Show r t U3 YOUTH SAYS: “WE’RE NOT PREPARED FOR LIFE” chool Didn't j Contradicting the education experts American teen-age- rs call for more vocational training Here’s the controversial second part of our youth survey By JACK STEWART This Week Youth Editor Most of America’s recent high-scho- stu- ol dents look back on their last four years as a time of fun friendships — and wasted opportunities Now that they are working and in many cases struggling to finance marriage they wish they had studied harder and concentrated on more practical subjects — This second thought by almost 5000 youngsters between 17 and 22 is a stiff challenge to the US school system and the adults who run it' This report represents the opinions of the great majority of America’s youth — the nearly 80 per cent who have not graduated from college Most of these youngsters must rely on their four years of high school to prepare them for life Their most serious criticism is directed toward the curriculum Looking back now they feel they should have had more vocational training And to get it they would have sacrificed some of their “cultural” - courses One young man summed it up this way: “You can tell me that history is important and French and Spanish a necessity — Continued on but I’ve got page 18 This Is the second of a series of articles reporting on how today's young people feel they are prepared for the challenges and responsibilities of adult living The views of 4t967 young men and women between the ages of 17 and 22 were intensively polled an by the Gilbert Youth Research Co opinion-pollin- g firm founded 11 years ago by Eugene Gilbert The young people interviewed rgpresented d cross section the majority of US youth — those who do not graduate from college of 10 TW— |