# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S251
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

HIGHER EDUCATION 251

it looks ahead in the areas of “careful planning, quality
education, and best use of funds.” Each of the eight items
discussed has been considered in the light of the history
of synodical higher education, the contemporary devel-
opments affecting training for church vocations, and the
basic characteristics of a forward-looking approach in
college and seminary operations.

1. Encourage Experimentation and Innovation Which
Make the Most of Existing Human and Physical
Resources

Higher education has the reputation of being ex-
tremely resistant to change. One of the most popular
topics in the current literature of higher education is the
need for more experimentation and innovation. The
inability of colleges and universities to keep up to date
is often pointed to as one of the major causes for student
unrest and dissent.

Two frequent criticisms are that many of the so-called
innovations in higher education have been little more
than reshufflings of old procedures, and that some ex-
periments have been done exclusively for the sake of
experimenting. Ministerial education is also constantly
in danger of developing an oppressive traditionalism
which can stifle or destroy worthwhile inventiveness and
ferment. Some of the efforts which at first looked like
genuine changes in the education of professional workers
for the church have turned out to be no more than a
rearranging of the old patterns.

Progress in the Past

However, as one looks carefully at the recent history
of higher education in general and at ministerial educa-
tion specifically, it is evident that changes and improve-
ments have been taking place. Synodical colleges and
seminaries have been actively engaged in a variety of
experiments in the effort to do an ever better job of pre-
paring young women and men for faithful and effective
ministry. Progress in many respects has been achieved.

During the past biennium, various synodical schools
have inaugurated or refined the use of seminars, inde-
pendent study, interim terms, off-campus experiences,
comprehensive examinations, programmed instruction,
telecourses, Afro-American studies, multimedia centers,
team teaching, class size experiments, pass-fail grading,
advanced placement, credit by examination, honors
courses, study abroad, and community service programs.
Most of these changes as individual items, of course,
would be more accurately described as renovation,
rather than innovation. Few in themselves lead to any
basic changes in the educational experiences of the
students. But the inauguration of such programs, both
individually and collectively, has often led to a reexam-
ination of some of the objectives or assumptions of the
institution and from this reexamination to genuine in-
novations and fundamental changes.

Some experiments, however, are being conducted
which relate directly to basic changes in the philosophy
and objectives of the institution. Several of the schools

in the Synod, for example, are trying out new approaches
to teaching and learning through greater use of student
planning, independent study, and student self-evaluation.

Needs in the Future

While much experimentation and innovation have
taken place, it is evident that much more needs to be
done throughout all of higher education, including the
colleges and seminaries of the Synod. The growing
concern of the church to minister to “the whole world,
the whole church, the whole man” and the resulting
interest in new ministries; the financial pressures on all
aspects of the work of the Synod; the need and oppor-
tunity to broaden the experiences of the future ministers
to include new and meaningful service activities which
will sharpen the students’ sensitivity to human need and
strengthen the decision toward ministry —these are just
a few of the reasons why more new plans and procedures
are desirable and necessary.

The Board for Higher Education has attempted in
the past to give high priority to encouraging worthwhile
experimentation. Unfortunately, because the board also
serves as a budget control agency, it has been forced
frequently to turn down some very worthwhile proposals
of the colleges and seminaries simply because of the high
cost of the projects and the limited funds available.

Greater Opportunities

This dilemma will continue. However, the board does
feel that there are several factors which will make possi-
ble greater opportunities for creative change in the years
immediately ahead.

In the recent past, much of the energy of most of the
teaching force and a significant part of the budget of the
institutions have been needed to enable faculty members
to earn necessary advanced academic degrees. These
needs, of course, will continue in the future. Postdoctoral
training will become increasingly mandatory. Greater
financial assistance must be made available to greater
numbers of our graduates to help them prepare for
future teaching positions in the colleges and seminaries
of the Synod.

At the same time, however, many faculty members
have now earned their terminal degrees and are eager
to become more deeply involved in programs of experi-
mentation at our colleges and seminaries. The synodical
faculty is more highly trained than ever before in the
academic areas and in the understanding of the processes
and problems of higher education. Many of the individual
members and groups within the faculties have displayed
the interest, the creativity, and the ability needed to
design and carry out worthwhile experiments and to
inaugurate innovations which are aimed at providing a
better education for the students while making even
better use of the funds and human resources available.

Such opportunities will not only be possible, but will
be necessary in order to help our institutions continue
to be the kinds of stimulating places which can attract
and hold qualified faculty members. Some funds formerly