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Special Assistant to the Minister for
Foreign Aifairs, and a secretary who
took down the conversation in short–
hand.
The Prime Minister asked the first
question. 1 do not have the transcript of
our conversatioo, so what follows is
written as precisely as possible from
memory.
"Mr. Armstrong, there is a marked
similarity between the student unrest
and rebellion in the United States and
in Japan, and I would like to know
how you are coping with this problem
at Ambassador College."
"First," 1 replied, "let me say that we
have no student unrest or rebellion of
any kind at Ambassador College. And
to explain to
you
the reason, I need to
tell you something of the founding of
the college in 1947.
"1 had been seriously impressed with
what I saw as basic evils creeping into
modero higher education. Education
was becoming completely materialistic,
and highly specialized. Students were
being taught how to earn a living - in
a science
oc
technology, in a profession
or occupation - but they were not
being taught how to live. Education had
become concecned solely with the intel–
lect. Moral, spiritual and ethical values
were being neglected. I felt keenly the
tragic need to found a college that
would teach students to recaptuce the
true values - a college that would put
equal emphasis on character building.
"In a conversation with Dr. Paul
C.
Packer, then Chancellor of H igher Edu–
cation over the state universities in the
state of Oregon, he said that many
educators were aware of these evils, but
were powerless to correct them. He
envied me
my
opportunity to start out
with a different policy from scratch.
And he urged me not to let any pres–
sures defiect me from
my
policy to pro–
vide a balanced, well-rounded education
of the whole person. He said, 'You are
not shackled by tradition as established
university presidents are. You have
an opportunity to recapture the true
values.' And in that statement, he gave
me the slogan for Ambassador College.
"l found I had a struggle on
my
hands, the fust few years, to avoid pres–
sures from faculty members trying to
turn the new college into a rubber
The
PLAIN TRUTH
stamp - in the pattecn of tradition
with the same old evils. Of course 1 had
to employ teachers experienced in the
current mainstream.
"But I was determined, and we have
never deviated from
my
purpose and
foundational policy. The result is that
we have never had any disagreement,
protest, or f riction between students and
faculty and administration. We provide
a cultural physical environment of c¡ual–
ity,
tone and character, and find it
not only conducive to education, but
important in the character development
of students. Our students are happy,
always smiling, and they believe our
campuses are the happiest places on
earth."
Next, the Prime Minister remarked
that "we may personally be too old,"
but the young people are confronted
with serious problems involving morals,
and particularly sexual mores. "And
they are viewing these problems very
differently than we." He wanted to
know if we were doing anything to
inculcate a proper moral foundation.
1 answered that we were very keenly
aware of this problem, and the moral
trend, and that in the third year of
Ambassador, in 1949, 1 had introduced
a new course, which 1 personally taught
for sorne years, in sex and marriage,
which we call "Principies of Living."
Then 1 explained that 1 had found it
necessary to write, in collaboration with
our college physician and the faculty of
the Graduate School of Theology, our
own textbook - and that 1 am right
now working on a new revised edition
of this book. Mr. Sato asked me to send
him a copy as soon as it is off the press.
Then I told him 1 felt the entire
moral toboggan slide is due to false
education. Whereas prior to World War
1 it was illegal in the United States to
publish or disseminate printed instruc–
tion about sex or its uses, immediately
after, the legal bars were removed and
an avalanche of sex literature flooded
American bookstores, magazine and
newsstands. The former ignorance and
stern religious repression had resulted
in unhappiness and frustrations in roar–
riage. Sigmund Freud attributed the
cause of neuroses and mental disorders
to the prudish repression and ignorance.
The psychoanalysts urged sex education
February 1971
and sexual freedom as the cure. But the
new tidal wave of sex instruction was
wholly materialistic and sensual. The
all-important dimension was missing -
the
PURPOSE
of sex and of mar–
riage. Ambassador students have been
instructed in this missing dimension.
They bave
complete,
not partial knowl–
edge and understanding. Result: Out of
hundreds of marriages resulting from
campus romances, only one divorce.
The results at Ambassador have been
rewarding, wholesome and happy
relationships and lives of rewarding
fulfillment.
Then the Prime Minister mentioned
that on his last visit
to
the United States
he had become acutely aware of the
widespread dissemination of porno–
graphic materials in the United States.
He was shocked and alarmed by it. He
said that in Japan, although they have
a free society so far as expression is
concerned, they do exercise reasonable
controls, and they do not yet have any
such widespread distribution of pornog–
raphy. He wanted to know what we
are doing about this problem at
Ambassador.
1 replied that we simply have no
such problem on any Ambassador
campus. Where students are taught the
true values - where they have under–
standing of
WHY
right is right and best
for them,
and
WHY
wrong is harmful
to
them,
there is just no problem.
lf
such a
problem should ever
begin
to put in an
appearance, we would deal with it
swiftly, wisely and firmly.
On the other hand, I explained how,
in our Extension Program worldwide -
our program of education in the home,
at aU levels for all peoples - we have
taken the lead in arousing public atten–
tion to these evils. This program, by
radio, television, our own mass-circula–
tion magazines, purchased large-space
advertising in such mass-circulation
publications as
Reader>s Digest, Life,
Look,
the London
Stmday Times,
and
many others, besides attractíve full-color
booklets and pamphlets offered free,
is
reaching 150 million people
WORLDWIDE!
1 also mentioned our television docu–
mentaries on pollution of all kinds -
air, water, soil, garbage etc. - and the
(Contirmed on page 41)