Evening star., 1933-09-04

A S We older folk struggle with the
~ unusual conditions that con-
~ front us, trying to stretch
\ penny into covering a startling
baroness, what of the children?
1t has been difficult for us who have
been trained and disciplined in the old
| ways to keep steady. What training
| and what discipline are We giving the
| younger generation that is going to
steady them in days to come? We, who
are closing schools in the faces OF eager
| children, what harvest are we going to
reap in our old age? What will be the
| outcome of an unframed, untaught, un-
| enlightened generation?
Consider a moment. Who is 1t that
destroys the ordered beauty OF parks
and Fairgrounds and woodland retreats?
What sorts are those who have no re-
gard for property rights? What back
| ground have the criminals who are be-
devilling this sorely tried Nation? They
do not spring from the well-educated,
| well-trained, well-housed group. They
are those who, for some reason usually
beyond their choice or control. have
been neglected by society. They lack
education. understanding and the neigh
borly feeling that leans toward cooper
alton. For such We have only ourselves
to blame
One cannot know what one does not
experience. If a child knows that he
gets only what he can snatch and hold
on to in the face of a grudging society
he will know only that 1t would be idle
to expect understanding and co-opera-
tion and neighborliness from him. If
he is to be socially minded citizen he
must first experience the better way of
living and the only way he can have
that is through the schools.
Schools cost money and there is none
Maybe that is so. Even If it is, ways
must be found to educate children We
have been poorer than we are today
although some folk have suffered more
in this distressful period. and yet we
managed to teach our children Amer
ican ideals and ethical standards. We
managed to give them good education
in the essentials and start them with
good taste in the essential values OF
spiritual living. We can and we must
continue to do this for all our children.
Everybody is going to have more time
on his hands than has been the case
Time is the shell of life. Into it we
must pour the values that make living
tolerable. We must experience beauty
in all its forms so that we can under
stand it and preserve it within ourselves
and in our children. That means we
must educate children in the creation
and conservation of beauty, usefulness,
cooperation.
You cannot do that with crippled,
cramped. closed schools. More schools.
better schools, schools that are open all
Gay and far into the night, all-year-
round schools, are imperative. You
who are wealthy consider what an I'M
educated generation may mean to you.
You who are paying as much of tax
as you can stagger under. consider how
much worse off you would be if there
were no schools to steady a restless
and idle youth. You who are respon-
sible for the governing of this people,
consider your grave duty to the Nation
and make provision for its maintenance
through the education of its youth And
do it now. Now is the time. Next year,
when the depression is over. when
things are easier and the world is at
ease, Is too late. The schools must
open and they must function to their
limits. There are grave problems in
volved, and our safety is involved in
their solution.
Copyright, 1889