Probably the strongest commitment to public education comes from the Extension School's faculty, three of every five of whom hold Harvard appointments in other departments. Despite the program's dismally low pay (a stipend of $400 per credit half-course), Harvard people that have taught in the program are very supportive and feel Harvard has a commitment to public education. Deane Lord, director of information and an Extension writing instructor, "My friends that are teaching in it love it because...education means so much to them"
"I like to teach," says William L. Bruce, a dean of the Law School. "I like the idea of Extension: truly open enrollment education at its very best. There's no money or hassle; it's just a question of commitment. Whatever your background and resources you can get a Harvard degree and march in the Harvard Commencement," he says. "There is a positive responsibility that schools have to make available degrees for credit to men and women who haven't completed their education in like institutions," Bruce says.
"I just wanted to see what it would be like to teach older people," says Robert Moore, assistant professor of Economics. "It's fun to teach people that want to be in school and are paying their own money." Leonard Kopelman, who teaches accounting in the Extension School, is concerned about the mushrooming cost of higher education, and sees extension as "a built-in stabilizer for education in the future," preventing it from becoming once again a luxury item, only for the very rich.
The quality of the school's courses is considered just as good as anything offered in the College. The school has attracted a plethora of Harvard's brighter lights over the years, and most instructors teach straight from their notes for courses they give in other departments. Grading standards are also considered on a par with those in the college. "An A is an A," says Bruce.
But Edgar Grossman, an Extension School alumnus and a counselor for the Extension School's students, whose family funded the school's library in Lehman Hall, says there is a possibility of different standards with teachers from other schools, but he says he does not think it is substantial. To offset potential discrepancies, the school requires degree candidates to take ten of their 32 necessary courses with Harvard faculty. "I don't feel my degree is worth any less than my brother's Harvard degree, or yours," Grossman says.
Most courses meet for one-and-a-half to two hours each week, and the workloads are generally half of the norm for the college. Thus, to obtain a degree, the school's students must take double the College's requirement of full courses. Even numbers of people are enrolled for credit and non-credit courses. The course catalogue, with 156 offerings, closely resembles that for the rest of the University, except for a stronger emphasis on language and basic science courses. Seminars are available in conjunction with the Radcliffe Institute, and writing labs are also offered. The six largest enrollment courses this fall are, in order, "Accounting," "Intensive Elementary Spanish," "Intensive Elementary German," "The Human Life Cycle," "Twentieth Century Art" and "Nature and Function of Law."
Many find the school's students a more challenging group than elsewhere. "Everyone that has taught in the program has been surprised at the high quality of the students," says Goethals. There is a small element of significantly slower students that he doesn't find in the college, says Moore. But many of these disappear, along with those who give up when winter weather rolls around or decide the traveling is too much. There is a 20 per cent attrition rate over the course of a semester.
But generally, "the students are eager to learn and put in an awful lot of preparation--eagerness that I had to stimulate in the College," says Lord. Kopelman finds that questions on the whole from the students are more sophisticated, because they've been exposed to a wider range of experience. "As people get older, they really want to know the answers to these questions about the human tribe; most undergraduates just get sparks," says Bruce.
How do the school's students feel about their place in the otherwise elitist educational structure of Harvard? "These are mature people who are looking not for the ticket but the education," says Bruce. "Because they're more mature, they're better able to deal with ego questions. The quality of education is what's really important."
Many are already associated with Harvard, but a large number are younger people attracted to the student mecca of Boston, says Grossman. "They're in awe to think they have available to them an entree to the Harvard community" and to a degree, he says. "Many are scared because they were academic dropouts elsewhere," he says, and the slower pace gives them a chance to build up confidence.
"The secret to getting a Harvard degree in the Extension School is perseverance," Grossman says.
"I enjoy participating in the tradition," says Meg Maugn, a graduate of Brigham Young working in Boston and taking Extension School courses to keep up her teaching certificate. She finds the faculty approachable, open to suggestions, and "never condescending." "I feel very much at home when I go there," she says, "but I don't really feel I have a claim to being a Harvard student," because of the non-selectivity.
Most of the school's students, because they are working or housekeeping full-time, simply do not have the time to become involved with Harvard outside of their classes. Still, Maugn sees a "strong community feeling in the classroom." "We're all in it together, help each other, and enjoy exchanging information," she says.
"Some of them try and do feel a part of Harvard," says Grossman, but "night people are individuals in the main." "For those who wish to become a part of the community, the opportunities are there," says Lord, and the last several years have witnessed the formation of an Extension School Alumni Association and its acceptance into the Associated Harvard Alumni, as well as the introduction of a school newspaper, the Lamplighter. But most "don't feel they have to be part of the University," says Goethals.
Those connected with the school generally agree that things are looking up, that Harvard is becoming more aware of the expanded role it could play in public education. "We're doing a heck of a lot more than anyone ever dreamed," says Crooks.
"Harvard has done less than they should have over the years," says Grossman. "The community was not best served. It had been dawning on them for years; they just never did anything about it," he says. "A lot is going to be heard from the Extension School in the years to come," "I think Shinagel brings a real enthusiasm to the program and a knowledge of its direction," Shinagel says.
But where the Extension School is headed in the years ahead will depend not merely on Shinagel's talents for organization and innovation, but also on his ability to convince Rosovsky and the Faculty of the school's importance.