Imperial Valley press., 1944-04-24
OPPORTUNITY FOR
ACCOMPLISHMENT

The Community Council can achieve a
monumental accomplishment if, under its
stimulation, it could obtain the coopera-
ton of teachers, authorities and parents
in formulation Of proposed and recon-
! mended patterns for children of varying
ages to follow.
The council has recommended after
school supervised play, but such pro-
gram, while filling a need, bears fruit
only after the passage OF years. In
period of wartime emOtionaliSm, those
most affected are the teen-age groups of
today, and the supervised play program
would largely pass them by.
The objective of parent-teacher associ-
ations is to accomplish unity on the
Ways and means Of rearing children. This
means a cooperation between not only
parent and teacher, but of equal import
ance. between the parents of the children
themselves. This cooperation or union
of effort is not as extensive as it should
be, not as far-reaching. In fact the par
ent-teacher plan in the high school is
virtually non-eXistent, and the high school
children are the ones being most confused
by the forces at work in the realm OF
delinquency.
If children disregard discipline, par
ents blame the school. If children insist
on habits with which parents disagree,
individual parents are virtually helpless
to breast the tide in the affairs OF
youth singe-handed. The upshot is
that parents blame other parents or the
schools, and vice versa.
Somewhere is a common meeting
ground as to what kids in the eighth
grade should do and should not be allow
ed to do: and the same for children in the
Freshman and Sophomore and Junior and
Senior classes of high school. 1t Is com
pletely within the realm of practlcality
that under the agency of the Community
Council school teachers and parents ana
studied authorities can unite and pro-
pose codes which should apply to youth
in its various stages and ages.
We hear much these days about par,
ents neglecting their duties. Much OF
this blame is not deserved. Most par
aants are interested in their children's
DEVELOPMENT The honest Dads and Moth
ers will confess a sense of inadequacy to
the task of intelligent parenthood for
the simple reason that they have never
been educated in that highest of the fine
arts. They want advice. They want
help. They seek cooperation of teachers
and other parents who are similarly
battling the tide of affairs.
A suggested coordinated schedule for
children of important ages, could be
agreed upon and recommended. 1t
should not be presented to teacher and
parent as compulsory but only as sug-
pested guide to the handling of the
most precious asset of the nation, IT
youth. Chances are that the proposed
schedules would be welcomed with open
arms bv most parents and teachers, and
would be closely followed consciously or
slnconsciouslv. by the few who would
pretend to dsdain this cooperative ap
proach to the problem.
These schedules or programs or pat
terns-call them what you may-should
be very practical in nature They should
cover such honey things as when kids of
each age group should go to bed, whether
they should go to movies on week nights,
and how late they should be permitted to
remain out on week ends. 1t should be
suggested that at school dances no cor
sages be permitted to the ladies fair until
such -and-such a class in high school, and
when kids should be permitted to "go"
around in the family car, and whether
children should be allowed to drive to
school in their jalopies before they aver
age satisfactory grades in school.
Of course these are honey, human
things; they are in fact, the very ques-