A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK
MY note of last week on the singular failure to appoint leading educationalists and scientists to the British delegation to the recent conference of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, has elicited the following from a high autho- MY note of last week on the singular failure to appoint leading educationalists and scientists to the British delegation to the recent conference of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, has elicited the following from a high autho-
rity in the educational world :—
" I was very glad to see your note in The Spectator about UNESCO. It so happens that I saw most of the French dele- gates, and some of the Americans, and they all said the same thing. They asked why their opposite numbers in this country were not on the English delegation. Our delegation, it seems, was composed of officials from the Ministry of Education and office-holders such as the President of the N.U.T. It is a most unfortunate affair, since a very great opportunity was missed of valuable international co-operation. I do not know what can be done, but I do hope that the mistake will be realised in the proper quarters, and efforts made to prevent a repetition of this extraordinary blunder."
Every word of this is true. A most serious blow has been dealt at British prestige in the cultural field. The Minister of Education might as well never have heard of men and women like Dr. Gilbert Murray, Sir Richard Livingstone, Dr. G. M. Trevelyan, Sir Ernest Barker or Professor Brogan, Miss Myra Curtis or Mrs. Stocks.
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