Evening star., 1938-06-19
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

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Ribbon-tied diplomas, awk-
wardly worn frst tuxedos and
evening dresses, bouquets of June roses,
senior prom music and full moons over
green campuses, class poems and class
| prophecies, supercilious egotism and never
never-land dreams-and then the broken
wave against the rocky beach Of the work.
aday world.
Probably never before has the June
graduate tide been awaited with greater
apprehension. It consists, according to the
best statistics the United States Once of
Education has been able to gather of
1,075,000 from the high schools of the land
and an estimated 145.000 from the colleges
and graduate schools. They all want jobs.
So do at least 100000 others.
Once an Ecopomic Asset.
Once this tide of healthy, intelligent, en-
thuslastic youth was awaited eagerly each
June. Industry, business and the profess
sions needed them to fill the places of those
who had died. retired or-in the case of
the girls-gotten married during the year,
They were an economic asset They them
selves were filled with unquestioning op-
timlsm. The idea of not being able to
earn living with a college or high school
diploma safely acquired was absurd. The
boys and girls themselves were righteously
contemptuous OF hard-headed. old
fashioned employers who did not open up
the front offices" Immediately for them.
Had not the preachers of baccalaureate ser.
mons and the commencement orators as
sured them that they were the salt of the
earth, the selected few ordained to be the
leaders OF the new age? All the time edu-
cation had been exploited to them as an
economic asset.
Now the prospective EMPLOYERS dread
seeing them. Bursting graduation dav
dream bubbles is an unpleasant business
Tor those not sadistically inclined And
the young men and women themselves have
oeen conditioned to quite a different atti-
tude There have been a good many sad
newspaper headlines in the past few months
murders, kidnapings, bombings, growing
bread lines, business failures, increased re-
heI appropriations. But the saddest of
all, 1t may be. was that which told of tn.
ciass motto OF the seniors in Western
nign school, w. P. A., here we come y
rhls was perhaps the most sardonic COM
ment on the trends of the times ever
written
Stayed In School Perforce,
The graduates are not leaving .cboo,
no" with the same eager adventuresome-
ness. One reason why there are so manv
more OF them than there were a decade
ago. relative to the total population, is that
tney never have had any incentive to leav.
scnooi There have been no places for
them outside 1''
Inc result is that the population of the
United States is becoming mucb h.t..r
educated. There is greater and greater
percentage OF the total each year at the
coneee and high school levels. As this
mnlion emerges perhaps a million will d,.
or leave of active work. The vast ma.
Joflty OF them will have had ONLY el..
mentary school educations. Their places
m tne national life. high or low, are to he
nlled with individuals of q much h,oh.r
cultural leveA
AhH may be an advantage, or quite
o'ner"lse, as one looks at it. More poorly
PAID JOBS will eventually be filled by more
hlsniy educated men and women. Will
q hlgh school graduate be a better mill
nano? Will college graduate be a better
barber? Probably nobody would answer
tnese questions in the affirmative. There
are tnose who predict, indeed, that the
constantly increasing gap between the de-
gree OF education and the economic demand
1or IL is one of the most portentous
symptoms of the times and that it is
plnng up an accumulation Of discomfort
which sooner or later will cause a terrible
social explosion
Edcuating for Leisure.
One way out, it may be, is to separate
entirely culture and economics. Very few
oaccalaureate orators this June are talking
about the job opportunities before the
graduates. They are stressing instead the
greater wealth Of interests and apprecia-
lions possible because Of the courses they
nave taken. The schools have started edu-
eating not for work, but for leisure.
Nearly every year the tidal wave has
grown bigger and bigger, partly due to
the cumulative effect of the American ira
dition.
In 1870 there graduated from all the
colleges In the United States q total of
s,37l men and women. Few Of them had
very much difficulty in getting jobs.
Twenty years later the number had grown
to l4,S06. 1t has just about kept pace
with the growth of the population. There
was hardly any question Of places for this
small number. There were sentlemen's
Jobs open for all Of them-teaching school,
preaching, getting commissions in the
Army, breaking into law and medicine.
Industry and business were spurned. Any
body who considered them was looked
upon As having lost CASTE or having be-
trayed public trust represented by the
investment In his education.
In the next 10 years there came 4 big
jump to $4,000. Still there were not
enough. The population was growing
The West was expanding. The Army
was fighting its final campaigns against
the Indians. migrants to be educated
and hambooEled were pouring In from
every boat. During the next 10 years the
increase was ,&ry moderate, considering
tha erovrth ~ ty@e y.r,s>sal>$ $ien r1.>ra v,.rs