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Show My CARL L. BIEMILLER School Days 195 If all other evidence, including' full attendance at breakfast tables were lacking, it would be obvious from .the pain on Junior's face that schools from coast to coast have been in session a week or two now. This year, to Junior's consternation and to the con- founding of Uncle Ben busy trying try-ing to put corn in a silo with no help, Paul V. McNutt, War Manpower Commissioner, and Bing Crosby, citizen-singer, are on the side of all parents trying to sell the little red schoolhouse as a going concern. Both are urging (Crosby through a movie short aimed at bobb-sox, and McNutt through a "letter" to high school age workers) work-ers) the return of some 5,000,000 youths from the national labor market to school. Education a Responsibility According to WMC findings, these 5,000,000 high school age youngsters, currently busy in" stores, on farms and in factories, should now assume the responsibility responsi-bility of their age which is "to prepare for the postwar period and the duties of citizenship" by continuing their education. The 1,500,000 of these young people who quit school entirely during the war should once again return to books instead of time-cards. Every sensible parent and every thinking adult in these times heartily concurs with those findings. find-ings. The war job of youth is ended. It was a great and necessary neces-sary one. Without it, thousands of victory-producing items might never have reached the fighting fronts. And to those millions of hard working kids who moved into the highways of toil to help win a war, a nation says 'Thanks.' Need Trained Brains But a greater job lies ahead. It is the task of keeping this land great and secure in the immensely complicated t imes ahead. That task demands education. educa-tion. It may be a wrench to some youngsters to give up a weekly pay check for a parental allowance allow-ance or chorse money again, and it may not be so much fun to listen to teacher instead of kidding kid-ding the foreman, but, in the long run, nothing beats trained brains. |