Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1973 · 50th Convention › Page 243
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 243

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

HIGHER EDUCATION 243

of severe shortages of available candidates in the years ahead.”
Such overreactions have occurred in the Synod in the past
during periods of underdemand for graduates.

The most immediate, sensitive, and accurate way to check
for such overreactions is to look at the college freshman enroll-
ments. As shown in Figure 1, there has been a general down-
ward trend in the pastoral and teacher education freshman
enrollments since 1965.

There has been little change in the pastoral enrollment at the
freshman level since the Milwaukee convention. It should be
noted, however, that the pastoral enrollment did suffer a severe
drop earlier, which many people felt was a result of the “image”
and “identity” issues relating to the pastoral ministry. The 1972
pastoral freshman enrollment was actually 46% lower than that
in 1965. It should be remembered that students who enter the
pastoral program as freshmen this fall will not be ordained until
1981. The synodical Department of Research and Statistics
continues to predict a shortage of pastors in the late 70s and early
80s. Recruitment of pastoral students must certainly remain
a high priority item for the Synod.

The decline in teacher education enrollments since the
Milwaukee convention has been severe, as shown in Figure 1.
The percentages of decrease experienced during the past year

FIGURE 1
ENROLLMENTS IN COLLEGE FRESHMAN PASTORAL AND TEACHER
EDUCATION PROGRAMS AT SYNODICAL COLLEGES 1963-1972

ann
v ™~
ia Female | Teacner | Education

,

alone were 26% in the male teacher enrollment and 16% in the
female enrollment.

As indicated in Figure 2, the high school enrollment has
continued to drop as more of the synodical high schools have
been closed. The seminary enrollment remained quite constant
during the biennium. The college enrollment leveled off after

200

FIGURE 2
TOTAL FULL-TIME ENROLLMENTS AT SYNODICAL SCHOOLS
ACCORDING TO ACADEMIC LEVEL 1963-1972

700¢
6000
5000

2000

1000

1963 1964 1965 1966 *967 1968 7969 1970 st 1972

the very sharp growth during the first half of the 60s and had its
greatest decline during the past biennium. Figure 3 indicates
clearly that the drop in college enrollment was primarily during
the past year and among the teacher education students.

FIGURE 3
PASTORAL AND TEACHER EDUCATION ENROLLMENTS
AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL 1966-1972

The combined enrollments in the deaconess, social worker,
lay training, and parish worker programs reached their highest
level in 1967 when there were 329 students in these programs,
representing five percent of the college enrollment at that time.
As seen in Table 1, the social worker and deaconess training
enrollments both showed sharp increases this past year. The
decrease in the lay training enrollment this year is the result
of the program being incorporated into the total operation of the
college at Milwaukee, as recommended by the Board for Higher
Education.

TABLE 1

Enrollments in Deaconess Training. Social Worker,
Lay Training and Parish Worker Programs
at Synodical Colleges, 1967-1972

Program 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
Deaconess Training ____ 90 59 58 44 38 56
Social Worker _. 119 140 123 107 107 153
Lay Training ______ 39 29 22 24 26 11
Parish Worker _____ 81 85 54 59 56 54

Total —— 329 313 257 234 227 274

The dramatic changes in growth patterns in enrollments at syn-
odical schools as well as in other areas of the work of the Synod
can be seen in Table 2.

TABLE 2

Percentage of Change in Aspects of
Higher Education and in the Churches
and Elementary Schools of the Synod. 1960 ~ 1972

Percentage Percentage

of Change of Change
A. Synodical Higher Education 1960 — 1966 1966 — 1972
Total Enrollment in Synodical Schools +42.0 - 5.3

Enrollment in Synodical High Schools - 10.2 - 48.4

Enrollment in Synodical Colleges ** +69.7 + 25
College Pastoral Enrollment +24.4 - 31.0
Total College Teacher Education Enrollment +744 -13.1
College Male Teacher Education Enrollment +80.8 - 16.1
College Female Teacher Education Enrollment ~+70.7 -11.3
Enrollment in Synodical Seminaries +10.4 + 5.0
Percentage Percentage
of Change of Change
B. Churches and Elementary Schools 1960 — 1966 1966 — 1971*
Number of Parish Pastors +114 + 48
Congregations of the Synod + 81 +19
Baptized Members +14.1 + 2.5
Communicant Members +18.4 + 81
Number of Elementary Schools + 3.6 -12.1
Pupils in Elementary Schools + 69 - 84
Total Teachers Elementary Schools +21.1 + 2.1
Men Teachers Elementary Schools +13.1 + 9.2
Women Teachers Elementary Schools +26.7 - 25

* Data for 1972 were not yet available when this study was done.
** Includes part-ume enrollments.