"Patriotic Duty"

"The time has come," said the New York State Board of Regents last week, "when we as a nation must request some form of universal national service from all our young men and women . . ." To clear the way for general inductions at 18, the top policy body of New York's public school system recommended that high schools pack their standard four-year courses into three. Suggested expedients: wider use of summer classes and, "in some instances," heavier study loads during regular semesters.

Such a speedup, the New York regents pointed out, would make it possible for many a student to squeeze in at least a year of college before induction. The regents were not asking New York schools to adopt their suggestion until Washington settles on an over-all national service plan. But when Washington does, the regents thought, accelerated high-school courses would become "a patriotic duty."

In Washington, Federal Security Administrator Oscar L. Ewing aired an idea of his own that might lengthen high-school courses. Ewing's proposal: to give basic military training as part of the curriculum, even though it might mean an extra year in high school.What would be needed after that, Ewing thought, was a Government agency to sift the graduates, determine "how many, and who, will be assigned to military service, to college training, and to industry."

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