San Jose State College - La Torre Yearbook (San Jose, CA)

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JOHN T. WAHLDQU IST PRESIDENT San Jose State College SAN JOSE 14. CALIFORNIA IDEALS AND THE SPACE AGE The Space Age confr'onTs The graduaTe on many TronTiers -- The conTrol oT aTomic power, The exploiTaTion oT elecTronic Hbrains, anal The exploraTion of space. MeanTime, The UniTed STaTes, which in The lasT Two decades has become The cenTer of human affairs, musT learn To handle The posiTion of leadership ThaT has been ThrusT upon us. Our ciTizens musT, for The TirsT Time, recognize ThaT The New Horizon goes round The World. The upsurge of The new naTions and The languages and culTures of Their peoples are now, as never before, American concerns. In TacT, H is doubTTul ThaT any of us is properly educaTed for The Tasks ahead. The TradiTional breadTh of learning will noT suffice. Even when The new culTures are sampled and parTially undersTood, many horizons will remain unexplored. More- over, The depTh of our learning in cerTain areas relaTed To The new Technologies musT be sTrengThened as never before. Science, maThemaTics, and engineering are properly subiecT maTTers Tor NaTional Defense. AlThough we can noT oleny The depTh oT hisTory and our culTuraI heriTage, we musT be concerned wiTh The new dimensions of learning and The breadTh of conTemporary knowledge and Techniques Even Though we are freshly graduaTed, There exisTs a TaTeTul lag in our Training. Even The concepT of liberal learning as The basic ingredienT of any inTelligenT unolersTanding of The world musT change and expand and be reassessed, from Time To Time, in Terms of The changing world. The success or' failure of our naTion will largely be a reflecTion of The ouTlook and shorTcomings oT iTs ciTizens. IT is now generally recognized ThaT The mosT impor- TanT asseT of any naTion is iTs human resources. The sTabiliTy and adapTabiliTy oT iTs social, economic anal poliTical insTiTuTions are largely a reflecTion of HS educa- Tional programs. ATTer The naTion has done iTs very besT Tor iTs youTh, The TuTure is largely up To Them, H is up To Them To rise To new heighTs, To enTer The Space Age wiTh digniTy, or To consign Themselves To a deserT of aTomic olusT. IT is up To Them To geT along wiTh oTher peoples, counTries, and culTures, or To Take The consequences of Their neglecT ancl misundersTandings. The New Horizon will demand new knowledge, new insighTs, and more wisdom Than ever before displayed. WheTher or noT you disconTinue formal schooling I urge you in your own inTeresT, and for The welfare of your counTry, To keep up wiTh The procession. January 20, 1964 s JO N . W QUIST