Evening star., 1940-09-09
Wise Student
Will Plan
Future
Investigate Chance
For Advancement
In Chosen Field
BY KAY CALDWELL and ALDEN
HARRISON.

HARkISON.
For the past so minutes your
favorite column-writing team (plug)
has been cudgeling its collective
brains over the important ques-
ton of what, if anything, we should
say to our thousands Of readers who
are returning to high school ana col
lege this month.
At first we thought it would be a
good idea to tell you just what WE
would do if WE were in your posi-
ton. Unfortunately, this inspira-
ton developed into truth session"
on what we actually would do as
contrasted with what we should do.
And we were forced to admit that
right now we'd probably be doing
a lot of completely useless but highly
entertaining things, which we
couldn't possibly recommend to our
readers
For instance, we'd undoubtedly be
greeting a host of people we hadn't
seen since last June, exclaiming
over their sun-tan or their new
hair-do, and endlessly repeating
such banal questions as Have a
nice summer" We'd do oh-ing and
ah-ing about the new English
teacher with comph and the as
sistant football coach with curly
hair.
Wed be commenting on the cute
ness of the freshman girls and dis
cussing the prospects of the football
team. We'd be lodging assistant
circulation managers Of the Weekly
Wall, who were doggedly trying TO
sign us up for subscription. And
we'd be deciding it was entirely too
hot to start studying and promoting
an impromptu swimming party.
All of which indicates that we are
couple of pretty bad examples, en-
tirely lacking in ambition and des-
tined to come to no good end.
So we logically can't tell you what
we'd be doing, if we were returning
to school this fall. We can only
tell you what smart fellows and
girls will do if they have enough
sense and savvy to want to get the
greatest pleasure and profit possible
out of the new school year.
First of all, they'll try to have
pretty definite idea of where they're
going after they finish school, and
why. They'll be doing some seri-
Gus career-coDsidering in their quiet
moments, realizing that advance
planning is the best way to prevent
post graduate unemployment.
They'll f1rhd out all they can about
themselves and their abilities
through vocational guidance if it's
available-and about conditions in
the fields toward which they're
pointing. For instance. they'll learn
that typists and stenographerS are
q dime a dozen in most cities, with
few takers, while girls who can
operate business machines find
many more jobs available. They'll
discover that employment opportu-
mites are good in the trucking in
dustry, but that the openings in
the air conditioning and Diesel en-
CINE fields are strictly limited and
vastly overrated.
They'll look into various chances
10 get special training which are
rapidly opening up as result OF
the Governments defense pro-
gram. They'll keep their fingers on
the pulse of the news, because con-
ditions are changing rapidly from
day to day and every change will
affect Mr.. and Miss Americas fu-
ture.
With these things in mind, our
wise fellow and girl will choose their
courses carefully. And they'll study,
with a sincere desire to master their
subjects, rather than merely to get
grades. They'll realize. furthermore,
that building up good habits of
working and thinking is just as i'm
portant to their future success as
the actual knowledge which they
acquire.
Then Sammy and Sally Smart
will go in for at least one school
activity-if they aren't in them al
ready, which they probably are.
The benefits of wider personal con-
facts and of learning to work CO.
operatively with other people, will
be extra dividends added to the
actual pleasure and knowledge
they'll get out of such extra-curri-
cular pursuits.
And finally, Sammy and Sally will
try to broaden their social expert
ence during this school term. They'll
make new friends and acquire poise
and polish through variety. of new
experiences. They'll work on their
own personalities, improving them
wherever possible, because they
realize that both success and hap
piness depend on these personal
factors more than on any other one
thing.