905 



prescriptions ... or recriminations because of the inability of cul- 

 tural activities to solve problems or prevent unfavorable situations 

 which are in fact due to other causes." ^* 



Still others charge that international educational and cultural 

 programs fail to meet the needs of the developing countries. "In these 

 lands, mutual understanding is very low on their list of priorities: 

 freedom, power, and the benefits of industrialization are very high." ^'^ 



PECOMMENDATIONS TO ELEVATE THE STATUS OF EDUCATIONAL AND 

 CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT 



Constraints are imposed also by the configuration of the administra- 

 tive apparatus which governs these programs. For instance there have 

 been repeated recommendations that educational and cultural ex- 

 change programs would be improved if a post of Under Secretary of 

 State for Educational and Cultural Affairs were created to provide 

 leadership under a clearer and more forceful mandate. Coombs suggests 

 that: 



The new undersecretary would be charged with developing a unified set of 

 policies to guide all international educational activities of the government. 

 . . . and ensuring their proper coordination. He would include within his purview, 

 among other things, the present confusing clutter of international scientific 

 activities of the federal government, which todaj' tend to be treated separately 

 from [but should be] an integral part of our educational and cultural affairs.^* 



The Advisory Commission on International Educational and Cultural 

 Affairs commented in its Fourth report: ". . . There are under- 

 secretaries in the economic and political spheres. . . . Educational 

 and cultural matters can come into their symbolic place in the multi- 

 plicity of overseas activities . . . only if the person in charge of them 

 is at the level of Under Secretary." ^ 



RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OVERSEAS EDUCATIONAL AFFAIRS OFFICERS 



A cultural affairs officer of the United States Information Service is 

 a member of the local binational commission and "administers the 

 educational and cultural exchange activities of the Department of 

 State abroad." ^ Additionally, in countries where there is no com- 

 mission, these, cultural officers, as representatives of the Department 

 of State, handle the local end of the educational exchange program, 

 help process grant applications from students and other academic 

 candidates, and give orientation and local supervision to American 

 grantees coming to that country.** This link between Fulbright 



" Robert Blum, "The Flow of People and Ideas," In American Assembly, Columbia University, Cul- 

 tural Affairs and Foreign Relations (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Inc.. 1963), p. 4. 



'" Richard A. Humphrey, "Cultural Communication and the New Imperative," Annualg of the Ameri- 

 can Academy and Socibl Science (May 1961), p. 145. 



*' The Fourth Dimension of Foreign Policy, op. clt., pp. 123-4. 



M Fourth Annual Report, 1967, op. cit., p. 2. 



85 A Guide to U.S. Government Agencit$ Involved in International Education and Cultural Activities, op. cit. 

 p. 13. 



8* Continuing the Commitment ,op. cit., p. 19. 



