This program celebrates with photos and songs the centuries of international university Christmases, such as at Johns Hopkins' Bologna (Italy) Center. The seventy-member Johns Hopkins University Glee Club, directed by James Mitchell, sings such pieces as "O Come, O Come, Emanuel," "Indulci Jubilo," "Salvation is Created," and "Angels We Have Heard on High." An 1884 photo shows the first 13-member Hopkins Glee Club including Woodrow Wilson, and a 1957 photo shows the traditional Gilman Hall Step Sing. Projecting into the future, an electronic brain generates Christmas songs with electrons, as they might be played in 2057. Johns Hopkins University president Milton S. Eisenhower discusses the celebration of the nativity and the Christian principles by which free men live and on which universities center their programs.

This program features Christmas music by the Johns Hopkins University Glee Club, directed by James Mitchell, and the University of Maryland Mixed Vocal Group, directed by Charles Haslup. The University of Maryland group sings "Winter Wonderland," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "White Christmas," "Come, All Ye Faithful," and "Holy Night." The Hopkins Glee Club sings the Ukrainian hymn "Glory to God," "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "Indulci Jubilo," "See That Babe in the Lowly Manger," and "The Bells." Johns Hopkins student composer Richard Kapp plays "Bells," "Wassail," and "Boy Meets Santa," original Christmas pieces for the piano. Hopkins president Milton S. Eisenhower presents his annual Christmas message, discussing the traditions of the celebration and observation of this holiday, the widely divergent moral convictions threatening the world today, and the qualities of good character.

Lynn Poole shows two children album pages of lasting gifts: the oldest hymn, "Gloria in Excelsis," inserted into Mass by Pope Telesphorus, sung by the Johns Hopkins Glee Club; the custom of Christmas cards, first designed by John Callcott Horsley at the request of his friend Henry Cole in 1843, and another card designed by W.M. Edgley; the story surrounding the composition of "Silent Night," with words by Father Joseph Mohr and music by Franz Gruber and sung by a duet; the history of the Christmas tree traced to Martin Luther; the development of Santa Claus by cartoonist Thomas Nast from Dr. Clement Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nick"; the 1897 "Is there a Santa Claus" letter to "The New York Sun" and response from its editor Francis P. Church; the Welsh air "Deck the Halls" sung by a quartet; the Yule log custom; Johns Hopkins' President Milton S. Eisenhower's remarks on the significance of Christmas; and the composition of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" with words by Charles Wesley.

Filmed in his Homewood House office, Dr. Milton S. Eisenhower, president of the Johns Hopkins University, discusses current quantitative and qualitative problems in education. Charts of various aged school populations in 1900, 1958, and 1970 show that the number of students in higher education will double by the early 1970s. This increase in quantity threatens to reduce the quality of education. Public institutions will find it easier to receive funds than will private institutions because endowment incomes have not kept pace with rising costs nor does tuition meet all needs. Dr. Eisenhower compares the Russian system of education to that of the United States and suggests that our national security is at risk. Solutions to U. S. education problems include increasing teacher salaries, building more and better facilities, requiring more rigorous training in fundamental courses, providing more challenging programs for the more talented students, and increasing the tempo at universities for students ably prepared in high school.

Lynn Poole interviews dancer/choreographer Ted Shawn, who maintains that dance is universal. "Show me the dancing of any people, and I will tell you what their king is like" is a Chinese proverb claiming that dance reveals the state of a culture. Shawn says the motivation for dance is that it brings satisfaction. The gamut of human emotions is the basis for dance, as evidenced in the Greek theater, which was based on dance. Dance was originally solo and then social. Shawn shows a film of Australian aborigines dancing their stories and film clips of liturgical dance. Dance has long been a form of religious expression and ecstasy. Shawn shows photos and film clips of some of his dances based on religious themes such as the whirling dervish, St. Francis, and Shiva. He discusses turn of the century dance, which used very sterile technical styles. However, Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis initiated the renaissance of dance and the forerunner of modern dance. Film footage shows St. Denis's 1910 "Incense" and Shawn and St. Denis in "Tillers of the Soil." In 1933 Shawn formed an all-male company that danced American themes, shown in photos and film clips. Contemporary ballets are influenced by these American pioneer dancers, which revealed a vital and vigorous culture.

Seven Johns Hopkins scholars predict what the audience might expect in 1968 in various fields of science. Dr. Dayton Carritt, assistant director of the Chesapeake Bay Institute, considers the future of earth sciences: rockets will orbit the earth and send back weather information, nuclear power will be developed, and ocean circulation will be studied for possible food production. In the area of life sciences, biology professor William McElroy discusses nutritional requirements to relieve diseases, trapping solar energy, the physiology of space travel, insights on aging, and other possibilities in a "golden age of medicine." Professor of microbiology Thomas B. Turner predicts space medicine, electronic equipment for the handicapped, public protection against radioactivity, better surgical methods for transplants, and the reduction or elimination of heart disease, polio, and cancer. Professor Charles Singleton maintains that the humanities will continue to survive as long as we ask "What is a man?" and "What does it mean to be where we are?" In communications, chemistry professor Donald Hatch predicts the extension of television networks as well as 3-D television programs and programs on demand. Professor of physics Theodore Berlin lists future energy issues such as control of thermonuclear fusion reactions, problems with radioactive wastes, application of atomic energy (but not in homes or vehicles), transformation of devices to control energy, and development of solid fuels and solar energy. According to Francis Clauser, professor of aeronautics, in the realm of space travel, commercial airlines will fly at supersonic speeds; guided missiles and anti-missile devices will be the backbone of defense; the U.S. will enjoy peaceful space travel with the Russians; and a rocket will go to the moon. To reinforce this view, Wernher von Braun, in a taped segment, predicts that the U.S. will launch a man into outer space, he will orbit and return to earth. He says an unmanned rocket will also land on Mars. Milton S. Eisenhower, the president of Johns Hopkins University, sums up their findings by pointing out the importance of education in all these endeavors.

Lynn Poole summarizes the modern concept of foundations for philanthropy. Dr. Milton S. Eisenhower, president of Johns Hopkins University, reports that there are 7,000 private foundations in the U. S. with assets of over $7 billion. He discusses their varied interests noting that this program will focus on a representative foundation's private gifts to education. Henry T. Heald, president of the Ford Foundation, explains that the purpose of this foundation's twenty programs is to advance human welfare. Secretary of the Ford Foundation Joseph M. McDaniel points out that foundations can be discriminating, flexible, and can show by example. He describes the Ford Foundation's funding of both the Woodrow Wilson program for attracting able students into the teaching field and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. Mr. McDaniel explains that about 400 applications are funded from the 5,000 received annually. These are selected because they seem to provide the best solutions to issues that are within the foundation's purpose and interests. Clarence H. Faust, president of the Fund for the Advancement of Education of the Ford Foundation, describes some of the teacher shortage solutions supported by this fund. For example, this fund contributes to new school construction, and in 1955 it partnered with the Carnegie Foundation to create the National Merit Scholarship Corp. to provide scholarships to send more students to college. Mr. Faust also discusses the "Hagerstown Project" in Washington County, MD where a grant from the Ford Foundation has supplied funds for a five-year experiment using closed circuit television for classroom instruction.

A dramatization of feudal lords, ladies, minstrels, fools, and acrobats in a banquet hall illustrates points about medieval life in this program. Dr. Sidney Painter, professor of history at The Johns Hopkins University, discusses chivalry, from the French "chevalier", or knight, referring to the ideals of the knightly class. He summarizes the events of the Middle Ages and notes that warfare and women were the guiding influences of that period. The knights, originally barbarous in desires and actions, listened to "chansons de geste", poems of war, but they became more civilized as troubadours changed their tunes. "The Story of Roland", for example, suggests that knights were to protect the church and punish criminals. Courtly poems laid the foundation for "preux", a term denoting prowess and all the virtues of chivalry. Women such as Eleanor of Aquitaine and her daughter Marie further influenced men's behavior by supporting such troubadours as Chretien De Troyes, who wrote "Erec et Enide".

Lynn Poole discusses reading comprehension and speed and how bad habits, such as moving one's mouth while reading, can be eliminated. He also shows a regressive reader, who lacks concentration and doesn't trust her comprehension. An ophthalmograph, which records every eye movement on film, is demonstrated along with the eye graphs of efficient and poor readers. A film, prepared by W. G. Perry, Jr. and C. P. Whitlock of Harvard University, simulates a reading clinic's tachistoscope, developed by Samuel Renshaw, to improve a student's precision of vision (length of time focused on a word and number of words in eye fixation) and peripheral vision. Dr. Milton S. Eisenhower, president of Johns Hopkins University, points out that the objective of all college courses is to increase reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. However, in 1955, only 17% of all U. S. adults were regularly reading books, and there was a disparity between reading levels and chronological ages.

Dr. Eisenhower, Johns Hopkins University president, opens this tenth season of Johns Hopkins television. Lynn Poole discusses increasing U. S. energy needs and predicts that the world may run out of coal in 1000 years and oil in 100 years, making solar energy a critical commodity. A film clip shows the sun's surface and its energy generation is discussed. John Yellott, executive director for the Association for Applied Solar Energy, says that space heating will be the first large use of solar energy. He explains the workings of a solar-heated house with auxiliary heat pump designed by University of Minnesota architecture student Peter Lee and engineered by Bridgers and Paxton. According to Mr. Yellot, the basic instruments of solar energy are collectors, concentrators, photoelectricity, and photochemistry. He shows how solar stills can convert salt water into fresh; solar furnaces can be used for metallurgy and other research; and solar stoves can be designed for arid countries where fuel is scarce. Mr. Poole uses a photo flood light to light a cigarette and shows how selenium cells operate a photoelectric exposure meter and 8mm movie camera. Mr. Yellott demonstrates a radio/phonograph developed by Admiral Corp. to run on solar cells with backup storage batteries. Mr. Yellot concludes that at this time large scale uses of solar energy are too expensive, but solar is ideal for small amounts of energy in isolated places. More research is needed in harnessing this inexhaustible source of power.