The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-08-28
THE SOCIAL WORK LABORATORY
DEFINED

clearing house for making the neces
sary brief announcements and in hav
ing the various operating groups pres
ent the methods and the problem!
which they use and meet on the job
Ample opportunity is given the mem
bers to ask questions and to discuss
problems freely. The Glass Confer
ence is designed primarily to make
each group accountable to the Lab
as whole, to give members wide
range of field work experience in ad.
dition to that obtained from working
in their own groups, and to help the
Executive Committee and the Execu-
tive Council analyze the problems re-
ferred to 1t.
Students Challenged by Responsibility
The real foundation of the Labora-
tory is its set of operating groups,
those groups of students working on
projects defined by the various agen-
cies in the campus and extra-campus
community in cooperation with the
university. AS was indicated above,
each group has a chairman. 1t is the
duty of the chairman of each group
to develop and maintain the groups
spirit and independence. Regular
group meetings are held in order to
make them effective units in the
agencies they work for and to mini
mize the burden they may be to these
agencies. Each agency cooperating
with the Laboratory feels its obliga
ton to serve the community. 1t u.s.
ually lacks an adequate budget to pro-
vide its services to the community.
1t agrees to supervise the group on
the job in return for the additional
services the group can provide the
agency. 1t places the members of the
group on real tasks and holds them
responsible. The members feel this
responsibility and with real youthful
spirit try to show that they can make
a good adjustment to the require
ments of the work.
Students Achieve a Positive Faith
The group chairman feels an added
responsibility to the agency and to
the Laboratory as well as to the
group itself. He presents problems
met by individuals in the group to
the group for discussion. Answers
usually are forthcoming quickly.
These young people, idealistic, ambi-
tious and intelligent, soon realize they
have a place in the real community
and have faith in the mechanism of
which they are a part. They can rely
on the members of the group, the
agency supervisor, the Glass Confer
ence, the Executive Council, the Exec
utive Committee, the General Chair
man and the Director if need be.
Strong IndividuaIism Achieved
The entire program features group |
action on various levels. Consequent
~, no student is forced to "try his
wings" alone. Starting with his abil-
tiles and personality as they are, he
is given every chance to grow in
poise, tact, participative skill, knowl-
edge acquired on an interest basis, |
Co-opSi dtiohJ IeopeSI lOi OLHeIS anu |
what they believe, faith in themselves
and in cooperative methods, frank
ness and honesty, discipline, social
understanding, ability TO expedite
business, and in responsibility to his
When he leaves the uni
he feels he profited much
rom its offerings. His loyalty to the
and Montana is real He
s ready to do his part as citizen.
t is doubtful, in my opinion, whether
looks as the chief educational vehi-
les can do as good job in producing
Qualities of good citizenship.
University Operates in No Vacuum
The laboratory program as was t