meaning, must be deeply imbued with 

 scientific ways of thought. It must absorb 

 science, without forsaking what is of value 

 in the older ways or conduces to the 

 understanding of those deeper problems 

 which science by itself is impotent to 

 answer. It is a question, not of substitut- 

 ing a scientific culture for that which has 

 gone before, but of reaching a wider 

 appreciation in which the sciences in their 

 modern development fall into their due 

 place * * * 



3. The Recommended Long- 

 Term Plan and Means for 

 Achieving It 



As stated in the preceding section, 

 we propose that the number of un- 

 dergraduate students of science and 

 technology assisted under the plan 

 shall be 6,000 annually and that the 

 number of assisted doctoral students 

 in the same fields shall be 250 or 300 

 annually. This would make the 4-year 

 maximum total of undergraduates 

 24,000 and the 2- to 3-year maximum 

 total of graduate students 900. Maxi- 

 mum annual costs, if the plan is to 

 be realized fully, may reach, after the 

 fourth year of operation, $29,000,000. 



It is our idea that these highly 

 selected students, if they proceed to 

 doctorates, in many cases will be able 

 to obtain that degree after 6 years 

 of undergraduate and graduate work; 

 but provision should be made for 

 those who require 3, instead of 2, 

 years of graduate work. 



In this connection, we wish to em- 

 phasize the responsibility of educa- 

 tional institutions in this plan. Under 

 the central purpose of the plan — to 

 provide scientific training for students 

 of superior ability and equal oppor- 

 tunity to all American youth to quali- 

 fy in competition for such training — 

 educational institutions will face the 

 obligation of providing a training 

 commensurate intellectually with the 

 superior ability of this special group. 

 The Committee believes that a pro- 



gram which is appropriate for the 

 rank and file of college students will 

 not be appropriate for these, or other, 

 highly selected individuals. 



It appears to us that the scale of 

 support for the undergraduate stu- 

 dents selected under the proposed 

 plan should be that provided by Con- 

 gress under the so called GI Bill of 

 Rights, namely, tuition and other fees 

 up to $500 annually and, for personal 

 support, $50 a month during the 

 months of each year when the Schol- 

 ars actually are engaged in full-time 

 study. Benefits under the plan should 

 not be restricted to young and recent 

 secondary school graduates but should 

 be available also to those who, hav- 

 ing worked in business and industry, 

 desire to obtain scientific training at 

 the college level. Such Scholars, if 

 married, should receive, as also pro- 

 vided in the GI Bill of Rights, $75 

 monthly for support when engaged in 

 full-time study. 



Persons who receive benefits under 

 the plan should be selected solely on 

 the basis of merit, without regard to 

 sex, race, color, or creed. 



The question whether or not finan- 

 cial need should be considered as a 

 factor in awarding benefits under the 

 plan has been the subject of much 

 study, consultation, and thoughtful 

 consideration by the Committee. We 

 conclude that need should not be a 

 factor in the awards, for many rea- 

 sons, among which are that, if need 

 is to be considered, there would be 

 required a means test of the parents, 

 difficult if not impossible to admin- 

 ister with equity; those who receive 

 benefits under the plan would be 

 labeled as poor; and in cases where 

 parents were not sympathetic to 

 higher education their children might 

 be cut off from the benefits of the 

 plan. 



152 



