83 



That would be different. Other parts of India are 

 much less backward. That was a very backward part of India, 

 socially and educationally. Punjab is different pretty 

 much. 



Sharp: So there are some very backward places and some very, very 

 modern ones . 



Reveller That's right. Exactly. 



Sharp: I would think trying to make recommendations for higher 



education, you would have such a mixed bag of what you would 

 suggest because there are some more advanced places and some 

 very backward ones. 



Revelle: Oh yes, sure. 



One of the things that the British had done was to 

 start so-called federal universities or national 

 universities. One of them was the Hindu University. Another 

 one was Aligarh Muslim University in western UP, in Aligarh. 

 The University of Delhi was a national university, and a 

 couple of others. These were pretty good places, compared 

 to many of the others; comparatively speaking, they were 

 pretty good places. They could have been a lot better if 

 there had been more emphasis on research. 



Everything about American universities could be 

 adapted to India, with benefit to the Indians. The eiiphasis 

 on research, the emphasis on liberal education, the emphasis 

 on freedom of teaching, the emphasis on several years of 

 non-professional training before you start on your 

 professional education. All these things would, I felt, be 

 useful to India. 



Sharp: You were really advocating a pretty general restructuring, 

 then, of the education system. 



Revelle: Yes, more or less. And to some extent that has happened, as 

 it has happened in European universities too, particularly 

 the Dutch universities . 



Sharp: It sounds as though you really love India. 



Revelle: I would not say I "loved" it. I have often been asked that 

 question. I find that I'm fascinated by it. 



It's a kind of an exemplar or a universe of people 

 which is just like mankind in general, but instead of four- 

 and-a-half billion of them, there are only 700 million of 

 them. There are so many Indians that whatever you say about 

 human beings you can say about Indians. And it's true. 

 They are bad and they are good. They are mean and they are 

 generous. They are idealistic and they are very 

 materialistic. 



You know, they are just people, in every sense of the 

 meaning of that word. They have many things that handicap 

 them. Ignorance is one. Poverty is another. They are 

 volatile, emotional — uncontrollable crowds and rioting 



