The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1923-09-20
Editorial ~
~ Comment
What Does a High School Education
Lead TOT
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nv Roland T. Patten)


larger and larger classes gradu-
ate from the Skowhegan high school ;
I presume the same increase is tound
in all similar institutions. IL is
good sign; / would not change IL ior
the world. The senior year at thls
same institution was the limit of my
school experience. / certainly ought
to have. and do have. very friendly
feeling for 1t and a growing respect
for the work it has and is accomplish
ing Some peculiar manifestations
of the result OF attendance have come
tn my knowledge lately and set me
to thinking.
recently had occasion to adver-
tise for a boy to learn the printing
trade. We had applications to the
number of half dozen or more.
asked each applicant whether or not
he was graduate Of the Skowhegan
high school. Two or more or them
were. | asked such as had gradu-
ated what they had been doing since
commencement and two replied that
thew had not been working anywhere.
Ordinarily such an answer is OF IT.
self a little unfavorable. The appii-
cant may have, otherwise, first rate
anpearance and creditable standing,
and the uuestioner would far rather
find that he had been busy at some
thing than to learn that he had not
been doing very much. Unemploy-
ment is not a good sign.
On asking these two young people
why they had been loafing most or
the time, l got the reply that their
parents preferred they should loaf
rather than go to manufacturing
plant; preferred that they get along
practically without work rather than
accept Job which they deemed I'M
satisfactory. / have always advised
young people to accept the first thing
in sight, II the employment is honor
able and then, If the work seems I'M
suited or they seem out OF place IN IL,
to look to something else. AT pres
ent my state of mind is shaken as to
the accuracy of that view. At any
rate / can see plainly enough that a
parent, having sacrificed to keep his
hoy in school, could reasonably pro-
test at the seeming waste of so much
effort, which fits the young man for
mercantile life il he prefers, or starts
him on the road to further educa-
ton or a professional career. A pa
rent evidently fears that il. he be-
comes factory employee he Will
lose his ambition for the other things
spoken of. This ought not to be
true and I wonder If 1t Is.
There is another thought about the
matter. Promotion, though perhaps
not SO certain, is entirely possible
from any occupation in manufac-
turing plant. Bill Mitchell is a strik-
ing example of that sort He had
his ears cuffed as bobbin boy more
than once and saw much mill employ
ment at an earlier age than would
now be permitted in any factory in
New England. The same road is
open to any high school graduate
under much easier conditions in the
present day, and the knowledge gain
ed in school would greatly increase
the possibilities of advancement.
or course one should never think of
an education as finished. A high
school course teaches much but per-
haps the big thought is that it simply
Ats one to study some more. For
my own part, so many years have
passed, could not say what 1 knew,
If anything, when graduated in 1884.
I am certain of this, whatever that it
may have been, 1t was meagre COM
pared with what has come to me in
the opportunities for acquiring know
ledge 1 have found on every hand
since.
/ am not quite certain, but I can't
get over the feeling that a boy on
getting out of high school. should
just take few days breathing spell
and then find job. If he can't get
just the thing he wants to do or the
thing he thinks he is best fitted for,
believe / should advise him to go at
something and then be governed by
the trend Of events as to what he
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