The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-11-06
By GRACE JEAN WHEELER

When we laboratory students ven
various field work projects, we dis
covered that life as it is lived is con
siderably different from life as it is
portrayed in the textbooks. In the
textbook life's problems were neatly
pictured in black and white, and u.s.
ually the author had very obligingly
worked out a neat solution, so that
our minds were not too greatly taxed
with the burden of working it out.
We Meet Unexpected Difficulties
But the problems that confronted
us on every side as we began our
field work experience, were not so
simple. The author of the text could
avoid complications by the simple
process of not mentioning them. We
students soon learned that we could
not ignore these unforeseen compli-
cations because of the fact that they
were inextricably woven into the pat
tern of the problem itself The shock
we sustained was considerable. We
were disillusioned of the belief that
we had become acquainted with our
community through reading about it,
We awoke to the realization that our
knowledge of community life was only
fractional, at the most We realized
that even the sincerest academic in
terest in community and national
problems fell far short of making us
worthwhile members of society. We
were only part-time citizens.
What To Do About It?
Looking back over these five years
in which l have known laboratory stu
dents, l say without reservation that
there was not student who, once
having taken stock of himself in re-
lat1on to his responsibilities as a
worker in community service, failed
to respond to the challenge in a posi-
tive maner Each and every student
set about the job of learning the actu-
alltles of life, alert in the knowledge |
that in no other way could he make |
himself valuable to the society in |
which he worked.
~ CHil lllSI GAptI1GuCG III Held |
practice in an established community
agency came through the. Missoula
County Department of Public Welfare.
MY six months of work as a student
member of this agency's staff l have
mentioned in previous article. I
dld not mention, however, the adjust
ments which had to be made in max
ing my transition from theory to the
actuality of practice.
The Available Tools
AS to my academic preparation, 1
lad taken (and passedD the basic
courses in sociology; all but one of
ne courses in casework theory and {
public welfare administration;
course in community organization; l
'aslc study in anthropology, history |
nd political science, labor economics, e
lome economics, and bacteriology and Il
lyglene; also considerable study in f
psychology. But all that had not full a
prepared me for the realities of t.
ne situations with which I was soon- t
onfronted. Q
nc heaiity or Conflict
had heard of social distance" I q
hought it meant simply misunder-
landing between classes of people on
lfferent economic levels. l came to n
eal1ze that it meant more than that. p
he casework experience taught me n
lat differences tend to place people p
different social levels as well, and n
lat this process of stratification is et
ecomlng more extensive and more m
srlous as time goes on, rather than m
ssenmg. The competitive spirit u;
hich exists between these various nj
and social levels tends to T.
1den their separation, rather than ne