Show i war effort strengthened I 1 by high school Gisa graduates duat 1 es armed services industry farms lure 1942 students vocational training now becoming increasingly important by WILLARD E GIVENS executive secretary national Education Association T T HAS been estimated that over one million boys and girls will leave high school this spring with their diplomas 1 it is this same group of boys and girls the youth of the nation who were figuratively being spoken to when a commencement men cement speaker said to a group of graduates before him I 1 you have seen more history than you have read during the first half of 1942 the pages of history have been ahn men and their deeds in the greatest drama of all ages and now today not only the high se school hool graduate burall bur bill all those who wha have read the story atory of mans upward struggle from the early dawn 0 of f history to the present time recognize the climax ot history in w which aich they are now living each and everyone especially the high school cove graduate is seeking to find the proper place the suitable niche in it the significance of today only to the man who is in some measure educated is it granted to know what Is going on about him a and nd to estimate its significance there is an old story of two peasants ot of brabant who were weeding their crops on a sultry june day in 1815 when the guns of the iron duke greeted those of bonaparte at waterloo one of the peasants lifted his eyes from his hoe and scanned the horizon soule he said it thunders it will rain today 1 As the guns of destiny broke the silence 0 of f their fields these two peasants went on hoeing their vegetables almost as ignorant as their beets and cabbages of what went on anywhere else in the world but to in the limited sphere in which they moved the mental isolation of mankind tu in the not so long ago unhappy days of the human race when one class of men was privileged to enjoy the culture and refinement of wide knowledge and another class was doomed to live and ana die in vulgarity and poverty Is banished universal education has banished it the high school especially Is responsible for making this vastly different world from the one which existed a century and a quarter ago when europe was wa rocked as I 1 it t Is today by th the clash of arms and ideals ide alsand and only a few knew the issues and fewer still had bad a part in resolving them today high school students see themselves in the setting of time and events event in their hearts is a stirring th that finds its expression in a common question what is my place in all this some of the boys may volunteer at once for service in the armed forces the army has just announced that volunteers 18 and 19 years year old may select training in the combat branch of their own arence infantry cavalry artillery tank corps air corps signal corps or corps of engineers others will wait the decision of the selective service system as to where and when they may serve best many graduates will continue their education under the direction of the navy which has in operation plans by which graduates may go 90 on to college and pursue studies in which they may earn college credits and at the same time prepare tor for more effective service in the navy from this group the huge two ocean battle fleet now building in our shipyards shipyard will secure many of its commissioned officers war industries to hire many some thousands of these high V 1 I X X 7 A mechanized army calls for the utmost and operational skills which the american people can produce these denver high school boys will know how to operate an electric semaphore it they should serve in the signal corps of the army se school hool graduates boys and girls will at once enter eliter war industries indus tries to help iris manufacture nufa iture the tee guns and tanks tank and planes upon which the lighting fighting men on tar far flung battle fronts depend the graduate enter these industries at once or they may enroll in one ot of many different types of training tor for more skilled service in the factories producing the mater material lai of war these training opportunities range from the elementary vocational schools where the simpler apler skills of the assembly line are acquired to the technical and engineering schools of our great universities which are turning out recruits for highly responsible positions both in the armed forces and an d in industrial ranks the high schools themselves in many city school systems temi and in some of the village schools serving farm areas are equipped to offer a high grade vocational training some graduates who have taken non vocational courses courses in high school will immediately begin such courses if available in the schools from which they have been graduated or they will seek that kind of training to in neighboring communities the federal government in june 1940 appropriated to equip and staff the rapidly ex banding vocational departments and schools of less than college grade which had undertaken to train workers for defense industries the need of workers was so urgent and the plan of mewung it so successful that subsequently other sums were appropriated tor for this purpose by march this year approximately workers bad been prepared tor for the war industries in this manner this number Is in addition to those trained for similar occupations in the vocational courses that constitute the normal service of the schools the demand for the he graduates of th these ese vocational courses is much greater than the supply and Is increasing according to the war production board over tep million additional war industry workers willbe needed within the year ahead to staff plants now being built or ex banded the vocational training activities in oakland calif are typical of those in many cities near great shipyards or other centers producing the machinery of war on april 1 1942 there were classes in defense training in the oakland schools enrolling students this was less than the number of students the oakland schools were prepared to a accommodate in this kind of work during january february and march an average of BOO trained workers a month were placed in war manufacturing from this school system there have never been sufficient trainees enrolled to meet the demand for ri chippers chappers chip pers caulkers caul kers ship fitters sheet metal workers electricians ship carpenters joiners and other skilled trades there Is opportunity of some kind today tor for youth everywhere all ali can join in the great adventure in some same capacity this Is true tor for girls as well as for boys many girls iris are taking their places in the war industries the great ex pans pan slon I 1 on of offices in washington and ther other centers of administration of the war effort issue calls for typists stenographers clerks and secretaries many girls are enrolling in nursing courses which lead to direct or indirect service for some of which af officers commissions are re available in the armed forces the kinds of work for girls to choose from are re numerous and announcements of further opportunities are expected from time to time the impulse to seek service far ifield afield Is ill advised there Is also the home front whole states must be prepared to resist invasion from land sea or air civilian defense Is vital first aid air raid duty auxiliary fire and police service must be manned and administered in hundreds of agricultural communities muni ties high school graduates will immediately lay aside their diplomas for cultivator handles and hoes there Is much truth in the slogan that food will win the war the J va N many high school graduates such as these at the he hannah penn wo junior r high ach school york pa will be able to take their places without inne much h urther further training ral in the ranks of those who are planning to defend their atles from death dropping down during air raids provision of food stuffs and the use of foods dictated by modern modem knowledge of nutrition for both civilian and soldier are of vital importance many of the opportunities may be seized without leaving home borne or community the alert and eager high bleb school graduate will look about him for unfilled places in the be ranks step in where he Is best qualified and serve the student selected by fate tor for graduation in 1942 faces towering handicaps as well as opportunities for many of thise these graduates school days are ended in any case educational batio cat ional nal careers will be interrupted or diverted from original purposes the test they face ambitions must be modified new emphasis placed upon ideals and duties the ile high school graduate 0 1942 faces the severest kind of test which can be given to individuals the test of flexibility adjustment to untoward circumstances circumstance this al applies to the minor as well as to the major enterprises of life the contrast is still greater if we compare this generation with grandfathers as an illustration of chan change ge in our national life to that elderly gentleman now toasting his bis heels in retirement by the fireplace horace greeleys greelegs Gree leys advice go west young man was an inspiration there was an immeasurably wealthy west to conquer grandfather saw the finishing touches given to the worlds greatest economic empire as the ingenuity energy and determination of a new world assembled from the tribes from the old trimmed off the last frontiers from the amelcar Amel toan wilderness looking beyond the present strife there Is the citizen ln in the making getting ready tor for the years ahead complete and an dAnal final victory would be unavailing if we lost in peace what we had bid won in war there is a tremendous task of reconstruction ahead of all the world there Is the rubble to clear away but much more important there are new structures tures to take the place odthe of the old the vision and capacity of y youth auth will determine whether trey live in the tee ruins of a past or in new edifices upon upon the ideals of |