Evening star., 1945-04-29

y
Director of Public Relations National Ed
ucation Association.
Although the Nation depends at all
times for social stability and economic
security upon the loyalty and ability of
its citizens. there is no time in coun-
try's history when its very survival so
obviously rests upon the sound health,
the technical skills and practical knowl-
edge of its people as it does in the midst
of war. War submits human as we'll
as material resources to strict account
ing, and compels attention to human
deficits which only a peculiar brand of
shortsightedneSs could fail to recognize.
The American people were afflicted
with more than light touch of this
brand of myopia after World War No /,
when the physical and mental made
quacies of large numbers of men in
uniform called forth little more action
than the writing of some good news
stories. In 1917-18, for the first time in
history, fighting men were given phycho-
logical and educational examinations.
One-fourth of the men who wore the
uniform were unable to read a news
paper intelligently or write a legible
letter home. Twenty-nine per cent of
the men in the draft were rejected for
physical mfitness. These facts so i'm
pressed the American Legion that one
of the first steps taken by that body
after its organization was in the direc-
ton Of eliminating illiteracy. The
Legion also advocated sound health
and recreation program for American
youth.
High School Rolls Trebled.
Educators joined the veterans in these
programs and began systematic, Nation
wide study of the causes of educational
and physical inadequacies in American
youth. 1t would not be correct to say
that the results of the efforts of educa-
tors, veterans and others interested in
physically and Intellectually strong
citizenry resulted in exactly zero There
were some accomplishments. High school
| enrolment in the United States between
1920 and 1910 increased from 1900, ,389 to
| 6,60l ,444. Physical and health education
were recognized as more than frills
But the ultimate effect of these i'm
| provements can be judged by the extent
to which they became available to all
youth, since war makes a universal
draft upon manpower look at the
census figures of 1910 throws some light
upon what the postwar resolutions of
| 1920 to improve educational oppor-
tunity accomplished. In 1910, there
| IN Stotoc in Uy1oi
more of the population over Is years of
age had not gone to school past the
fourth grade. In one of these States So
per cent of the adult population had
only fourth-grade education or less.
It is quite evident that while, in some
parts of the United States, the increase
between 1920-194O in the number of
those who were going to high school
had boosted the enrolment in that in
stitution on Nationwide basis by 200
per cent, there were other large areas in
which substantial percentage of youth
never got half way through the grade
schools.
Results of Slow Motion.
The selective service for World War
No. was scarcely under way when the
result of Is years of slow motion in ed
ucational development began to show.
Lack of education is much more seri-
GUS handicap to the soldier in today's
Army than it was to his father in 1917-l8.
This war is mechanical and scientific
war to degree that will never be fully
realized by civilians until peace removes
the security blackouts from wartime
laboratories, experimental fields and the
battle fronts themselves.
| It must be recognized that the schools
and colleges deserve great credit for the
backlog of technical education which
furnished so much of the technical
leadership which this war demands.
Some idea of the handicap of educa-
tional inadequacy to the prosecution of
this war can be gained, however, from
the straight-from- shoulder COM
ments on it bysLt. Gen. Brehon B.
Somervell, commanding general, Serv-
ices of Supply, the War Department, to
a group of educators especially assem-
bled in Washington in August, 1912, to
| appraise the Nations educational prep
aration for this war.
"Our Army today" said Gen. Somer-
veil, "is an Army of specialists. Out of
| every 100 men inducted into the service,
So are assigned to duties requiring spe-
cialized training. We aren't getting
those 63 specialists through the induc-
ton centers. But modern mechanized
| warfare dictates that we must have them.
"Yes, we must have these specialists
these men who know the fundamentals
of electricity, who know automotive me-
chanics, who can operate radios, or dis
mantle carburetors. Without them,
your Army would be an incongruous
mass, incapable Of attaining any objec.
tive"