UNESCO IN PERSP E C T IVE

by FRANKLIN PARKER, Norman (Oklahoma), U.S.A.

Service agent or moral force - which is Unesco to be ? Director-General Ren6 Maheu asked this question on presenting the 1965-66 budget to Unesco's Executive Board. This question is also the subject of recent articles and books evaluating Unesco's 18 years of work. As agent for its member states, Unesco transmits educational, scientific, and cultural aid from have to have-not nations. As a world moral force Unesco aims to promote peace through the intellectual s tudy of man. Sathyamurthy 1) puts Unesco's dual nature this way: On the one hand it has to help remove illiteracy, ignorance, poverty, and disease from the major portion of the earth; on the other hand, it must construct the defenses of peace in the minds of men all over the world. He finds Unesco's mandate to be vast, its goals imprecise, and its intellectual assumptions broadly conceived.

To Sathyamurthy, biologist Julian Huxley represented the "moral force" view by urging Unesco's ultimate aim to be the finding of a philo- sophical basis for world peace. This was in line with Huxley's own evolutionary humanism, but as Unesco's first director-general he found his view blocked by national differences and by the world ideological division. Opposing Huxley's open-ended, unlimited, and universalistic view, Sathyamurthy notes theologian Reinhold Niebuhr's conservative view. Niebuhr urged a limited service function for Unesco because he doubted that it or the U.N. could effect genuine reconciliation between the communist and non-communist world, western and non-western man, and poor and rich nations. Between the extremes of Huxley's "moral force" view and Niebuhr's "service agent" view, Sathyamurthy describes three medial positions. These would variously combine short-range service projects with long-range catalyzing at tempts at peace and unity. Sathya- murthy himself favors Unesco's search for peace, but he concludes that Unesco's directors-general and senior officials fear controversy and wiU not press forcefully on member states to attain this goal.

Benton 8) is more optimistic. Noting the loss of idealism since its founding, Benton yet finds the 1,500 personnel in Unesco's Paris headquarters to be enthusiastic, and Unesco's 2,000 world-wide projects

1) T.V. Sathyamurthy, "Changing Concepts of Intellectual Co-Operation," Inter- national Review o[ Education, Vol. IX, No. 4 (1963-64), pp. 385-395.

~) William Benton, "The Defenses of Peace: Progress Report on Unesco," Saturday Review, Vol. XLVII, No. 10 (March 7, 1964), pp. 16-18, 28-30. As Assistant Secretary of State from 1945 to 1947, William Benton was responsible for U.S. policy in the creation of Unesco. He is currently the U.S. member of Unesco's Executive Board.

UNESCO IN PERSPECTIVE 3 2 7

impressive. Present complaints, he notes, are similar to early ones: too many projects, too much log-rolling, and not enough clar i ty of purpose. He finds that Unesco's original emphasis early shifted from intellectuals in developed countries, where wars had traditionally begun, to the masses in underdeveloped countries, where future wars will more likely begin. Unesco's t iny budget, he maintains, must be focused on pilot projects that stimulate bilateral and multilateral endeavors. Benton notes the opposition of the U.S. State Department to Unesco's limitless task in combating illiteracy, and agrees with the State Department view that Unesco should concentrate on (1) secondary, technical, and vocational education, (2) higher education, (3) and the testing of new learning and teaching techniques.

Benton agreeably notes that Unesco's recent budgets give science for the first time equal status with education; that science and technology offer more effective hope to developing countries; and that Unesco's success in scientific cooperation is evidenced in its heading the Inter- national Geophysical Year (1957-58), its Arid Zone studies, its Hydro- logical Studies on conserving the world's water supply, and its Inter- national Computation Center in Rome. In the cultural realm, Benton again favorably notes that Unesco has chosen to concentrate its mass communication effort on studies dramatising the lack of facilities in underdeveloped countries and its promotion of the free flow of information across national boundaries.

Regarding communist participation in Unesco, Benton would "rather talk to them face to face than exchange shouts at a distance," even though their presence "introduces a constant element of cold war policies and propaganda" 1). He underscores Unesco's need to resist cold war propagandizing and cites the case of a 1962 Russian-authored Unesco- sponsored booklet which contrasts good treatment of racial and minority groups in the U.S.S.R. with bad t reatment in the U.S. The U.S. lodged a strong protest alleging misuse of Unesco publications for nationalistic propaganda.

Benton finds that although the small nations' early criticism of the U.S. influence in Unesco has dissipated somewhat, Congress increasingly feels that it contributes too much to Unesco while small nations feel that the U.S. is not doing enough. Benton attributes this to the United States' increased bilateral aid through the Agency for International Development and the Alliance for Progress. Benton believes it is in our interest to build up Unesco's effectiveness by financial support, by spreading favorable information about its work, by encouraging universities and professional

I) Ibid., p. 28.

328 FRANKLIN PARKER

organizations to help Unesco, and by assuring career advancement to State Department officers who may be assigned to Unesco. Benton concludes that Unesco is not the utopia envisioned at its founding, but that it is at age 18 an essential agency of cross-cultural communication.

In Pillsbury's field study, l) he focused on particular projects conducted by Unesco's Education Department. He found that department deeply involved in conducting elementary schools in Israel for Arab refugee youths. At the Fundamental Education Center near Cairo, he found Unesco conducting a valuable model community education experiment for the Arab States. He favorably evaluates other aspects of Unesco's educational work and concludes that "support for Unesco is well justified both by its successes in international education and by the imperative needs that it serves." ~)

Shuster's evaluation, like Benton's, is based on personal service with Unesco. 8) Though committed to Unesco's ideals, Shuster is critical of the way these ideals have been pursued. Unesco, he says, has suffered on the one hand from the over-optimism expressed in its constitution and, on the other hand, from the image of pragmatic opportunism it has had in the public mind. 4) He refers to a basic weakness observed in 1957 by Laves and Thomson 5) that Unesco's competence ends at the bounda- ries of its member states, few of whom have taken action to achieve at home the objectives to which they subscribe in Unesco's constitution.

Shuster cites four often voiced criticisms of Unesco : (1) that it is West- centered, (2) that rich nations resist its demands for increased levies as excessively expansionist, (3) that it is inefficiently administered, and (4) that its international design subverts national sovereignty, a fear expressed by the American Legion and some Congressmen. s ) Like Benton, Shuster sees value in communist participation in Unesco and states that on the whole the Executive Board has skillfully parried attempts to exert undue ideological influence. 7)

1) Kent Pillsbury, UNESCO Education in Action; A Field Study o/ the UNESCO Department o~ Education, Kappa Delte Pi International Education Monographs No. 4, Ohio State University Press, 1963.

8) Ibid., p. 95. 8) George N. Shuster, UNESCO: Assessment and Promise, Published for the

Council on Foreign Relations by Harper & Row, 1963. Dr. Shuster is the retired president of Hunter College in New York City. He was a delegate to the Confer- ence on International Cooperation which in 1945 adopted Unesco's Constitution. He has served as Chairman of the U.S. National Commission for Unesco and was the U.S. representative on Unesco's Executive Board.

4) Ibid., p. 8. 5) Walter H. C. Laves and Charles A. Thomson, UNESCO: Purposes, Progress,

Prospects, Indiana University Press, 1957, pp. 356-357. ~) Shuster, op. cir., pp. 67-68. 7) Ibid., p. 75.

UNESCO IN PERSPECTIVE 3 2 9

Shuster points out that although some eminent educators have served Unesco, American and foreign universities have generally been either indifferent or unfavorably inclined. Among the reasons for this have been (1) fear that involvement will alienate universities' conservative supporters, (2) faculty disappointment in Unesco conferences when conference recommendations were not followed up, and (3) academic specialists' lack of interest in pedagogical questions.

From his experience and observation Shuster makes these suggestions for more effective U.S. participation in Unesco. First, that the U.S. appoint a Unesco Executive Board member and a Permanent Delegate to Unesco. Shuster would combine these in one person chosen for his superior ability and would give him a prestigious ambassadorial rank. Second, Shuster believes that in wanting to make the U.S. National Commission for Unesco representative, too many members were ap- pointed, many of whom did not at tend regularly or participate articu- lately. He would revamp the commission's membership by appointing to it persons prominent in universities, research groups, professional organ- izations, and active centers of international activity. 1 ) He would have the National Commission focus (1) on finding ways to achieve Unesco's primary objectives, and (2) on winning support from the public and from professional organizations for Unesco's work.

Third, Shuster feels that the U.S. has not been adequately represented on Unesco's staff because, among other reasons, it has been difficult for an academic person to regain rank and privileges on his return to uni- versity life following Unesco service. Shuster would have an American advisory committee form liaison with universities and learned societies in the matter of Unesco recruitment. Fourth, Shuster fears that the interests of the U.S. National Commission for Unesco is often lost in the many cultural agencies under the purview of the State Department. He advocates a more direct staff relationship between the National Com- mission and the State Department.

Shuster concludes that Unesco is above all a forum where those with educational needs and those who can render aid can decide on a common response. He believes Unesco to be an essential world agency which, if it did not already exist, would have to be created.

Born of war, aimed at peace, slightly supported but immensely challenged, Unesco began with childlike naivet6 and youthful optimism. Now at age ! 8 it looks past adolescent doubt to adult responsibility. Like Prometheus, it knows it is in a troubled world. And like Prometheus, it would warm men's hearts toward better things to come.

1) Ibid., pp. 102-103.

H

yon FRANKLIN PARKER, Norman (Oklahoma)

Unter denen, die in letzter Zeit die T~tigkeit der UNESCO kritisch gewiirdigt haben, hat T. V. Sathyamurthy darauf hingewiesen, dab das ursprfingliche Ziel der UNESCO, nach einer philosophischen Grundlage des Weltfriedens zu suchen (in der von Julian Huxley bevorzugten Auffassung), allm~hlich dem Ziel gewichen ist, in beschr~nktem Rahmen als Vermittler zwischen hochentwickelten und weniger entwickelten Nationen zu dienen (nach der yon Reinhold Niebuhr be- vorzugten Auffassung).

William Benton hat sich weniger mit dem Abweichen yon den ursprfinglichen Grfindungsidealen der UNESCO besch~ftigt als vielmehr mit deren Rolle als Vermittlerorgan zwischen verschiedenen Kulturen. Er legt groBen Wert darauf, dab die Versuchsprojekte im Bereich der Sekundar- und der Universit~tserziehung sowie der technischen und beruflichen Erziehung fortgesetzt wtirden. So hat er mit Zustimmung bemerkt, dab den Naturwissenschaften in den letzten UNESCO- Haushaltspl~nen ein angemessenerer Platz einger~umt worden ist.

Kent Pillsbury, der die Auswirkungen der Arbeit der Erziehungsabteilung der UNESCO drauBen in der Welt untersucht hat, war yon dem Demonstrationswert solcher modeUartigen Gemeinschaftserziehungsversuche beeindruckt, wie die UNESCO sie in der N~he yon Kairo betreibt.

George N. Shuster betrachtete die UNESCO im wesentlichen als ein Weltforum, mit dessen Hilfe gemeinsame LSsungen ffir die erzieherischen Bediirfnisse in aUer Welt gefunden werden k6nnen. Wie Benton bedauert er, dab die Universit~ten in der Welt der UNESCO gegenfiber soviel Gleichgfiltigkeit an den Tag legen, und gibt fiir deren geringe Neigung, die Arbeit der UNESCO zu unterstiitzen, folgende Grfinde an: die Furcht, sich ihre konservativen Geldgeber zu entfremden, die Entt~uschung der Professoren fiber die mangelnde Auswirkung der Empfehlungen yon UNESCO- Konferenzen und das geringe Interesse fiir p~dagogische Probleme, das man bei Akademikern finder.

L'UNESCO EN PERSPECTIVE

par FRANKLIN PARKER, Norman (Oklahoma)

Parmi ceux qui ont r6cemment 6valu6 les activit6s de I'UNESCO, T. V. Sathya- murthy a fait remarquer que le but original de I'UNESCO qui consistait ~ essayer de trouver une base philosophique pour la paix mondiale (d'apr~s la conception pr6f6r6e de Julian Huxley) a graduellement c6d6 ~ celui de servir, dans un cadre limit6, d'interm6diaire entre les nations d6velopp6es et celles actuellement en vole de d6veloppement (la conception pr6f6r6e de Reinhold Niebuhr).

William Benton s'est moins occup6 de cet 6cart des id6aux originaux de I'UNESCO, mais plfltot de son r61e en tant qu'agence de communication entre plusieurs cultures diff6rentes. I1 a attach6 beaucoup d'importance k la poursuite des projets-pilotes cr66s par I'UNESCO dans le domaine de l '6ducation secondaire, technique, professionnelle et sup6rieure. Ainsi il a constat6 avec satisfaction qu 'une partie plus ad6quate du budget de I'UNESCO a 6t6 accord6e aux sciences.

UNESCO IN PERSPECTIVE 33[

Kent Pillsbury ayant fair une enquire sur rinfluence des activit6s du D6partement de l 'Education et les r6sultats qu'elles ont obtenus jusqu'~ p r ~ e n t dans le monde entier, 6tait fort impressionn~ par la valeur de d6monstration des exp6riences modules d'6ducation communautaire telles que I 'UNESCO les fair actuellement dans la r~gion du Caire.

George N. Shuster a consid6r6 I 'UNESCO essentiellement comme un forum mondial off puisse ~tre trouv~e une r6ponse commune aux besoins en mati~re d'~ducation existant dans le monde entier. Comme Benton il regrette v ivement l'indiff~rence que les universit6s dans le monde entier montrent pour le travail de rUNESCO. Pour expliquer ce manque d'int6r~t, il cite les raisons suivantes: la crainte de r6percussions sur l'affluence de leurs subventions provenant de cercles conservateurs, la d6sillusion des professeurs ~ l'6gard de l'inefficacit6 des re- commandations ~tablies au cours des conf6rences de I 'UNESCO et finalement le manque d'int~r~t pour les probl~mes p~dagogiques qu'on trouve chez ceux qui ont fait leurs 6tudes ~ l'universit6.