The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-05-14
XY HOUR CHILDREN
R Olws Robsvts esstea .,
1Z lz g 2!Z7 2 '''' ''.


 Th,s ls the time of year to decide on the school or college Dick or Daisy ls going te ln the fall.
 First of all, should not go guessing about what Q boy or girl needs. What iB a good school TOT one may be poison to another. Ir ft, iB going to be . struggle to put them through it pays to Do doubiy hlnd-slght7 None. Foresight is needed in this problem moro than in almost any other recipicn con. .cerning youth.
 Higher education is distinctly demiu or liberal-arts course, and the career course. The latter dee iinltely points toward . purpoBeful end from it's very beginning.
 Both have their place. As for the general or academic course there ls today q general swing to the left against it, but feel, naturally, that 1t cannot be utterly neglected. That way lies deterioration. How. ever. we cannot live on culture. Lot those who can, live in the world of intelllgentsia, but let us not enc tlce others into it's mazes when they need . decidedly different equipment.
 Need Preparation
 Too many young people are graduated from general" courses today who don't know how to do q thing on earth. When they are out of school they still face what they set out to get in the first place preparation for tho future.
 It takes special hitting" nowa- days to get job. We are a world of workers and wo may as well face the fact and stop dreaming.
 Children going to college are too often confused by tho layout of mixed studies. They take n year of this and that, ''major" in some. thing they will never need and don't intend to use; children who know, too, that their parents are doing without cream to pay for it.
 Colieges, I feel, are failing in their methods of pointing out clear courses of study Co parents and prospective students. Our college catalogues are, as a rule, regular piRs-in- -pokes. We don't know what Dick or Daisy arc going to got whom we put them on tho train.
 The situation Is changing of course, but changing too slowly, Realizing the dead wood in their systems and that the letter cnn never substitute for the spirit. schools are coming back to reality and life. Also they arc beginning to cooperate with parents. But there is till too much confusion. Parents will have to do tho best they can.
 An colleges should tcnch short. hand and type. That they have not done so sooner K rilicu. lous
 What Should Bc Taught
 And though it is a far cry from shorthand to etiquette, they should, # only in of hourg, teach dcport- mont and social grace. We go blun- dering through the years trying 10 guess at what to do and sny and wear and how to act. By tho time we'ro fifty then, perhaps wo're lad- ios and gentlemen with enough 'savoir faire" to poke our noses out of doors and be sure of our. selves.
 Girls nced to be taught house- keeping. Of course thoy'li all get married sometime. This mood not interfere with q "career" course. Boys need to learn something roai tn tho way Of work or a profession. Hunt . school that docs theso things. When the old dried.up In. Btitutions And themselves empty they will fall in limo. f.lfo is tod short to frittor away precious years in rambling.