Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

We Must Educate for Survival of Democracy by Maj. Gen. J. B. Medaris, USA (Ret.) Chairman of the Board Electronic Teaching Laboratories, Inc. The history of man is that of infinite strugglestruggle against poverty and disease and disaster. Long ago, perhaps in even those unrecorded days of primitive existence, man began to discern that ignorance is the root of his troubles. Man then surely concluded that his ultimate survival depended upon his ability to acquire and transmit knowledge, that this was the challenge of his time. Ignorance is still our fundamental challenge, and 1 would guess it to be the challenge of our kind in the years 2060 or 9060. Ignorance is elusive. Knowledge is not stable. The child born tomorrow will be as ignorant as dirt and the sum of mankind's knowledge is meaningless unless it is transmitted to the child. But aside from the generalities of the need for learning, I believe that the American of I960 has a unique challenge in education, a challenge posed by the prospect of world Communism. As participants in a democracy we demand certain freedoms of individual thought and action and association. We count these freedoms holy, and we have defended them with human sacrifice. We are prepared to continue the defense of these freedoms. However, one of the byproducts of our demand for freedom is a mechanism of government which cannot function without our will. This is right and proper, and only in circumstances of extreme threat have we willingly suspended our individual freedoms so that our government might function without our immediate consent. There is a very practical limit to which the individual can contribute to the processes of democratic government: he can vote; he cannot administer. Thus his single vote must be an intelligent, knowledgeable vote. That vote must include some understanding of the principles of good government and some evaluation of a candidate's ability to administer good government. It is an awesome responsibility for a single vote to bear, but it is an inescapable one if we are to retahi individual freedom. By voting, we simply decide who will decide for us. In the past few years we have become disturbed by the economic and technological growth of the Communist world. Their growth is cleanly planned and executed, uncluttered by indecisive policy. Our government appears to be floundering, and about the only thing on which all Americans agree is that something radical must be done before Communist successes reduce us to an enfeebled power in world affairs. What can be done? Several things, I believe; but first, let us consider whether or not our government actually is floundering. To begin with, we are following precisely the same principles I of action that we have followed since 1776. We have not substantially changed in that respect. We elect intelligent and informed men to office and they execute our desires. We are rich and healthy and insulated, at least temporarily, against the probability of destruction by an aggressor. Our cup runneth over, to the benefit of millions of destitute people all over the world. But something has changed, and that something is the formulation of a Communistic process of government and the demonstration of that government's effectiveness in mapping a plan of action and proceeding to its fulfillment, unencumbered by demands of individual freedoms. This does not mean that a Communist government is either immune or indifferent to public opinion. On the contrary, having usurped the will of the people in gaining power, the Communist government thus has in its control those means by which public opinion can be shaped to approbate the very policies of government. The Communist government can give the peasant bread and convince him that he is eating cake. Further, the Commimist government can impose all manner of sacrifices on the individual in the name of diverting national energies and resources to "the race with capitalism." It is folly to underestimate the impact on the individual 426 Educational Screen and Audiovisual Guide — August, 1960