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include support of trainees once they return home. I am confident that Dr. Robinson and company will be reminding us of this, as will other staff for a growing array of other needs and new directions.

The shift from the National Zoo to Smithsonian educational roles and responsibilities involved a somewhat vertiginous widening of vistas. A sense of directed travel did seem elusive as the Council ranged over possible Smithsonian contributions to pre-collegiate education, even venturing, as the discussions did, over other parts of our educational landscape. With some of the veering and hauling inherent to a subject of varied levels and connections, other contributors also seemed apparent. I had the feeling at times that both Council and staff were restrained by a courtesy perhaps too sedulously observed, and in some cases on our part by alliance to paths already chosen. These, however, are observations made in passing. Finding fault is not the purpose here, though we did learn some things applicable to future topics of wider horizons. My point is that a certain cloudiness in our public education effort itself contributed to the day's elusive focus, and situation reflected at several places in the Council's summary of these sessions.

I was struck particularly by a reference in the Council's report to "a long-standing haziness about local vis-a-vis national educational aspirations." If aspirations for the visitor are a part of the "local" side of this equation, also somewhat occluded, then the basic issues of public programming are before us in their entirety. What is needed to fulfill the Smithsonian's charter in the public sphere? What should be the attendant roles and relationships for the Mall and beyond, in intellectual and geographical terms, and accordingly, what of priorities and resources for programs for the visitor, for local residents, and for those living elsewhere? As I continue to learn, answers to these questions have been made along diverse lines at an accelerating pace in recent years -- a period of weltering change marked by real accomplishment, and some disorder.

The Council's  questioning of aims, relationships, and recent developments is another reminder of the need for a new look at the basics of programming for the public. Working towards a guiding set of principles, as you recommend along with an assessment of roles and relationships, is a process under way. The restructuring of our organizational arrangements is a part of this, including the appointment of Tom L. Freudenheim to the new post of Assistant Secretary for Museums, to whom our museums and related programs will report. When he comes on board early next year, and with a principal interest in museum-based public education programs, a fresh focus and means will arise for addressing coherencies along the education front. Thus the near term bears promise for some movement towards integration and extension of the educational effort that capitalizes upon a diverse past record, while providing depth and strength through a