A College Meets A Challenge:
Fenn College Presents Its Educational Program
Instructions for controlling the program with a keyboard.
Transcript:
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 1: In the center of this city, Cleveland, is a college, Fenn College, a college of students, a college of teachers, a college of programs. In this magical age of problems and promise, this college endows this city with its most precious asset, young men and women of balanced education and character, who will become our leaders of tomorrow. Wisely, today's leaders are giving thought and support to tomorrow's leaders. Meet Charles M. White, Chairman of the Board of Republic Steel Corporation, who heads the civic sponsoring committee of Fenn College. Mr. White.
CHARLES WHITE: The attention of the nation is focused today on higher education. We depend on its excellence for the progress and stability of our nation. Colleges are accepting their part of this responsibility. Likewise, civic and business leaders are doing their part by giving their time, encouragement, and support to education in its task. In Cleveland, such leaders have examined and assessed favorably the contribution of Fenn College to our community. The civic sponsoring committee for the development program of the college endorses its plans for its important future in educating our youth.
SPEAKER 1: This is the college, a strategic asset in this age of challenge. Enrolments are bulging. Fenn's enrollment is highest in its history, 1,300 students in its day division, 5,400 students in its evening division and technical institute. And more students are on the way. Recruiting officers from business and industry are searching for educated men and women. Demand for Fenn graduates is also highest in its history. How does Fenn meet this demand for educated people to deal with our complex and troubled affairs? President G. Brooks Earnest answers that question. President Ernest.
G. BROOKS EARNEST: The principle we use at Fenn College is balanced education, thereby meeting today's need for broad cultural background. For this reason, liberal arts courses are required of our students in the curricula of our three schools and in our nursing program. This means striking a balance between knowledge and character, between diversity and specialization, between theory and work, and between individuality and just plain getting along with people.
The method we use is cooperative education. Every day division student at Fenn participates in this so-called work study program. The program alternates periods of theory in the classroom with periods of paid employment in business and industry. You will now see how cooperative education benefits both the students and the community.
SPEAKER 1: Fenn depends on its able faculty to carry out its teaching mission. The faculty are the important people. They guarantee high academic standards. The faculty teaches day and evening in these major programs-- the School of Arts and Sciences with a closely allied program of nursing, the School of Business Administration, and the School of Engineering.
The classroom at Fenn is the first phase of cooperative education. These students are learning theory; in this classroom, mathematics; and in this laboratory, civil engineering. These students are testing the strength of building materials.
Outside the college, employment is the second phase of cooperative education, as in this large design office. While he learns by doing, the student is paid a salary. He sees the result of his work. At Fenn, for one academic quarter, a student will study mechanical engineering in the Claude Foster Engineering Laboratory.
Out in industry during the employment, or co-op quarter, he puts theory into practice. This machine will be shipped abroad to make transmission parts for tractors. 10 graduates advanced to positions of leadership. The chief engineer of this company, shown here, is a Fenn graduate.
At Fenn, they study electrical engineering in this laboratory. On co-op at this great research institution, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, electrical engineering students work with computers. In this wind tunnel, they engage in research to build better jet and rocket engines for airplanes and missiles. On closed-circuit television, they observe the performance of a model in the wind tunnel and record data for analysis so that citizen and soldier may fly higher, faster, and safer.
At Fenn, they study metallurgy in this laboratory. Then in the laboratory of a great steel company, they apply their knowledge to improve the making of steel, steel that goes into your automobile. At the college they studied chemistry and chemical engineering. Teacher and student work as a team. Later, the student co-ops in the laboratory of a paint factory. This student is employed in the quality control of paint manufacture.
Last year, 10 students earned $1 and 1/2 million. Thus many a student can pay for his own education that otherwise he could not obtain. From this machine pours the paint to protect and beautify your home.
At Fenn, all students study English to preserve balance between science and the liberal arts. Some English majors may then co-op in the newsroom of a great Cleveland newspaper. Student journalists learn to gather and write the news so you can read your newspaper.
In the classroom, they learn the principles of teaching. Then in the public schools, they practice teaching so that later they can teach your children. This class in sociology learns about the problems of crime and its prevention. Later, at a juvenile detention home, they gain firsthand experience in social problems by aiding to rehabilitate delinquent children.
In the School of Business Administration, they learn the theory and techniques of accounting. For the next quarter, they co-op in an accounting firm or the accounting department of a business or in a bank. They study marketing. A method of instruction, originated and developed at Fenn, teaches students to think creatively about selling. Then they work in an advertising firm, where they see the professionals in action. The vice president of this firm, shown here, is a Fenn alumnus.
The professional firms, the commercial institutions, and the industrial plants that conduct cooperative education with Fenn are furnishing a vast, real-life laboratory of experienced people who give professional training and guidance to the student. They supply multimillion dollar equipment to supplement Fenn's own facilities. Cleveland becomes Fenn's off-the-campus classroom and laboratory.
In a typical year, more than 1,000 Fenn students are employed, with more than 700 firms in the cooperative education program. And more than 50% of Fenn students after graduation continue to work for the firms that employed them on co-op. In this great and diversified industrial and commercial center, Fenn students choose their life work with seasoned judgment and learn the hard-headed facts of employment.
He learns to inquire, learns how to study, learns to know himself. Fenn puts a premium on guidance. It encourages the student to guide himself in the management of his own career. A guidance counselor at Fenn interprets new insights for a student, insights that have been stimulated by exchanging ideas with fellow students and fellow workers.
Psychological and aptitude tests point him toward the best use of his talents. Fenn knows that health is vital to hard intellectual work. The Elwood Fisher pool in Fenn Tower is one of the best in Cleveland.
Soccer is a varsity sport at Fenn. Beyond the books, there is also another kind of learning. Some prefer to dance or sing in the choir. Some like rhythm. Rocket Society members yearn for space travel.
Through student government, they come to grips with the workings of democracy. And the government of Fenn College itself has been making giant strides. Here is Fenn's new Engineering and Science Hall, planned instructional space for students and faculty well into the 1960s.
There are lounges on all four floors, congenial places for students and this air-conditioned cafeteria common, seating 500 at a time. The science studied in this laboratory is biology. There are 50 other laboratories and rooms for the basic sciences and engineering and 31 all-purpose classrooms for the arts and sciences, business administration, and engineering.
Among them is this lecture room. This is a freshman chemistry lecture, sometimes a lecture discussion, often a lecture demonstration. Here the students listen and learn as the professor talks. A comparatively few large courses at Fenn support the instruction, and many, many more small seminars. Seminars like this encourage student participation.
And here is Fenn's extensive new college library, where every student works on his own, no matter what his field, with books supporting the instruction in 30 fields, on open shelves holding 100,000 volumes, and one of the spacious reading facilities now in use by Fenn students. This is Fenn College in the center of Cleveland.
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