260 



program as needed.^^ It is also evident that the extensive administra- 

 tion and congressional inquiries into the social underpinnings of the 

 program, and into the legal, policy, and management aspects left little 

 time for consideration of the very difficult and not very salient prob- 

 lems of technology transfer. 



Nevertlieless, the technical assistance facets of the Peace Corps pro- 

 gram have encountered increasing criticism. Textor suggests that 

 "tecluiical training, especially, has often lacked a realistic relationship 

 to host country conditions and problems." " Donald Shea, a political 

 scientist who has worked with the Peace Corps, concludes tliat there 

 was no way for administrators to know what specific technical training 

 and tasks would be required and that only completion of intensive 

 evaluation of many volunteer contingents could provide appropriate 

 answers.'* 



More attention to the technical components of tlie Peace Corps 

 program in 1961 and in subsequent years might have improved the 

 program. Over one-half of the projects contemplated for 1969 relate 

 directly to highly technical skills, as for instance, in electronics, 

 surveying, city planning, occupational therapy, geology, X-ray 

 technology, civil engineering, agronomy, forestry^, marine biology, and 

 wdldlife management. The other half, while based in larger measure in 

 experience in the social sciences and humanities, as for instance, in 

 marketing, hotel management, journalism, elementary education, law, 

 library science, public relations, and secretarial skills, are all based on 

 a substantial familiarity with industrial technology and practical pro- 

 fessional experience." In addition, it is generally held that project 

 requests for volunteers tend to place increasing emphasis on tecluiically 

 trained individuals. Jack Vaughn, Director of the Peace Corps, has 

 recognized the inadequacies of the technical assistance components of 

 the problem. He has detailed the dearth of hoped-for technically 

 trained volunteers : 



Liberal arts graduates have always made up a large percentage of our volun- 

 teers, but in the early days we always had hopes of finding more applicants with 

 technical skills. However, we have now resigned ourselves to the fact that tech- 

 nically trained volunteers, who usually have children and a mortgage, are just 

 not available in large enough numbers to meet all demands. 



He adds that liberal arts graduates are given training in specific tech- 

 nical skills required : 



Consequently, we have retooled our recruitment, selection, and training pro- 

 grams toward these liberal arts graduates (we call them A.B. generalists). Now 

 we train them in the needed technical skill, such as secondary school teaching, 

 poultry, simple construction techniques, or some aspect of public health. "If you 

 can teach public health to a Nigerian mother," one of our staff doctors said of a 

 health program developed for Niger, "you can certainly teach it to an A.B. 

 generalist." Or as we put it : "If you can't teach it — whatever it is — to a liberal 

 arts graduate in 3 months, you probably can't teach it where we are going." *" 



*:This is a conclusion of Dr. Donald R. Shea, a political scientist and administrator of 

 the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peace Corps Training Center. He has also partici- 

 pated in official seminars evaluating the Peace Corps training program. "The Preparation 

 of Peace Corps Volunteers for Overse^as Service: Challenge and Response." Annals of the 

 American Academy of Political and Social Science (Mav 1966), p. .SS. 



8" Textor. op. cit., p. 305. 



s'* Shea. op. cit., p. 38. 



^ Extrapolated from "Training Directory Index in U.S. Peace Corps," Factbook and 

 Dire.-tory, 196S (Washington. Peace Corps [196,8]). pp. 49-.51. 



"'^Jack Vaughn. "The Peace Corps: Now We Are Seven," Saturday Review (Jan. 6, 

 196S), p. 22. 



