Evening star., 1935-07-12
YoungGrope
COnfusedly
1n Speaking
Bewildered Speech Is
Laid to M e n t al
BeWilderment.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

TT rs astonishing to find young
people, high school boys and girls,
college youths, who cannot talk. They
think they are talking. You hear
sound from afar You wonder what
this thunderous message can be, what
1t means to society at large and to a
breathless youngster. On nearer ap-
proach you discover he is saying, "Oh,
yeah? You telling me? Some smart
you are, boy. Go tell it to Sweeney"
Perhaps that is just schoolboy rag
cling. He will have something to say
and say it well in the lunch room
where they gather for talk and re-
freshment. Listen: Jaw, well. what the
hec-I studied it-but you know what
meant knew it-but-aw-wel-you
know what mean"
yeah. She mixes you all up.
"Whats the topic anyway, for this
after? Some dumb thing. I forget"
Something about gold reserve.
Whether the gold ought to stay in the
banks or something. You going to
gym? Me either. Got to do make
up. Suppose she asks me about that
gold reserve. What'll I say? Gosh, If
they'd give you something sensible.
You know what mean"
Isn't it so? They go and give
you some dumb stuff like gold reserve.
I know about it, all that's in the
paper But gee, when she asks you
q dumb question you just can't-you
know what I mean"
Maybe somebody knows what they
mean. I don't. I don't know what
people mean unless they say it in
clear English, and with conviction and
with the light of intelligence in their
eyes. A mumbling of phrases and
calculations sprinkled with, "You
know what mean" tells me only one
thing: The young person does not
himself know what he means. He
has not the glimmer of an idea in his
head. He has been using smart, catchy
phrases instead of clean-cut words
and sentences so long now that he
cannot put a good sentence together.
Behind the slovenly speech and the
lazy composition is the blank mind.
This confused talk is the reflection of
confused and cropping mind. Having
put nothing into his mind he cannot
take anything out. Instead of study
ing the assignment he stood on the
corner, loitered in the gym, until some
body made him go somewhere else. He
looked at the headline in the paper
and said, That's the dumb thing she
A~1l - 1l,1
There are many such young people
In our upper grades. Somebody must
take hold of them and make them do
their work Make them study. Make
them write down in short, simple
statements the points they are to con-
slider. Hold them to a definite amount
of work and to definite expression
of it.
This is no easy task that teachers
are called upon to face. 1t is idle to
say these youths and maidens do not
belong in the upper grades. They do
belong. We have to extend the schools
hold on them, teach them to study
and to tell in clear English what they
learn. The disjointed sentences indi-
cate the disjointed, blurred thought
behind them. The bewilderment of
the student reflects the bewilderment
of his mind. We have to teach them
first to read, then to interpret what
they read, then to express it in clear
language. If we do that we will ac-
complish more than the most devoted
of teachers ever dreamed Of We shall
have brought order and clarity into
diSordered muddled minds.
Copyright 1887