Dr. Stephen A. Ragusea
* What social and public interest issues will
you emphasize during your term and what specific plans do you have for achieving your objectives?
There is no public issue more deserving of psychology's attention than that of our prison system. The United States incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any nation in the world. More than 1 percent of the entire U.S. population, a number equal to that of every person in the three states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Delaware, is behind bars. Psychologists, the experts in human behavior, should be leading us toward new answers to the problem of crime and punishment. As APA president, I will convene a national conference at our headquarters to address this social crisis.
* What do you consider to be the central issue confronting undergraduate education (high school, two-year and four-year college levels) in psychology in the next 10 years?
In high schools, we should be focusing our attention on mental health education. Every high school graduate needs to be psychologically literate. The basics of human psychological functioning, including a fundamental understanding of psychopathology, should be a part of every citizen's education.
At college, we need to expand mental health literacy while also focusing attention on attracting what we now call "minorities" into graduate training in psychology. Demographers tell us that, within a few decades, the American Caucasian majority will be in the minority. We must be certain that the psychologists of tomorrow are representative of our increasingly multicultural society.
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