University of Arkansas Commencement Address, June 1961

- 3 - To assist them attain their aspirations one of the essential means is education. University education which is necessary for the future develop- ment of the new African states is being force-fed under the stimulus of nationalism. In addition to the rapid demise of colonialism, and in addition to the social and economic transformations taking place in the Western democracies, there are the teachings of Karl Marx which have led directly to a revolution for nearly half the population of the globe. In this connection, we must recognize that in the eyes of the Communists a better society is possible only with education and indoctrination. No better proof of their convictions exists than the new university opened in Moscow this past fall, significantly called Friendship University, with whose rector I spent the better part of a morning last year. It is planned that in four years this institution is to enroll up to 4,000 students from Africa, Asia, South and Central America with their travel and other expenses provided. Does this not give us pause for thought? ********** In my travels a year ago the questions which were directed at me most consistently were not about education in the United States but about educational conditions in the USSR. Whether I met with the Vice Rector of the University of Saragossa in Spain, the Principal of the College of Technology in Loughborough, England, the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Sorbonne, a conference of teachers of English in the schools of Bavaria, the Rector of the Polytechnic University in Warsaw, or officials of the Cultusminister Conference in Bonn -- the discussions invariably turned to Russian education. Since most of you undoubtedly possess similar concern, let me proffer a few observations. In the first place, before the revolution of 1917-18 education in Russia was available for only a pitiably small percentage of the population -- whereas today, Communist doctrine relies on extensive and intensive educatio