? ",°ItE SERIOUSLY, the Soviet success does point to tu e fact
that if any country spends a large portion °f its resources on scientific research and educa- tion, it will achieve results. I say 'scientific' deliber- ately. In Britain we are often asked to imitate the Americans and concentrate on applied science, but it is interesting to notice that just that very neglect of basic research for technology is now being blamed for the US failure to make the grade. In his prescient book The Organisation Man Mr. William H. Whyte made precisely this criticism of the direction American scientific research was taking, and his remarks have evi- dently been confirmed by events. For Britain the lesson I should draw is that more should be spent on education pure and simple. Soviet com- petition in the field of science will be a good thing if it forces us to get more out of our schools and universities. It may even help us to see that money is sometimes better laid out on teachers' salaries than on unnecessarily luxurious new buildings. But this is in the future. Meanwhile, the univer- sities are complaining of the insufficiency of their grants for the coming academic year.
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