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2 Int'l Soc. Work 1 (1959)

handle is hein.journals/intsocwk2 and id is 1 raw text is: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION AS SEEN IN INDIA AND NORTH AMERICA Helen R. Wright* The original subject of this opening address has the cosmic title of Similarities and Differences in Social Work Education. After consultation with the program planners, I agreed to prepare a paper which would, in fact, deal with similarities and differences in social work education, but only as seen in two small universes - a continent and a sub-continent, North America and India. This approach, while of much more limited scope, does afford an opportunity for more precise examination of specific details and will enable us, in later discussions of similarities and differences in other regions, to travel beyond and behind the broad generalities which are so often the subject and product of international meetings. I have taken an additional liberty of limiting the discussion to selected educational problems and have not attempted to cover all the similarities and differences in the educational patterns that have evolved in the two regions. The Setting for Social Work Education Before considering social work education itself, a few facts must be examined and kept in mind because of their influence on educational problems. Schools of social work in India are of much more recent origin than those in North America. The oldest School in India dates from 1936 but none of the others is more than ten years old, whereas several schools in the United States have celebrated their fiftieth anniversary and 23 schools have more than 30 years' experience behind them. This is not to suggest that Indian Schools are at the stage of development that American Schools were 20 or 30 years ago, but rather that some of the problems they are facing are more like those faced in America in earlier years of the Schools' history than those of today. The more recent development of social work educa- tion in India has other implications also. The Indian Schools, unlike those in America, found a body of experience in social work education not only in the United States and Canada but in other countries as well on which they could draw in planning their educational program and a body of formulated theory which they could use in their teaching. This has both advantages and disadvantages. It means that Indian education for social work has had to go through all the slow develop- mental stages of American education. On the other hand, it means that the theory that they found in North America had grown out of practice in another culture. That this theory is relevant and applicable to India I am convinced as I was not before spending two years here. But it is not theory on which actual Indian practice is based, and hence the gap between what is taught in the schools and what is done in the agencies is far wider than it has ever been in America. The pro- blems that this creates can readily be imagined; some of them will be discussed more fully at a later point. Attention should also be given to similarities and differences in the settings in which social work education is carried on. Here certainly the differences are far greater than the similarities. There is one factor in common, however, which should not be ignored. The governments in both regions are founded on democratic principles and in both the ideology of democracy is pre- dominant. The importance of this can hardly be exag- gerated. It means that social work education in these two regions, widely separated as they are in space, differ- ent in history, religion and culture is carried on with certain common values which are in keeping with the values of the society of which they are a part. It means that the education in the two regions in-vitably will be based on certain premises in common, both as to how they expect a social work-r to feel, think and act, and as to methods they will use in helping students learn. In many ways the climate of opinion in India is more favourable to the development of social work than it is in either country of North America. The goal of a welfare state is openly espoused by all political parties and the terms social work and social worker carry in India a prestige far beyond that which is attached to them in North America. It should be noted parenthetically, however, that the prestige in fact is given to the voluntary worker but not to the salaried professional worker. Even with this reservation the fact of the prestige to the name has value. Neither social work nor education for social work can thrive on goodwill alone. They need material re- sources if they are to d-velop their potentialities, and it is in the provision of these material resources that North America has many advantages. The reason for this is *Dr. Wright is Dean Emeritus of the School of Social Service Administration of the University of Chicago. In July, 1958. she completed a two- vear assignment as Chief of Mission of a technical assistance project on ,ocial work education in India, snonsored by the Council on Social Wor'- Education at the request of the Indian Schools of Social Work and the Government of India and the United States.

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