Will It Be a 'Jazz-Mad' Generation?
Lindeman, Edward C
Will It Be a 'Jazz-Mad' Generation? By Edward C, Lindeman IS the »n iim M«4w •( young peepac (na school * and into full or part-tiaac employment aa radktmsat of our ncboola, our yooag poo pie....
...see IN confronting this situstion we should remember that * we are not dealing with a dewy-eyed, romantic generation...
...standards is both the BeM of lobar and af education...
...Undoubtedly the development of such projects has positive values, in many industries, and for girls as well as for boys, though up to the present the per-centage of boys doing such work it much higher than the score for the girls...
...What should be said to parent* and teachers who are confronted with this hefting problem...
...Some sre discovering that K is possible to combine work and study in such a way aa to improve and vitalise study...
...Prom the grim shadow af the depression we have emerged into the overhead glare ef all-oat production...
...No plan ia in itaelf a panacea...
...Jf wisely enough planned, a nation-wide school-work I project might conceivably prevent hundreds of thousands of young people from throwing away their educational opportunities during the war...
...How is it being trained to meet that depressioa wisely...
...Most important, the artificial barriers between education for actual labor and education for white-collar work, the "clean hands" snobbishness, must be mercilessly exploded...
...If that fails, far too marry of them insist upon staying away from school so as not to be cheated out of their afternoon jobs...
...Authorities feel that this restriction, pit*** npoa the natural roving quality of the boys end firh they are dealing with, has a tendency to stabilise tht progress both of their school work and of their prac-Beal work on tha job...
...run, a good plan or a bad plan depends to an incalculable extant upon the intelligence and "rtngrity of tha persons who administer it...
...Their teachers...
...Once launched on the job, he has five weeks in which to decide whether of not he intends to stick...
...What will be their own reaction five years from now—or tea years from now, to the years of school which they have so carelessly forfeited...
...In Newport News, while a bowling alley proprietor was being fined for employing several children of from 10 to 13 years, the boys' parents actually appeared in court in order to apeak in favor of the employer...
...Child labor is a great social evil because it wsates our most precious resource for the future...
...If parents get "tough" or "crabby" sons and daughters have even been known to pretend to go to school, while in reality they aneak away to hold down unskilled, dead-end jobs, often at phenomenally high wages...
...Prowl usee to time a bey, in his first week of work in a war plant, will earn as much aa $76...
...Boys and girls who come to know the inside of shop and factory may at tha aame time come to know the meaning of history and literature and the various arts...
...In some cases, two students are filling one eight-hour full-time job—sort of a workable ptir of Siamese twins...
...All sorts of shortened or...
...MflTH such an increase in legal employment, the up-surge of illegal job holding can easily be imagined...
...These are the boy* and girls who knew the terror of the depression...
...This ia not to say that by adopting a work-school F*ng»ea, all Job difficulties are automatically elimi-There nra auch obviously unwise applications of the plan aa tha recent Buffalo aystem where, ae-••raing to a newspaper report, several hundred boya ¦* M Aircraft Plant who are attending a -full session ¦PIhigh school regularly are permitted to work on the Victory shift until midnight three days a week...
...Between September 1040 and September 1042, the high school enrollment ef our nation dropped 8.6 per cent, a matter of 672,000 boys and girls...
...Young people quickly grow bored...
...Of course, the idea has been tried on the level of higher educstien and Antiech College is perhaps one of the finest illustration* of it* success...
...s,l>'h programs are symptomatic, like chills and •* apota...
...Prof...
...Or should they be advised to continue their education...
...If the work it satisfactory, the student is allowed one unit s semettei toward graduation...
...A still other alternative is...
...Throw away the books for good and all...
...According to its usual plan, several hundreds ef boys of 16 snd 17 regularly attend school four hours a dsy and work st tho aircraft plant for four hours...
...A South Bend, Indiana, newspaper reported that toe many selfish parents of adoles cento had allowed, and even insisted upon, a double program for their children—full time in school plus a full-time shift in a local factory...
...some leave home and stay with relatives or friends...
...Themselves...
...The boys must pan a stiff physical examinstion snd above all must keep up in their academic work...
...In May...
...Boys and girls alike complain because they may not work as late at night aa they would like to...
...Although msny large and small companies hsve initiated work-school puis;isms, Lockheed Aircraft Company, in California, which wss s pioneer in such cooperation, may still be used for purposes of demonstis-tien...
...Will these young persona be capable of making the necessary readjustments or are they already another "lost generation...
...But when the world ia no longer their oyster...
...New their younger brothers and aartera see jobs all around them...
...Ia it aery a "normal" and "expected" part of natal warfare' Waa youth hi tho roar* just before tho war aoft, oatrontbsa and ever-protarted...
...Haiiarasa, It this article saakee important ravstaresno an the geawth of chief labor in thia coon-try and saatysss the paaaMs effects it ssay have ea the next gsairstlias, Pirssns hrtoreetcd ia move material em lata subject ssay writ* to the Nstiaaal Chrld Labor Cemastttae, 41* Fourth Arenas, N. Y. C...
...They Insisted that work until 10 or 11 at night kept their boys "off the street" and that poor school attendance records could be explained by other factors...
...a survey was made of "drop-outs" from the Philadelphia schools...
...Easy cease, essy go haa became the ssette of an satire generation...
...I presume, possible: we may simply do nothing about it...
...By Edward C, Lindeman IS the »n iim M«4w •( young peepac (na school * and into full or part-tiaac employment aa radktmsat of our ncboola, our yooag poo pie...
...Salaries for beginners are incredibly high...
...People here and **r» actually beginning to think of our school ¦Petem not merely as a aystem of rules and regain-**•"• hut as n practical tool...
...Greatest shame of all, most of these parents were not poverty-stricken...
...By being permitted to throw its money ereaad for pleasure—fee lexartoa—for pore swaak...
...Whether or not it '•• m the Ions...
...ing a four-week period and work in the plant for s similar period...
...In the final paragraph of a remarkable document entitled Human Conservation snd published by the National Resources Planning Board, now alas abandoned, I find this penetrating and wise injunction: "In a democratic society, therefore, we cannot permit anyone, no' matter how insignificant and unimportant, to be stunted, impaired, wasted, humiliated, degraded, or exploited, because anyone so treated is less capable of the conduct necessary to maintain a democratic social order, less competent to beer the responsibilities of freedom, and less willing to participate in seeking the common good...
...sometimes he asks the coodinstor to help him find suitable work...
...What will our teen aged money makers of today be saving five, seven or ton years from now...
...This system ia varied is certain plants where, because of transportation difficulties, the beys attend school dor...
...This notion Is so simple and so reasonable that it seems slraost incredible that we have not "stumbled" upon it before...
...la it passible for young people to combine useful wartime work with education...
...I want to have a good Usee as hag a* I can...
...They did not need the money, since they themselves, at their wsr jobs, were earning more than ever before in their lives...
...They are the signs of some strsnge n'w metabolism in the body politic...
...Some of these truants hide out in bowling alleys...
...Who can blame them if they are now eager to take these Jobs...
...Not all...
...The schools and the industries of the community sre learning how to supplement each other to the benefit of the students...
...Wa •*« talking about the need of wiser and more extensive vocational counseling, even in the schools which turned out white-collar workers and which specialised in college entrance examinations...
...W IhTsssa hV Beam, snd ethers...
...The rule about sticking to the je» k strictly enforced, though certain exceptions srt allowable In ease s much bettor job suddenly become* available...
...No easy job will interest them for long simply because it is easy...
...they were told that education might become insurance against starvation...
...But we cannot afford to take this risk, even in the midst of wsr, without complete and adequate educational safeguards...
...The job turnover is appalling...
...Bays say, "III he drafted in a year or' two...
...When the demands of young wage earners are ignored by educators the remedy is simple —leave school entirely...
...When it is too late will they discover that they sre either jobless er condemned for the rest ef their lives to routine work which they may no longer take or leave, which no longer pays them higher wages then their own pa rente ar* earning...
...into five and-tene, movie houaee, hotels, bakeries, laundries...
...Is it not possible that eat of thin current difficulty we ssay even learn something ef grant value to the future af education* Moat of the significant educational inventions of this nation have come about during times of trouble and ttrain...
...Or shall we make ceaceaaiena and compromises...
...This supervision is continued after the five-week probationary period is over and the job has become permanent...
...Whom will they blsme for their sketchy and unsatisfactory reservoir of knowledge...
...Indeed, they msy even coma to have a much deeper understanding of these humanistic elements of life because they hsve shsred in the world's work...
...A preliminary training course is compulsory...
...There is no incompatibility between work and culture, between a useful life and a good life...
...The ¦oat inspired rugged individualism in the world cannot" ¦take it a success...
...Why should 1 bother about ssoncy...
...If he is heslthy snd emotionally mature and if there is a need of such experience, he is enrolled...
...The number of standard work papers issued for full-time year-round employment of young people under 18 continues to mount rapidly...
...Only boys recommended by the schools are employed and toe company haa agreed not to take on any ether workers under It...
...Sometimes he already has a job In mind...
...e • • WHAT is the reaponsibilty of adulta ia this situs " tie...
...Bikirrs nhnmaasa, IVttisisT ee**the Touchers Goat...
...One fact we ssay as well admit at the outset: aa leaf as jobs sre plentiful and wsgee high man, „f oW sens and daughters will insist upon working If we attempt to stop them by fere*, we shall succeed merely ia widening the already brood gap between youth ami adults...
...Thia might greatly curtail their disillusionment and bitterness during the hard post-war decade we are dye to live through as best we can...
...Before the war, our *weational schools were growing as importance...
...California, as one example...
...Ail or* Aaaeriea as i neat teachers, parents and employers arc ashing: Should bo;a and firla of If and 17, or of 14 and li years bo encouraged to work...
...Each high school has a teacher who act* aa supervisor of the program and coordinator of placement...
...One of the experimental ideas which I see coming out ef this fsinful wsr ex-aerie nee is this: many educators ar* learning how to bring their schools into functional relationship with their communities...
...This is the time for experimentation...
...This war is dragging the generation which will be called upon to five through and to administer our diffi-cult postwar adjuatsaenU oat of the classroom and into war plants, canning factories, bowling alleys, all night reetaurante or eon key-teaks...
...Existing child labor laws are being reacindod or reinterpreted—meet of them for the duration, a few for aa unlimited period of time...
...This survey was made during the depression, while jobs were scare* and while, for went of anything better to do, many boys and girls were continuing their schooling who perhaps would not normally have done so...
...Sixteen year-aide can rsmmaad Stt or $40 a week as unskilled laborers...
...into peoples' kitchens, onto their farms, onto the streets as news er messenger boys . . . and girls...
...Only heslthy, ssne, foi ward-looking people, who sincerely believe in the value of human life snd the worth of personslity, esn schieve a democratic social order, dedicated to human need* and values...
...Teachers and truant oBkei-s tell quite a different Story...
...Why not, then, begin thinking about some new adaptations for our educsUonal system...
...The war...
...In a few casee parents have lied with barefaced insistence, reiterating that their sons and daughters had left town, when the evidence of their being employed, just around the corner, at high wages, was beyond question...
...Another fact should be admitted, namely, that nobody seriously object* he paft-tiaae work on the pert ef high school beys and girts so long as proper safeguards are maintained for hearth and bodily safely, »nd se long as education is net neglected...
...Boys of 14 have been known to make seventy-five cents an hour...
...1*39...
...Why abaald 1 save »t for ssmsbeiy east to speed...
...Their parents...
...Many are completely unmindful of the probable csaacquoaras to youth both of pre-mature labor and of interrupted education...
...Healthy work performed as a part of, and in relation to, learning on the part of young people above 19 years is something fsr tiaTerent from child lsbor...
...Take a full-time instead of only a part-time job...
...When a atudent decides that h* wants to enroll in the program, he must first consult the coordinator aa to his need of work'experience xi a part of his high school training...
...Touching in its bewildered incomprehension, in its dawning regret, the recurrent phrase came like a gran refrain, "1 wish that I'd stayed in school...
...When the war veterans come home, jobs become scarce and money is tight...
...We need to re-define the individual relationship between the teacher in his supervisory cspscity snd the boy or girl whose entire life will be affected by hia wise or unwise schoice of a full-time job, a combination of school snd work or a full-time course of academic study...
...intensified school sessions sre being experimented with...
...A werk-•eheol plsn ia a ,atudy in practical cooperation...
...What is the right thing to do...
...Most important of all, a representative of the school keeps in touch with the beys at the plsnt, constantly supervising their work, keeping track of each boy with care and with personal thoroughness...
...You can't get a jab any place unless you're a high school graduate...
...Frequently they sign petitions demanding that the school day end at 1:30...
...Their older brothers and sisters are carrying the heavy brunt of the war...
...into office buildings aa operators af elevators, with a high yearly record of accidents among the under-It group...
...I may never come bach...
...Tllfl article by aVhaaad C Ltsismsss, Professor of Social Pain inky off the Mow York School of Serial Work at Ci lamilt t severalty, 11 altos 11 The* New JacoWaabsn...
...Shall we any forbid them to work...
...As Professor Dewey has to often said, "The function ef trouble is to cause as to think...
...The truth of the matter is that they ar* taking the jobs and the awkward, disturbing results are already demanding ear attention...
...the war, the awproa aioa, our economic system...
...Seme parents, some educators and aoeae employees are asking these questions...
...ia which case we shall wake up one day to discover that we have been the Instruments fee towerftag oar hard...
...Other Institutions htve also experimented with the work-study plan, auch as the University of Cincinnati, but it kt only in recent times that we have witnessed a thorough-going application of this principle to secondary schools...
...Take Oakland...
...Jobs art of all aorta and m a number of local plants...
...Meanwhile the coordinator supervises him on the job...
...They wore told that education should be regarded aa an alternative for work...
...Yet this is the generation which must he prepared to meet a possible—a probable—post-war depression...
...What then...
...These and many other imponderables need careful rethinking, in view of our wartime trial and error methods...
...More and better supervision is imperative...
...Girts as yeong aa 14 and 16 years expect the boys they go oat with to be "good ipseders...
...I have stated my thesis and am prepared to defend it, but before I close thera must be added a final warning...
...They report weeks of absence from school by boys who are working illegally at night...
...All young people need to be well and practically equipped for living and for earning a riving...
...All sorts of ramifications of the school-work system are already being used...
...These are the same brother* and sisters who, when they asked for jobs were told to stay in school...
Vol. 27 • August 1944 • No. 33
