University of Nebraska Omaha - Tomahawk / Gateway Yearbook (Omaha, NE)

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1 ROWLAND I-IAYNES PRESIDENT UNIVERSITY OF OMAI-IA i '5I-g' TOMAHAWK If '38 .4

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LONG-TIME INDIVIDUAL COLLEGE EDUCATION President Rowland P. Haynes wrote the name of the Uni- versity across the national educational picture when, in January of 1938, in his annual report to the Board of Regents he revealed for the first time a basically new idea in education. He called it Hlong-time individual college educationw. In simplest terms the idea is this: the student should not consider' his college education at an end when he has won his degree or has left college halls, but both he and the college should continue a relationship of study and guidance to continue a few years, or many years after the .student has embarked upon his adult career. I Disclosure of the Haynes plan excited interest and comment throughout the nation and educational world. Laudatory articles were carried in the press and educational journals from coast to coast. I The plan ties college educa.tion into the daily work of the self-supporting student by helping the student learn Uwhat his growing experience reveals that he will need to knoww. lt rejects the idea that a degree alone is a. certificate of education. It holds, rather, that no one can reach the saturation point in the process of education, that the latter con- tinues as long as life itself. lt advocates guiding the adult through this long process. lt gives him an introduction into the many fields of learning, revealing to him the wisdom of the ages and giving him a bird's-eye view of the far-flung horizons of knowl- edge. Then it would help him acquire the specinc knowledge which would be most helpful to him as he pursues his chosen career. To quote President Haynes: How does this proposal differ from what we have now? Chiefly in being usual and planned instead of being rare and haphazard. 'This plan is sound because it rests on two facts of the educational life. The first is a fact of the content of education: the second is a fact of the method of educa- tion. The first fact is that so much has been discovered that no student can learn all that he needs to know whether he stays at college full time for two years or for six or eight years. The second fact is that people learn better if they a.re moved by cur- rent interests as well as by remote interests. What we are surely going to do next month is a more powerful spring to action than what we may possibly do ten years from now. I have said that we have at the University of Omaha the foundations on which this program may be built. Specifically, what do I mean? First, we have the friendly and intelligent cooperation of the Superintendent of Schools and of the principals of the high schools in this city. Second, we have already begun the Work-Study Plan. f'Third, we have a guidance system for students at the University. 'fFourth, we already have the basis for a School of Adult Education. One editorial commented, 'fThis is a promising idea and one that, when it be- gins its operation in September at the University of Omaha, is bound to be watched with eager attention throughout the educational world. It may also be discovered that as the long-time individual co-llege education plan grows, the university itself will take on new color and meaning because of the association with it of tho-se who have assumed adult responsibilities, but continue to seek college help as they advance in life. TCDMAI-IAWK K '38