Evening star., 1960-03-27
YOUTH PROBLEMS
Delegates Hope
To Stir Nation


week of transforming will set
the whole country thinking.
They are the first to admit
that 1000 delegates will not be
able to unite on any specific leg
islative program.
But. in answer to the scof-
fers, they say it is time for
the Nation to sit down and
give the whole range of youth
problems reappraisal. The del
egates contend Washington, the
Nations Capital, is the logical
place to do it.
Mrs. SidOni M. Gutenberg Of
New York, former director of
the Child Study Association of
America, will do all she can to
trigger this reappraisal.
With the child labor laws
we have discredited work for
youth" she said yesterday.
"Now We must do something
positive. We have to set up a
program for youth where they
will use all their capabilities.
We adults have made it so
there is no place for the young
people until we need them for
war. The main difference be-
tween Russian education and
ours is that there the young
people are made to feel terribly
important. Here we keep them
on ice. The teen-agers are a
group with no status. So they
go out and do something to
make the older people notice
them.
II am against segregation by
age. We must get the young
people involved with adults.
AS it is now, teen-agers are
losing the guidance while older
people are losing the enthusi-
asn of youth"
She recommended letting
young people work with adults
in the school, like helping
teachers. and in the commu-
nifty. She said young people
would help out in community
projects-like working in hos
pitfalls, building Fairgrounds.
running fund drives-enthusi-
astically. This. she argued,
would give the young people
status again. Mrs. Gutenberg
hopes her speeches at the con-
ference will inspire action at
the local level after the dele
gates return home.
Miss Lucille Bell Of WASH
ington, a nurse at Children's
Hospital. thinks she knows a
lot about children's needs, too.
She has heard them pour out
their hearts while lying sick in
the hospital ward. She has
seen them long for love-des-
perately looking out the win
dows for parents who seldom
came to visit.
IF we express our true feel
ings and relate them to each
other" she said. this confer
ence may result in a wider and
fuller understanding Of the
whole child"
Blaine NJ. Madison Of Raj
eigh, N. c., North Carolina
State Commissioner of Correc-
tions, is hoping the conference
will develop some kind Of mas
ter plan to make his juvenile
prisons unnecessary. He wants
to participate in a "rethinking"
of the whole juvenile delin-
quency problem. I'm an OPP
timist," he said when asked If
he thought a master plan would
evolve. If this group can't
come up with one, I don't know
what group could"
DIR. Doane Fischer, of Har-
Ian, KY, who ministers to the
poverty stricken families in
the coal belt, came to the con-
ference to listen. He wants to
find out how other States got
their governments to give more
medical help to the poor.
Mrs. Barbara COughlan, of
Reno, Nevada State Welfare
Director, wants to mobilize
welfare people behind legisla-
tion to provide more Federal
aid for children. Il would like
to see the Federal Government
give dollar for dollar matching
grants to the States" she said,
instead of grants-in-aid for
child welfare.
Homai Dubash of Bombay,
India, currently a student at
the University of Chicago,
hopes to pick up ideas she can
use back in her own country
when she returns there as a
welfare leader. This confer
ence can prove to be q guide
post" she said.
John Siehl, II, of Grinnell,
Iowa, is one Of the 1000 young
people at the conference. He is
representing his local All and
Future Farmers of America
Club. Il don't really under
stand what causes young peo-
pie to smoke it up and drink it
up" he said. Il hope to find
out here. Then maybe I can do
something about it."
Aleck H. Chemponda Of
Tanganyika. Africa, a fresh