The well-attended Teachers Section of Otolaryngology at the recent Academy Meeting in Chicago provided some explosive expressions which should give us all food for thought. The announcement of the Residency Coordinator that a fourth year in general surgery would be added to the present three-year requirement for training in otolaryngology after 1960, came as a bombshell. The preponderance of opinion elicited was that this was untimely, unrealistic, and ill-advised. The applause that followed definitely indicated where the majority stood. In the group discussions after the meeting, opinions were even less restrained. Why should the occupants of these "ivory towers" make such far-reaching decisions without first sampling the opinions of the rank and file? Don't we all have a vital stake in the future of our specialty?
It appeared that the democratic process had broken down in this phase of the Academy's influential activities.
The Chairman of the Teachers Section, it