Improvements Needed in Secondary Schools

Rapid population growth, increase in knowledge, technological developments, and the acquisition of new sources of energy pose tremendous challenges to our schools. The chal lenge is threefold: providing education for vastly more stu dents; maintaining educational opportunities for substantially longer periods of time; raising sharply the levels of human understanding and skill. This task requires clear definition of unique responsibilities, establishment of priorities consistent with these responsibilities and better utilizaton of resources. The nature of resources, both material and human, must be fully realized. The capacity of students to assume greater re sponsibility for their own learning must be recognized and ex ploited. Professional competences must be used more fully. To achieve these ends, employment of technological resources can make major contributions. Educational facilities need to be expanded and, more importantly, need to be redesigned and improved. Present restrictions imposed by conventional con cepts of class size, school schedules, the uniformity of teachers' roles and rigid patterns of organization must be modified. Schools should stop thinking of themselves merely as consumers of teachers and assume a' partnership responsibility in the re cruitment and preparation of teachers. To accomplish such changes redefinition of practices is called for rather than mere refinement of existing practices.