Pocahontas star herald., 1926-01-21
EDUCATION AND THE -,
YOUTHS CRIME WAVE

the marion, anu N" .4.
daily both in number and enormity'
We blame the automobile Doo'ies
n.h;slov tbe school and the church
in fact we have laid it to nearly every
thing from jazz music to adenoids anu
sun spots. u,b,t
some Of the above may be contriDul-
inc causes in that they may MAKE
more crimes possible, more cunning OF
more diabolical but we believe tn'
fundamental cause of it all lies deeper
than any of those mentioned, in 1act
we will find it right in our own com
munity and by our own firesides'
Now we didn't have any degrees co''-
ferred on us. We didn't pass very
high in Sociology, Geology Boo2eology
or ANYTHING else, but when it comes 10
puessinq we feel that we have a rlgh'
TO stand right up with the rest OF the
class. So we are going to venture the
euess ,hat the real cause of the crimes
of youth lies i'm the false conception ol
the purposes of education and It's rem
tion to good honest hard work Ana
this is how it came about:
The old folks have had a hard time
of it. They didn't get much school
ing. They often had to do work 10
which they were not adapted and work
they disliked. They often went at
this work in the hardest way because
tbev couldn't conceive an easier way.
Their life has been one siege of wear
ing. grinding toll. They resolved
that they could sacrifice every thing
they could that their children could
receive an education-"So that they
will not have to work so hard to make
living as we have had to work" You
have all heard that resolution time ana
again.
Most of the boys got this straight
and are making good, but a few OF
them got it dead wrong and they are
the ones who are causing all the trou-
Bile.
They got the idea that an education
would relieve them from work entirely
They accumulated a little knowledge
and imagined the world owed them n
living from that time on. When the
world failed to deliver the groceries
the boys put on their kid gloves, step
ped on the gas and went after them.
Some of them landed in the peniten-
tiary, some on the gallOws, with hun
dreds of cases pending.
Those boys misunderstood dad en-
tirely An education does not relieve
you from work but fits you for it. 1t
enables you to select the work for
which you are best adapted. II en-
ables you to work more intclligently
than dad. To do more work in fewer
hours and still have more time for re-
creation and mental improvement.
Besides, the unfortunates above
mentioned quit before they got an edu-
cation. They had simply acquired
some knowledge and knowledge is not
education until it is put to work. just
as a phOnograph record is not music
until it is put on and the machine
started.
Anyone who has not discovered some
kind of work that he really enjoys
doing is most unfortunate. Some boys
get the impression that certain kinds
of work are degrading. by hearing
others refer to it sneeringly, conse-
quently they are cheated out of a great
deal Of enjoyment.
Ditch digging is a degrading occupa-
tion If the only objective is 6 o'clock
and payday; but let him find a mud
hole in his field. He studies the lay
of the land and figures how it may be
drained by little hard work. He
takes his spade and gets busy. He
pays no attention to passing hours
blistcred hands or mosquito bites. He
is plastered with mud from head to
foot. lie can dream dreams and work
to their fulfillment. He can see bushels
of corn growing tomorrow where mos
quitoes hatched today. He is a bene
factor to his race. He has increased
the worlds food supply. He is tired
and happy. He is no longer ditch
digger but civil engineer.
And that's all there is to it, boys
Your attitude toward your work and
the objective in view constitutes all
the difference there is between degrad-
ing drudgery and dignifed labor.
Better to be street scavenger and
keep the streets clean for traffic 70
pass on, than to be the Crown Prince
with a big salary and the conscious
ness that you are doing nothing to
make the world better.
A parasite is thing that lives by
Sapping the vitality of more useful
things and does nothing itself to Justify
its own existence, like the bootlegger,