We have had considerable opportunity for study in cases of youth who have been paroled from various institutions. For example, one bɔy who was on parole from the St. Cloud Reformatory, was placed on the program. He was eligible, and he had learned something about shoe repairing. His job was repairing shoes. Shoes were brought to him by these needy youth and that was valuable experience for him and it was beneficial to those other youth with whom he was working. We had in St. Paul this year a project where youth were employed making tennis nets that were used for distribution to the schools and communities where tennis courts had been built by youth employed on other projects. One day we happened to visit this project and struck up a conversation with one of the workers. The worker said, "I'm getting mighty tired of this job." We inquired as to what understanding that person had of the work he was doing. He said he was, just tying knots and didn't know where the nets were used. A study was therefore made of the young people that were employed on that project. We found that a great many of them were fitted for recreational work, so some of them were taken from that project and made leaders on lccal recreation fields where they had the opportunity of organizing tennis tournaments, etc. Another classic example was a girl who was painting little wooden dolls that were used for shut-in children. We asked her what she was doing. She said she was painting dolls. "What do you do with them?" “Oh, I hang them on the wire.” That gave rise to more emphasis on the part of our supervisors to giving these youth a little more vision as to the results of the work that they were carrying on .We tried to make them realize that they were not only performing the task at hand, but a service which was of great benetit. This last year we had about 1,800 workers employed on pure recreational activities. They worked at playgrounds, gymnasiums, and neighborhood houses throughout the state. We feel they were performing a real service,—a service that was desirable for the community and for youth that did not have wholesome leisure time activities. We have tried wherever possible to employ youth to the best advantage of other youth that we cannot serve because our program is limited by funds. There are two other phases of our program which are gaining more and more importance. One of these is a counsel and guidance service. Every youth who is employed is interviewed and questioned in regard to his past training, his interests, etc. and we try to gain some knowledge as to his abilities and the things he would like to do. It is surprising the responses we get out of young people whom we question. We find that a number of girls when asked what they would like to do in the future answered that they would like to be farmers' wives. A great many boys would like to be aviators, others engineers. We find that supervisors as well as the youth themselves have a greater interest in the program of the work they are doing when they have an opportunity of talking with one another and securing information as to the best possible procedure for them in the future. We have 80 est gre hav han thes ailin Conv prob must is no lems, wilde staty rs. For ex matory, ed someth were treat ence for in as working re youth went on to the se project and s. YOUTH LOOKS TO THE FUTURE encouraged a number of them to go back to school,-not to go back to formal learning, but trade schools, and to take training that will fit them for a job. You would be interested to know that in the metropolitan centers approximately 33% who have been out of school and employed on work projects are high school graduates. In rural sections, 18% are high school graduates. We had a meeting in a county seat town in central Minnesota and called in all of the youth to that meeting who were eligible for our program. A great many of these youth came in and we were amazed to see their condition. They came in with their feet wrapped in by youth burlap sacks, etc. Youth came to those meetings looking for work under our program and a great many of them had not even had a sixth grade education. I didn't believe that possible in Minnesota. In fact, from some of the studies that we have made, we have found that of youth in rural communities employed on our program, seven per cent of them have had no more than a sixth grade education. A great many of these youth reached the age of sixteen, did not complete their local school, do not know what opportunities exist, and so if I were to talk about the possibility of youth's looking to the future, a great many of them don't even know what to look for. er said, T tunderstand vas just t was the Fect. We for k. so somed I recreat urnaments A supervisor recently, while interviewing some young people, asked them what they wanted to do. They didn't know what they were interested in. They had no idea of what they were going to do. I think that a great challenge presents itself to education today, and to all people who have any contact with youth, to give them wherever possible a helping hand to guide them through these things that we have experienced. Give these youth the benefit of our experience. We say that youth today are ailing. In fact, some people say that we have a lost generation. I am not convinced of that. I think the problem goes much deeper than that. The problems of youth arise from a social order that is out of order. The older generation today has gone over a lot of ruts that youth must travel. They have experienced many of the same problems. Youth is not new, and youth problems are not new. Pioneers youth had problems, but the pioneer youth had a future which existed in unexplored wilderness. Pioneer youth went westward and those who did not, had the opportunity of taking the places of their elders who did go. Today you can't just use your legs to get away from the depression, but it is a matter of using your minds. Sometimes it is very difficult for youth to see the way out of a present dilemma. We will say that youth looked forward today, but what did they look forward to? I think most of them are looking forward to the opportunity for some kind of experience that will enable them to secure jobs. They are looking forward today to an opportunity for a practical education, one that will benefit them. Youth are looking forward as they always have to love, marriage, establishing a home,-all those things that are old,-yet youth are still looking forward to them. I think that the older generation should make it its responsibility to assist youth in that regard in every way they can. Recently Agnes Samelson, president of the National Education Association, said these things about youth who are looking forward into the future: "Youth are not searching for something new. They seek for encouragement, relationships that broaden, achievements that reward, poise that balances, experiences that enrich, ideals that inspire, satisfactions that reward, habits that control, ambition that motivates, religion that spiritualizes, character that stabilizes, and service that spell happiness." It is indeed a hopeful sign to find so many adults interested in youth, and I would like at this time to pass on to you a few words taken from a book called, "We're Old Chums." I believe this is the attitude that adults and public agencies interested in youth should maintain. Why build you the bridge at eventide?" one hor "The builder lifted his old gray head, "Good friend, in the path I have come," he said, A youth whose feet must pass this way. To that fair-haired youth might a pitfall be. Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.” tru Out pro mo sch priv that wes bet on t to The leav Thr Serv publ scho Som vers see purp form for into the fut ek for ence eward, poise satisfactions religion that happiness adults interes few words t the attitude aintain. m, ide, re id, SCHOOLS OF TOMORROW Herbert Sorenson Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology University of Minnesota Whenever I enter a farm campus, I sense the futility of education. I wonder if it is worth our while to discuss the topic of schools of tomorrow. We have farm schools all over the United States. We have large departments of agricultural education in the Federal Government, and still the lot of the farmer is becoming increasingly harder. Mortgages are increasing, tenancy is on the increase, and the lot of the farmer is much more severe. Another reason I question the value of education is that my wife is a graduate of the home economics department of this institution. I can see no tangible results of that education. Today she accompanied me in order to help me find this building. She couldn't find it, so I have concluded that the results of her training here are all on the red-ink side. Now, in discussing this topic, one has a marked advantage. One does not have to be handicapped by facts. In talking about a subject in which one can engage in prophecy and prediction, he doesn't have to narrow his horizon because he can predict as he wishes. There is, of course, that truth that one in his own state should not be a prophet and he is without honor, but in spite of that great authority I believe I will attempt to prophesy something of schools of tomorrow. In the first place, I think that public education as supported by taxmoney is on the decline, and will be on the decline. I think the public school has seen its best days. I predict that there will be an increase in private schools. If you observe carefully, you can note that the tracks that separate the north side from the south side, or the east from the west side, are becoming increasingly wide. There is a real distinction between the street and road, on the one hand, and a boulevard and lane on the other. The result will be that persons of good income are going to refuse to support public schools. They will refuse to pay the taxes. They are going to send their own children to private schools, and will leave the public schools, such as they will become, for the unprivilegd. Throughout various sections of the United States even now you can observe that persons, some of only average means, send their children to public schools only part of the time and the rest of the time tɔ private schools. You can observe this also in the cases of people on state payrolls. Some of them do not sent their children to public schools, or to state universities. They send them to private schools and to private colleges. We see increasing demands to reduce the tax budget for school and other purposes. Even in our state today there is a vital issue about certain forms of taxes, many of which go for state purposes which in turn are for the support of our schools. A good public school system depends upon adequate resources and adequate money to be distributed by the State Department of Education. It is essential that the State Department of Education have a large amount of money to distribute to various schools according to need. Otherwise, the schools will be poor in one place and good in another. Now we are going to see, as we are seeing, repeated attempts to give less and less money to central agencies. The net result will be that schools will depend upon local support more and more, and then we will have private schools for those who can afford them, and they in turn will be unwilling to support the public schools. It will be a case of the strong teaching their children well through their own schools, and I am worried about the schools for the weak. Now that is a prophecy, but you go to the different sections of the United States, and you will discern a trend in that direction. The other topics I want to take up are, "What are the teachers of the future going to be? How will they differ from the present teachers?" "What will the curriculum be?" "What about supervision, and how will the schools be supported?" I think there is going to be a great change in the teaching personnel. Now the teacher of today is a classroom teacher and little else. She performs in the classroom and she ends her responsibility to society when she has taught her classes during the day. She hardly exercises her rights of citizenship. Of the domesticated species, the teacher is the most humble. She has lost her character. She never takes sides on a controversial issue. She timidly goes to the ballot box and votes, but she never expresses her opinion on any issue before she does vote. There are many people that believe that no one in public position should take part in controversial matters. They believe that no teacher should look outside her classroom and be interested. She is taught merely to adjust to the conditions as they are, and not take any steps to change them or modify them. If her children come to school hungry and ragged, entirely out of condition to do any good school work, she turns into a social worker and helps sell tickets or brings together some old clothes to help clothe these children. Now, I think the teacher in the future is going to be different. She will just have to be different as a matter of self-defense. Teachers, I think, are going to bind themselves into strong organizations. I wouldn't be surprised if a large number of them will be organized into unions. We see such a tendency now. Understand, I am not arguing one way or another; I am just predicting freely, quite freely, in fact. I don't know if they will join Mr. Green's organization or Mr. Lewis'. They are going to concern themselves about the world in which they live, because what is the point of a teacher's interesting herself in character education if, for example, after such education a child gets out into a ruthless world and unemployment, and after six months of such experience all the character education he has had is destroyed. Even if he gets employment, it may be in some place where the ethical standards are low, his character education is soon destroyed. It is futile for teachers to concern themselves to great extent about the character of children ~~~~84--- |