Conant Advocates Junior Colleges

President Emeritus James B. Conant stressed the importance of giving prestige to two-year colleges in a recent speech at Syracuse, N.Y. Connected with the problem, he noted, was the college pressure existing in the high schools of metropolitan New York.

Finishing a year-long project of research into American high school problems, Conant stated that New York schools are operating under "special social pressures" from parents who want their children to go to college.

He stressed that this pressure was present regardless of the ability of the student. "As a consequence," he noted, "the school officials are often occupied with trying to find colleges with admission standards low enough to admit the bottom quarter of the class."

The solution to the problem is increased emphasis on two-year colleges, Conant said. This would alleviate possible "damage" to less bright students caused by increased pressure in high school.