Fifteen Years of Higher-Education Reform — Gain or Loss?

Abstract

Fifteen years ago, in February 1964, Georg Picht published his series of articles entitled "Die Deutsche Bildungskatastrophe" [The German Educational Catastrophe] in the journal Christ und Welt. He prophesied, for the next ten to fifteen years, a disturbing shortage of academics in all areas of public life; foresaw a rapid end of our economic boom, owing to a dearth of qualified (which for him meant academic) new generations of manpower; said that all higher-education graduates would have to become teachers if our schools were to be adequately supplied; and felt that it was inconceivable that the tremendous expansion of colleges and universities over the next fifteen years would succeed, though it would still be necessary even if we wanted only to train secondary-school instructors.