ENGINEERING EDUCATION AFTER THE WAR. The period covered by this paper followed the demobilization of that experiment in education under war conditions known as the Students' Army Training Corps. During the early part of 1917 many engineering students withdrew from the school of engineering to enter different branches of the Army and Navy of the United States, and others at this time, and even during the previous years from the outbreak of the World War in 1914, withdrew to enter the service of our allies or to become Red Cross drivers or workers. These withdrawals, followed by withdrawals due to the application of the Selective Service Draft Law, made it clear that steps must be taken to provide the Nation with men trained in engineering to fill the numerous places created by the war in the service of the United States and in the industries. For the purpose of conserving the engineers in training, the Engineer Corps of the United States Army made provision to enlist engineering students of the proper age in a Reserve Officers' Corps and to assign them back to their colleges to complete their engineering work. This did not prove entirely satisfactory, and its inadequacy was soon manifest. To care for all branches of the service, and to train men as officers, the colleges and universities of the country were organized to receive and train members of the Students' Army Training Corps. STUDENTS' ARMY TRAINING CORPS. During the summer of 1918 it became evident that, with the application of the selective draft law, steps would have to be taken to preserve the educational institutions of the country and to supply the country with trained men. After a number of conferences between educators and Government officers, the War Department organized a Committee on Education and Special Training, consisting of Col. Robert I. Rees, General Staff Corps; Col. John H. Wigmore, Provost Marshal General's Office; Lieut. Col. Grenville Clark, Adjutant General's Office; and Maj. Wm. R. Orton, War Plans Division, with Ralph Barton Perry as executive secretary. In addition to this committee, an advisory board representing the educational interests was formed, composed of President James R. Angell, Samuel P. Capen, James W. Dietz, Hugh Frayne, Charles R. Mann, Raymond H. Pearson, and Herman Schneider. About the end of July, 1918, after plans were prepared for the use of the colleges, the Secretary of War appointed President R. C. Maclaurin, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Director of College Training. The country was divided into 12 districts for this purpose, with a subdirector in each district. Practically all of the colleges of the United States entered into contracts with the Government to give instruction to men who were to be members of the Students' Army Training Corps. The various institutions made contracts for the subsistence, housing, and education of members of this corps, together with contracts for expenses connected with the construction of temporary buildings or making alterations in existing buildings belonging to the colleges, for the purpose of fitting them to the needs of the Government. The Students' Army Training Corps was raised under authority of the act of Congress approved May 18, 1917, commonly known as the Selective Service Act, authorizing the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States as amended by the act of August 31, 1918, and under General Order No. 79 of the War Department dated August 24, 1918, which was as follows: Under the authority conferred by sections 1, 2, 8, and 9 of the act of Congress authorizing the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States, approved May 18, 1917, the President directs that for the period of the existing emergency there shall be maintained by voluntary induction and draft a Students' Army Training Corps. Units of this corps will be authorized by the Secretary of War at educational institutions that meet the requirements laid down in special regulations. The object of establishing the Students' Army Training Corps was to utilize effectively the plant, equipment, and organization of the colleges for selecting and training officer candidates and technical experts for service in the existing emergency. For purposes of military organization the members of the corps formed single units, but for purposes of instruction the unit consisted of one or more sections, according to the type of educational training given. The collegiate section (known as section A) was authorized in any civil educational institution which required for admission to its regular curricula graduation from a standard four-year secondary school or an equivalent, and provided a general or professional curriculum covering at least two years of not less than 32 weeks each and had a student attendance sufficient to maintain a collegiate section of a strength of at least 100 men. Collegiate sections of the Students' Army Training Corps were organized in colleges of arts and sciences, technology, engineering, mines, agriculture and forestry, business administration, industry and commerce, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, education, law, medicine, dentistry and in graduate schools, normal schools, junior colleges, and technical institutes. The vocational section (known as section B) was authorized in institutions having adequate equipment. A registrant of the Students' Army Training Corps became an enlisted man in the Army of the United States, or, on the establishment of naval units, in the Navy of the United States. This induction was voluntary, under the selective service regulations. Upon induction members of the Students' Army Training Corps were placed on active duty status, and the Committee on Education and Special Training entered into contracts with educational institutions for the quartering, subsistence, and instruction of such men. It was also understood that from time to time members of the corps might be assigned to training camps, training schools, depot brigades, or to do special technical work at collegiate institutions. It was also planned to give consideration to the preference of the registrants to the branch of service which they would ultimately enter. The administration of the corps was carried on by the War Department through its Committee on Education and Special Training of the Training and Instruction Branch, War Plans Division, General Staff, assisted by the Advisory Educational Board, together with educational directors, district educational directors, and special advisers. The War Department provided an officer of the Army at each college to serve as commanding officer, and the commanding officer and other officers assigned to duty with different units were directed to observe the general usages of the various institutions affecting the duties and obligations of the members of the faculty or other academic instructors. They were not permitted to undertake any instructional or administra tive duties in the institution other than those connected with the military work of the corps. The military officers were assigned to the duty of enforcing military discipline, but no authority was given them to direct or interfere with purely educational matters. The original plan of training consisted of 11 hours of military studies, including drill, theoretical and military instruction, and physical training, and 42 hours per week for allied subjects. These 42 hours included lectures, recitations, laboratory instruction, and necessary preparation therefor. After two terms of work the arrangement provided for 6 hours of military training and 47 hours of study of the allied subjects. It will be seen later that suggested courses for technical schools were submitted by the committee from which the actual courses given at an institution were planned and submitted for approval to the regional director. The Committee on Education and Special Training issued from time to time circulars regarding the treatment of the various subjects in accordance with the aims of the War Department. The allied subjects mentioned above included the following: English, French, German, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, geology, geography, topography and map drawing, meteorology, astronomy, hygiene, sanitation, descriptive geometry, mechanical and free-hand drawing, surveying, economics, accounting, history, international law, military law and government. In the case of the technical and professional schools, provisions were made for approving a general program containing subjects other than those included in the above list, and also permission could be granted any institution for the recognition as an allied subject one subject outside the foregoing list provided it occupied not more than three hours per week in lectures and recitations combined. A special course in war issues was demanded in all programs of study for section A. This was to cover three classroom hours per week for two terms. This course was intended to give students a clear understanding of the causes of the war and the various steps previous to the beginning of hostilities. In section B the required hours were as follows: Military subjects, including drill and physical training, 15 hours; vocational subjects, 33 hours; war issues, 1 hour. The general scheme for work in section A covered a period of eight terms of 12 weeks In this way the each, with a vacation period of one week at the end of each term. academic or technical work would be done in a period of two years, and it was hoped that the men thus trained would be prepared for technical work or for officer material. The proposed schedules of studies for the four engineering courses as proposed by the Committee on Educational and Special Training are given herewith: |