the most important, and at the same time the most difficult of all our educational problems. "Perhaps the root of the prob lem lies in the public attitude I toward education. I sometimes wonder whether we Americans have the respect for education and educators we imagine we have. If our respect were as great as we imagine, our teachers already al-ready would enjoy the professional profes-sional stature they deserve." The American home, he said, puts too much emphasis on fun. "In an age when the volume of man's knowledge is growing at a fantastic rate, at the time when our need for intellectual discipline has never been as high, we surround our children with temptations and distractions to obscure the importance of learning learn-ing and the value of a cultivated mind." The title of Mr. King's address was "American Education in the space Age." Utah farmers will grow larger acreages of corn, dry beans and barley during the coming year, the Salt Lake office of the Agricultural Ag-ricultural Marketing Service reported re-ported this week. Gov George D. Clyde this week completed signing into law a record 158 bills passed by the 1959 Legislature. The governor vetoed five bills. . |