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Toward International Tele-Education
~~c~kened the ties brtt*c 2nd organizLttlonal loyalt)- [that will] provide return5 to the cornpan! o\cr d long working career” 15 babedon an asamption that ieu- managers actualI> make because the occupational \tructure of the American economv is grou,ng in a dlfferrnt direction toward Incrtkd uss of part-time \rorkerr. to more narrowly definsd and specific occupational skills acquired in ;I cld55room and transferable ,~mong employers in the same or similar industry settings. It mdy well be that ;\mcrican employers are acting in the \hurt-sighted way that has t)pifizd their approaches to other problems. But until those who have the power to change policy change their minds about personnel utilization. It has to be said about Dawd Branick that all he has on his side IS logic. It is cert,linlv plausible that the American urban landscape would be less frclntlc if young people coming into the labor market would have some each of choice and d55uranct‘. Unfortunately. such planful1~5s seems further off than ever at this juncture.
Toward International Tele-Education. WILBUR T. BLUME and PAUL SCHNELLER (Eds). Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 19S-l. pp. 256. Price: $19.50. Tt11s timely and intcre>tlng work represents the revised and reorganized papers that were originally presented at a Spring I%3 meeting convened in Washington, DC to esplorc the educational implications of communication5 technology on a world-wide cnvlronmrnt. It i5 published in cooperation with ths Committee for International TekEducation (19X-1) and rcprrscnts the views of impressive and recognized U.S. rspcrts in the fields of education, communications and government. The primary sponsor of the‘ original meetins was the Public Broadcasting:Anneberg School of Communication5 Project. The volume is arrungcd in three parts. First: The Global Ncsds of Education. A discussion of the new technologies. including education Kith satelllta. 1s most definitely in a $obal perspective. This ‘uorld-view’ oi cducatwnal nods mows this work into concepts devslopai by Toftler and Nai\bitt and is of particular interest to the rcvwwer who is actiw in the ds\elopmcnt of information systems through the recently defined and recognized disclpllnc of ‘systems science’ and its related thwric5 directed to a holistic approach to problem identification and subsequent solutions. Second: The Knowledge and Resources to Foster Telc-Education that exist from previous communications technology research and the projects underway in inter-
national tcls-sducatwn. The third sectlon addreacs: Prospects and Iwss of Telz-Education. John Xliddlcton. Vice Prwdsnt for Academic Affairs of The El;psrlmcnt in Intsrn~~twnal Living in Brattleboro. L’T is the author of Chapter I md helps the re.xkr bepin a rs\iet\h of educational needs around the world. Although hs presents a bleak overull picture. his data Illuminate the wlatlonship bethecn 3 nJtion’s Iwrl of wealth and its educational s)5teni. Hs finds that overburdened, tn. efficient sy5tems that strain to svpand enrollments onl~ lower educatIonal quality. He identifies a strategy that ;s aimed coltimproving both educational efficiency and the link between a nation‘s education system and its employment need>. Hrrschslls Challenor. Director of the Linited Nations Educational Scisntific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) office in 1Vashington. rrviavs the similarltics and differences in education needs of deeloping and industrialized countries in Chapter 11. She refers to LL strategy that recognizes there is no single or simple solution to resolve education problems in every country She indicates that the problem of improvement of ttducational quality in developing countriss 5tlll remains ii difficult task. The reviewer was pleased to read Chapter III. dcvrloped by Linda Garaa. Hho wrote the chapter charnctrrlzing the U.S. educutional skjtem in the rrccntly publi5hcd U.S. Office of Tcchnolog Assessment’s I/~forn~c~riur~i Tf~civio/ogy clrlci Ifs Inlp”cf 011 A\mrricn~~ E(l~c
Book Reviews and distribution. Hill&d argues for the establishment of an international activity that would coordinate the distribution of educational programs. Lauffer. Douglas and Stahmer devote Chapter VIII to planning for international tele-education and the capacities of nations to engage in such activities. The Director of the Educational Technology and Development Communications Division of AID. Clifford Black (Chapter IX). doubts that there will be a large-scale adoption of communications technology in the next few years. despite the availability of technologies that could meet educational needs. His factors are a combination of fiscal. educational and political requirements. Indu Singh (Chapter X). Director and Founder of the Program in International Communication Training and Research (PICTAR) at Rutgers. is assisted by Stanley in looking ahead to developments in communications technology. Specifically, they see developments in the 1990s in computers, interactive communication systems. fiber optics and geostationary space platforms. They caution that four key issues must be addressed in planning: information flow and cultural protectionism, transborder information flow, appropriate information for international education, and the emergence of information-rich and information-poor societies. Pclton and Filep (Chapter XII) begin Section Three by considering the use of satellite-based telecommunications for international education and outline a group of ambitious initiatives to advance international tele-education. Several barriers to cross-cultural tele-education are examined including: programming/software, hardware systems. costs and institutional. political and cultural resistance. Chapter XIII by Lynn Fontana. recognizes that the new communication technologies affect developing countries in different ways than industrialized ones. but considers teleeducation a realistic response to growth and change. Goldschmidt (Chapter XIV) continues the critique of international tele-education prospects with an analysis of the economic issues that would be involved in a satellitebased project. His duties as Associate Director for Applications Management, AID Rural Satellite Program, at the Academy for Educational Development. has been primarily in the planning and economics of communications media in developing nations. Sanchez (Chapter XV) is a practicing attorney and offers a preliminary legal roadmap for international teleeducation efforts. Political issues are discussed in Chapter XVI by Law. He sees the political barriers in terms of policy issues, irreconcilable perceptions of fairness and need, and the advent of competition from allies and adversaries alike in system development. Cowlan (Chapter XVII) observes that neither technologies nor education and information are politically neutral. Buckminster Fuller’s ‘World Game’ was used by Blume (Chapter XVIII) with his students to deal with a group of global problems, including communications. The methods. dynamics and outcomes of that project serve as a model for both planning and conducting international tele-education. The volume invites further contributions on the need, pros and cons, of international telecommunications design, development and production. It is worthy of
inclusion in anl; bibltography relating tu the subject The combined authorship represents the leadership of thinking in international telt-education. ROBERT E. Ho\~E
Univrrsir!
o,t”Louisr~illr
Social Welfare Spending: Accounting for Changes from 1950 to 1978. ROBERT J. LAMP&MN. New York: Academic Press. 1951. Price: $29.00 (cloth). THIS book is seen by its author as a supplementary text in courses on income distribution. public finance. labor economics and similar topics. As such it does not purport to contain original research, but rather to bring together existing information on its chosen topic. organize it into a systematic presentation. and then explore ways of thinking about this information that may lead to conclusions as to the relative benefits and costs of social welfare spending (of which education is a major component) in the U.S. and the avenues open for its future development: in the author’s terms. “to apply the discipline of double-entry bookkeeping to social welfare expenditures, broadly defined, and their sources of funds; to apply benefit-cost analysis to the recent increase in scale of these expenditures: and to identify the key policy choices that will determine their future pattern”. In the nature of the case. the first of these tasks is much the easiest. The book brings together an illuminating set of data, and presents in in ways that arc clear and easy to follow. For the most part, I agree with the decisions made especially the departure from standard national accounting practice in treating pension and insurance benefits as income to the recipient at the time they are received. I am. however. somewhat disturbed by a few of the simplifying assumptions adopted. In particular. the assumption that collections of group insurance and pension plans must equal benefits paid out on a yearly basis with no provision for the accumulation of actuarial reserves is a bit hard to swallow. In other instances, I would much rather see an explicit statistical discrepancy than have imbalances hidden in unspecified ways. I am somewhat surprised that Prof. Furthermore, Lampman conducts the entire discussion essentially outside of the context of the account for the household sector. Although many of the tables are couched in terms of percentages of GNP, he really does not convey much idea of how social welfare spending fits into the national accounting structure. It would be helpful to know, for instance, what part social welfare benefits and contributions play in the household income and outlay account, but this we are never told. I miss, here, any reference to the stream of work by national accountants on what is known by them as ‘total consumption of the population’. This lack also shows up in the Guides to Reading which follow each chapter. Owing to the magnitude of the
Toward International Tele-Education. WILBUR T. BLUME and PAUL SCHNELLER (Eds). Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 19S-l. pp. 256. Price: $19.50. Tt11s timely and intcre>tlng work represents the revised and reorganized papers that were originally presented at a Spring I%3 meeting convened in Washington, DC to esplorc the educational implications of communication5 technology on a world-wide cnvlronmrnt. It i5 published in cooperation with ths Committee for International TekEducation (19X-1) and rcprrscnts the views of impressive and recognized U.S. rspcrts in the fields of education, communications and government. The primary sponsor of the‘ original meetins was the Public Broadcasting:Anneberg School of Communication5 Project. The volume is arrungcd in three parts. First: The Global Ncsds of Education. A discussion of the new technologies. including education Kith satelllta. 1s most definitely in a $obal perspective. This ‘uorld-view’ oi cducatwnal nods mows this work into concepts devslopai by Toftler and Nai\bitt and is of particular interest to the rcvwwer who is actiw in the ds\elopmcnt of information systems through the recently defined and recognized disclpllnc of ‘systems science’ and its related thwric5 directed to a holistic approach to problem identification and subsequent solutions. Second: The Knowledge and Resources to Foster Telc-Education that exist from previous communications technology research and the projects underway in inter-
national tcls-sducatwn. The third sectlon addreacs: Prospects and Iwss of Telz-Education. John Xliddlcton. Vice Prwdsnt for Academic Affairs of The El;psrlmcnt in Intsrn~~twnal Living in Brattleboro. L’T is the author of Chapter I md helps the re.xkr bepin a rs\iet\h of educational needs around the world. Although hs presents a bleak overull picture. his data Illuminate the wlatlonship bethecn 3 nJtion’s Iwrl of wealth and its educational s)5teni. Hs finds that overburdened, tn. efficient sy5tems that strain to svpand enrollments onl~ lower educatIonal quality. He identifies a strategy that ;s aimed coltimproving both educational efficiency and the link between a nation‘s education system and its employment need>. Hrrschslls Challenor. Director of the Linited Nations Educational Scisntific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) office in 1Vashington. rrviavs the similarltics and differences in education needs of deeloping and industrialized countries in Chapter 11. She refers to LL strategy that recognizes there is no single or simple solution to resolve education problems in every country She indicates that the problem of improvement of ttducational quality in developing countriss 5tlll remains ii difficult task. The reviewer was pleased to read Chapter III. dcvrloped by Linda Garaa. Hho wrote the chapter charnctrrlzing the U.S. educutional skjtem in the rrccntly publi5hcd U.S. Office of Tcchnolog Assessment’s I/~forn~c~riur~i Tf~civio/ogy clrlci Ifs Inlp”cf 011 A\mrricn~~ E(l~c
Book Reviews and distribution. Hill&d argues for the establishment of an international activity that would coordinate the distribution of educational programs. Lauffer. Douglas and Stahmer devote Chapter VIII to planning for international tele-education and the capacities of nations to engage in such activities. The Director of the Educational Technology and Development Communications Division of AID. Clifford Black (Chapter IX). doubts that there will be a large-scale adoption of communications technology in the next few years. despite the availability of technologies that could meet educational needs. His factors are a combination of fiscal. educational and political requirements. Indu Singh (Chapter X). Director and Founder of the Program in International Communication Training and Research (PICTAR) at Rutgers. is assisted by Stanley in looking ahead to developments in communications technology. Specifically, they see developments in the 1990s in computers, interactive communication systems. fiber optics and geostationary space platforms. They caution that four key issues must be addressed in planning: information flow and cultural protectionism, transborder information flow, appropriate information for international education, and the emergence of information-rich and information-poor societies. Pclton and Filep (Chapter XII) begin Section Three by considering the use of satellite-based telecommunications for international education and outline a group of ambitious initiatives to advance international tele-education. Several barriers to cross-cultural tele-education are examined including: programming/software, hardware systems. costs and institutional. political and cultural resistance. Chapter XIII by Lynn Fontana. recognizes that the new communication technologies affect developing countries in different ways than industrialized ones. but considers teleeducation a realistic response to growth and change. Goldschmidt (Chapter XIV) continues the critique of international tele-education prospects with an analysis of the economic issues that would be involved in a satellitebased project. His duties as Associate Director for Applications Management, AID Rural Satellite Program, at the Academy for Educational Development. has been primarily in the planning and economics of communications media in developing nations. Sanchez (Chapter XV) is a practicing attorney and offers a preliminary legal roadmap for international teleeducation efforts. Political issues are discussed in Chapter XVI by Law. He sees the political barriers in terms of policy issues, irreconcilable perceptions of fairness and need, and the advent of competition from allies and adversaries alike in system development. Cowlan (Chapter XVII) observes that neither technologies nor education and information are politically neutral. Buckminster Fuller’s ‘World Game’ was used by Blume (Chapter XVIII) with his students to deal with a group of global problems, including communications. The methods. dynamics and outcomes of that project serve as a model for both planning and conducting international tele-education. The volume invites further contributions on the need, pros and cons, of international telecommunications design, development and production. It is worthy of
inclusion in anl; bibltography relating tu the subject The combined authorship represents the leadership of thinking in international telt-education. ROBERT E. Ho\~E
Univrrsir!
o,t”Louisr~illr
Social Welfare Spending: Accounting for Changes from 1950 to 1978. ROBERT J. LAMP&MN. New York: Academic Press. 1951. Price: $29.00 (cloth). THIS book is seen by its author as a supplementary text in courses on income distribution. public finance. labor economics and similar topics. As such it does not purport to contain original research, but rather to bring together existing information on its chosen topic. organize it into a systematic presentation. and then explore ways of thinking about this information that may lead to conclusions as to the relative benefits and costs of social welfare spending (of which education is a major component) in the U.S. and the avenues open for its future development: in the author’s terms. “to apply the discipline of double-entry bookkeeping to social welfare expenditures, broadly defined, and their sources of funds; to apply benefit-cost analysis to the recent increase in scale of these expenditures: and to identify the key policy choices that will determine their future pattern”. In the nature of the case. the first of these tasks is much the easiest. The book brings together an illuminating set of data, and presents in in ways that arc clear and easy to follow. For the most part, I agree with the decisions made especially the departure from standard national accounting practice in treating pension and insurance benefits as income to the recipient at the time they are received. I am. however. somewhat disturbed by a few of the simplifying assumptions adopted. In particular. the assumption that collections of group insurance and pension plans must equal benefits paid out on a yearly basis with no provision for the accumulation of actuarial reserves is a bit hard to swallow. In other instances, I would much rather see an explicit statistical discrepancy than have imbalances hidden in unspecified ways. I am somewhat surprised that Prof. Furthermore, Lampman conducts the entire discussion essentially outside of the context of the account for the household sector. Although many of the tables are couched in terms of percentages of GNP, he really does not convey much idea of how social welfare spending fits into the national accounting structure. It would be helpful to know, for instance, what part social welfare benefits and contributions play in the household income and outlay account, but this we are never told. I miss, here, any reference to the stream of work by national accountants on what is known by them as ‘total consumption of the population’. This lack also shows up in the Guides to Reading which follow each chapter. Owing to the magnitude of the