The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-10-30
By GRACE JEAN WHEELER
Concluded from last week.


One and One-HaIf Years of casework
Also during my senior year, and ex
tended into my year of graduate
study, l had the privilege of six quar-
tiers, or about eighteen months, o.
field-work practice in two of the city's
leading welfare agencies, the Missoula
County Department of Public Welfare
and the Missoula Family Welfare
Agency l worked for six-month pc
riod in the former and the remainder
of the time in the latter agency.
had come to college to learn the pro
fession of social work. and at last
was actually getting taste of it.
Trying 1t Out
Needless to say, these eighteen
months were vital months for me.
During this period, l worked as reg
ular staff member in these agencies,
with responsibilities and duties which
a regular staff member must dis
charge. During this period l put into
practice, tested, kept or discarded as
they proved good or bad, the theories
had worked out during the three pre-
vious years of preparatory study.
experienced the smiling condescen-
sion of the so-called professional
class" which views social work and
social workers as belonging among
the ps-not-so-necessary evils of
our social order. We student case
workers were the target for the criti-
cisms and jibes to which the profess
sional social worker eventually grows
accustomed. We were informed that
a caseworker is either maudlin, or a
busybody prying into other peoples
affairs. We felt the impact, along
with the so-called poor people" of
the smugness, intolerance, and mis-
understanding which so often char
acterizes the attitudes of the middle"
and upper" classes in our communi-
ties and our governmental agencies
The Better Half
But on the other side of the ledger
we had the real privilege of becom
ing personally acquainted with a num-
Der of truly fine people, both in the
personnel of the agencies in which we
worked, and among the people whom
the agencies served. We learned the
real worth of the individual as a mem
Der of the community group, and we
learned ways and means of increasing
the potential worth of persons who
had been not less valuable than the
upper classes" but simply less fore
oil oh n1 ~, .11~s A.
down which the stork dropped them |
We were privileged to see the I'M
buttered side of the community's So
cial and economic life and in some |
measure to spread bit of butter here |
and there. We had the opportunity |
of watching the machinery of COM
munity life operate, and even though |
we doubtless were not able to absorb |
all that the situation offered, we yet
gained UNNECESSARILY in real under
standing which comes of first-hand |
observation and of actual participa-
ton in the problematical side of COM
munity life.
What We Thought Of 1t
You may be wondering what we
student caseworkers CLEANED from our
experience. Let me mention just a
few of our conclusions. First, we
were convinced that every individual
under the sun has the potentials of
being comAAunity asset; and furth-
ermore that the community's liabili-
ties are not limited to those in the
poor" groupings. Sec
ond, we were convinced that misun-
derstanding, intolerance, smugness
and unduly competitive relationships