Authors Gill and Sánchez have captured the enthusiasm and spirit for educational reform and development in these two fascinating countries. The excellent organization of detailed material presented is well set forth, with accurate supporting data and real insights and interpretations into some of the main problems facing these countries. The books should supply the reader with reasonable knowledge of the changing educational scene, as it moves from a struggle for quantity to the development of high quality education at all levels. Apart from this essential shift in emphasis is the realization that these countries will reach their future economic and social goals only as education becomes a close partner with other forces involved in overall development. As the authors point out, newly created educational planning agencies are busily engaged in studying manpower and ways of enabling education to supply all parts of the nation’s labor force with properly qualified personnel. This is a new goal for education in Latin America which has tried for too long a time to serve choice professional careers without regard to more essential manpower needs.
These books touch lightly on the challenge that faces both of these countries as they develop a more effective educational system. In the educational sector the term “incentives” embraces many things: cultural motivation, employment opportunity, vocation counseling, the availability of instructional materials, aptitude testing, placement services, scholarships, grants in education, and others. However, through some attention to all or a portion of these, the governments of Venezuela and Chile will come to grips with a basic problem of educational progress—stimulating the desire of each individual to stay in school long enough to reach his potential and take his appropriate place in the economic world. How to increase the holding power of the school at all levels is the paramount problem to be resolved before development goals can be fully realized.
These excellent studies should be of real value to the Latin American reader who is interested in educational development. Although there are many articles on the subject, few composite studies such as these are available, since most of them are for confidential use by foundations or government agencies and not for public consumption.
