Evening star., 1932-03-29
l1igghlights ON the Wide World
Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands

- L NUEVO DIARIO, Caracas-It
- has often been asserted that
family life in the United States
IL is on the decline; that the home
is no longer the center of mu-
tual interests and activity uniting the
domestic group in common affection
and fellowship. In a sense that is true
in another sense it is not. In those re-
Spects in which there have been
changes in family life, these changes
have not been, as is frequently sup
posed, always for the worse. Many
tasks and duties once performed at
home are now but relegated to other
spheres and sectors.
The school, in particular, has taken
over many functions, which once be-
longed to the parents, but to say that
children are affected detrimentally in
any respect by this transfer of super
vision and responsibility for their vel
fare is absolutely false. 1t is not that
children thus become of less Importance
and concern to their parents; rather
they acquire new guardians and friends,
who supplement in most beneficial ways
the services and amenities of the homes
Few of us in other countries realize
the marvel of that institution-the
American school. Children enter when
scarcely out of the cradle, and are en-
tertained and instructed by devoted
women who have themselves gone
through long courses of training and
study to qualify for such work. These
small children-Scarcely more than in
fants-remain at school all day, and
are served milk and other suitable foods
for their luncheons. Those of more
tender age, as well as those physically
iy1o oit pcnnrtad to nd
from their domicileS by competent per-
sons, generally in motor cars. There
are at hand nurses to attend to their
indispositions, and dentists to care for
their teeth, and few Al erican schools
are without their bath and swimming
pools.
One old American tradition was the
childrens bath on Saturday night
That has disappeared under the new
regime for the school boys and girls
can bathe and swim every day. Such
practice cannot be said to initiate
against salutary home influences.
AS the children grow older they go to
professional schools and colleges. There
they remain nearly all year, frequently
many hundred miles from home. 1t is
sort of superstition among Americans
that the offspring attend the same in
ollIuLtOllo do G4d CLISAL EIoANl IIuo
traditional friendships, sentiments, even
political viewpoints, are transmitted
from generation to generation. Even
when families are scarcely in a financial
position to defray the costs of such
higher education, the children attend
regardless of expense. and help to pay
their own way by serving in the college
dining halls or by engaging in other
remunerative labors. This entails no
social discrimination. The standards
among all worthy students are those of
intelligence and scholarship.
Thus it will be seen that family life
in North America, instead Of disinte-
grating, is becoming strengthened and
enlarged. primarily through the benefits
Of education. 1t is development most
important and providential. In
country so immense. the subdivision of
the people into families no longer
suffices. Society must be organized in
larger units to be influential and eff
cient. Once it was mans family that
identified and classified him; now be-
cause of all the diversities and admix-
lures in the composite American popu-
lation. family traditions and creeds have
been superseded by more general ones