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10 July '45 Western Pacific
RECEIVED JUL 13 1945 PRESIDENT'S OFFICE
Dear Sir:
I was very much interested in the Stanford letter dealing with your program for post-war education and asking what our views were on the subject.
I was in the class of '45 and was fortunate enough to get 2 years of college under my belt before I went into O-12 and another year at Cal. under that program. But it wasn't till I had been out here some time that I began to realize how little I had gotten out of college as far as a working education went.
Being on a ship gives one a lot of time to think,
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especially about what to do immediately after being discharged in the years to come.
Yes, I intend to go after an education after the war, whether that means Stanford or not I can't say now. But this time my choice will be governed more by what the institution has to offer than by the name, or glamour, or fact that both my parents went there.
As far as I'm concerned, I'll want to study courses directly associated with the work I propose to take up. That means I'll want almost complete freedom in picking my courses and not have to contend with prescribed courses. Instead of studying for a diploma or grades,
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I'll be after such knowledge as I can see a purpose in and a use of. I'll want workable, valuable knowledge, not theoretical or cultural courses.
Classes should be as small as possible so that the professors can take an active, personal interest in their students. Men of business, men of professions, men that are actually in the world of production, etc. should be brought to the colleges to conduct classes in their specialties + to deal with specific problems they have faced. In other words, I'd like the courses I study to be taught not only by professors but by the men who are actually in that line of business in the community or state.
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I realize Stanford offers such courses my such men, but I believe they were too few and far between and not specialized.
This then is what I'll want in the place I seek an education after the war: a free rein to study what I want; small classes that stress knowledge rather than a "passing" grade; courses that offer a useful, working knowledge dynamics; vitally interesting teachers that have take a personal interest in the student and know their course not from books but from actual experience.
I'd appreciate you sending me "Education Opportunities for Veterans" that you mentioned and any information you can on your post-war plans. Do the veterans that have already returned seem satisifed
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in taking up where they left off or do they want an education rather than a degree.
I hope this is not too unsatisfactory or personal an answer to the letter to alumnus.
Sincerely,
P.J. Bennett
P.S. For the Records Bureau: I am no longer a Pvt. in the Marines but an Ensign in the USNR.
Ensign P.J. Bennett, USNR USS LST 812 FPO, San Francisco, Calif
