Milford chronicle., 1921-02-25
The Contest in Boys and Girls
Club Work

Ine contest IN Boys and Girls
Club Work
From the very beginning of Boy
and Girls Club Work about ten year
ago, contests in some form or other
have been prominent "ear-marks" O
the club game. This feature of clul
work has survived because contest!
are as natural as life in the expert
ences of normal boys and girls. AL
games enjoyed by the youth of oul
land are spirited and active contests
Every well-balanced boy or girl know:
that to be able ito win without brag.
ging and to lose without sUuealing'
is well worth while, not only on the
playground but also out in the world
at large.
Why, life itself is a contest, for botI
the young and old; under primitive
conditions, by the Survival of the fit
test" and under the present social
political and economical regime, by
the keenest of competition. No hot
house, namby-pamby, tied-to-the-ap-
ron-string, cry-baby boy or girl can
expect to succeed in a negative way
by arOusing pity or even sympathy;
but every red-blOOded youngster gets
3 ''up on his toes" and gladly accepts
the challenge of the workmanship
game and wins the admirations, re-
spect and recognition of his commun-
ity because he dares takes a real
chance.
Those who have tried club work
and failed, generally have been de-
ceiving themselves. Usually, they
tried to do club work without the
club; they attempted to substitute
textbook work for the home project;
they did not recognize achievement
and leadership thru proper awards;
or they left out the contest feature of
the WOrk-game In other words.
those who have tried the club game
and failed have tried hardest to make
something else out of it.
Club work is contest from the be-
ginning to the end. The club boy con-
tinually contests with nature, to learn
her laws and combat diseases; he
contests with himself to beat his own
record, or to make his best better;
he contests with his club-mates, and
then by turns with county, state and
Interstate achievement champions. In
the meantime, he also contests with
his father in healthy rivalry, and
amulates the work of the best farmers
of his community and eventually be-
comes a leader. The same principles
hold true for the club girls.
But the contest is not the end in it.
self, it is simply one of the means
which is used to motivate the work |
game which leads to the goal. There
is but little service that one from the
outside can render the citizens of any
community, except by stimulating the
idea of self-help.
Achievement and What. 1t Means in
Boys and Girls Club Work
The word achievement" may be
clarified by the following definitions
and illustrations. President Wilson
has said: Achievement is the only
patent of nobility in modern times"
In speaking at our First Annual Jun
Ior Farmers Short Course, Mr.. o. H.
Benson, who had organized club work
IN national basis, said: 'The most ;
Important Delaware achievement OF
any boy or girl is that of self-help. ;
Boys and girls, an achievement is get
ing into the game, staying in the
same, and finishing the job" A club t
10Y who had won sweepstakes in a {
,ure bred pig contest at the Delaware
State Fair, put it this way in answer {
o a question as to what he had learn
d during the year; "Well, here are
ny brood-sow and her pigs to show '
What ideas 1 have had and put into
be work of selecting, breeding and
eeding hogs" Achievement then, ac- \
ording to these authorities, is the
Of I1n S0fI
elf-help and perseverance, and the ex- E
ression of ideas in accomplishment.
certainly, there can be no illusions S
bout what the word achievement
leans. S
Achievement also means partner b
hip with the other members of the
lmily and ownership of property Il
here is a vast difference between G
Orking with mother; a great deal of
ifference between feeding pigs and "
,eding my pig. The difference is the D
Dportunity to exercise that funda-
ental racial instinct of ownership CT
lat is at the base af all progress and ol
anding in community life. When the
of this instinct is denied, u
5riculture decays, nations fall, Boil Of
leVism arises, and a permanent peas M
1t class grows up. W
Awards in keeping with the charac-
r and degree of achievement such as W
lblic recognition, free trips to short
urses, pure bred live stock, and n,
oney awards when not commercial ~
ed,-all tend to inspire boys and
rls to grow tall, to concentrate up e.
one thing, and to make the supreme -, -
'ort. Su
But if the club member does not We
and out, head and shoulders above a.,
e 1000 club members Of the county 'n
state, where is the achievement? /,
course, this is not a cock-sure ~! ~
IN or guarantee that unusual sue W!
IS will crown their efforts, simply
cause they are boys and girls. In we
2 first place, they are dealing with
Il life, under normal or superior
nditions, in cooperation with the
me and community and will have
out the same difficulties to over
ne that the average person will en- Pre-
1ter. Every club member always \
MS the products of his or her own Ali
or, in part or whole, and this in lln'
elf is an achievement. Then, recog- n
ion can properly follow in keeping we
h the material and educational re- Lyl
is merited.