Evening star., 1943-05-23
By Mrs. p. G. Elicit,
President D. C. Congress Of Parents
and Teachers.

President D. c. Congress Of Parents
and Teachers.
AS the 30th annual convention of
the District of Columbia Congress
of Parents and Teachers drew to
close last Wednesday one thought
seemed to be uppermost in the
minds of many of the women in
attendance
1t was this: "In evaluating the
situation as it exists today. a sit
uation unparalleled in our Nations
history, we seem to have lost sight
Of tomorrow. We speak bravely of
the postwar world: we try to con-
vince ourselves that we are planning
for some Utopia when this war is
finished, but. quite frankly, we are
doing very little about it."
AS one of the SPEAKERS said: "This
war has translated living into the
present tense, and makes no pro-
vision for the future. Everything
seems to be for the DURATION but
beyond that we are apparently
afraid to 60"
There have been other crises in
the worlds history; crises which in
their time were as acute as the
present one. But the world con-
tlnued to turn on its axis, the sun
continued to shine, the stars to move
in their stated orbits. Men and
women died, babies were born and
civilization went on. almost always
the better for having survived some
crisis.
So it will be this time: life will
go on; our habits, undoubtedly will
change. but unless every human
being is annihilated there will be
pattern of living as there has
always been.
What We must realize in this post
war world about which we speak
and toward which we hopefully look
to solve all of our present difficulties
Is that II this new world is to be
better than the old, then personal
responsibility must become a living
vital thing. Those of us who have
gone bllndly on our way, refusing to
acknowledge, until it was too late,
that there were forces of evil seeking
to destroy all that was good and
worth while in our civilization, are
charged with a double responsible
1ty-our own, and that which will
recognize wherein we have failed
and shall seek to eradicate that fail
ure.
When the thousands of men and
women, now in uniform, are finally
mustered out, and returned to civil
ian life, what kind of a world will
be waiting for them? Many of
them are bewildered by the swift
pace of events and will need rehabil-
itation and readjustment: many
will be so filled with the spirit of ad-
venture that it will be difficult to re-
incorporate them IN the community,
in which they formerly lived; many
Of them, We sincerely hope, will be
eager to take up their formal educa-
tion where it was interrupted.
This latter class will need special
attention for they will all be beyond
their educational levels in age, and
will, if no adjustment is made, be
in school or college with boys and
girls several years their junior. Thus,
social adjustment must be planned
in order that both groups may profit
to the utmost from their educational
opportunities.
In coming to the question of ed
ucational opportunities, beyond a
doubt many changes will have to
be made in our curriculums if they
are to meet the needs of the boys
| and girls tomorrow.
There is so much talk about the
world CT tomorrow. this postwar
world as we call it, but there is
so little being done. What is need
ed is leadership and action that
will drive home to each individual
in our country the irrefutable fact
that there will be no postwar
world worth giving second
thought, unless each person is will
ing and ready to accept his or her