Education: Report Card

¶ After sifting the reports of more than 4,000 public-school teachers across the U.S., the National Education Association tried to answer the question: How widespread are juvenile delinquency and plain misconduct among today’s pupils? Though two out of three teachers said that less than one in every 100 students is a troublemaker, a substantial number felt that delinquency has increased over the past ten years. Half reported an increase in impertinence and discourtesy, 43% said that more pupils disregard their homework, and about one in three noted a rise in vandalism, drinking, profanity and stealing. In the past year, 28% of the big-city teachers and half of those in slum areas reported at least one act of physical violence against a teacher in their schools.

¶ Because of increased enrollments, said the U.S. Office of Education, the totals of high-school students taking science and mathematics have gone up 381,000 and 400,000 respectively; only solid geometry (down 9,000) lost numerical ground. But on a percentage basis, the picture was not so bright. Except for biology and trigonometry, science and math seem to be attracting a smaller and smaller proportion of high-school students.

¶ From a study of 42 major colleges and universities, Vance, Sanders & Co. of Boston described how the modern campus invests its money: 56% in common stocks, 29.1% in bonds, 5.8% in preferred stocks, 6.4% in mortgages, real estate and plant. Its favorite common stocks: Standard Oil (New Jersey), Christiana Securities, General Motors, General Electric, Du Pont, Standard Oil of California, Texas Co., International Paper, Union Carbide & Carbon, American Telephone & Telegraph.

¶ Appointments of the week: Novice G. Fawcett, 47, school superintendent of Columbus, Ohio, to succeed Howard Bevis as eighth president of Ohio State University. Eric Walker, 46, vice president of Pennsylvania State University, to succeed Milton S. Eisenhower as the university’s twelfth president.