Griffith High School - Reflector Yearbook (Griffith, IN)

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WHAT NOW? Approximately half of Griffith’s graduates attend some form of post-high school training. What about the other 50 per cent? What alternatives do they have? Two major ones: work, armed forces NAME GAME Financial, personal wants influence student employment What’s a teenager’s dirtiest four- letter word? WORK! Or is it? Those with jobs may disagree, and even claim that work has solved many problems. Money dilemmas mounted at an alarming rate as students shouldered more and more personal expenses. That mere $2-a-week allowance could not survive a barrage of demands for new nylons, tickets to the games, gas and church contributions. To solve financial troubles, students worked after school and on weekends in jobs which ranged from carhopping at Dog ‘n’ Suds to garbage collecting for the sanitation department. Farsighted college-bound students built nest eggs by putting the present to good use. Spending hours standing sentinel to a cash register, they discovered tennis shoes weren’t enough to buffer aching feet against a hard floor. Still others found work could even be fun. Hours passed quickly as the boredom of preparing double cheeseburgers was dispelled by camaraderie with fellow workers. Uncertain of what kind of career to pursue, other students took jobs for the experience. Working as gas station attendants, some discovered an interest in auto mechanics. Girls who enjoyed babysitting and watching younger siblings considered jobs in pediatrics and teaching, while acquiring practical knowledge for future motherhood. To earn both money and credits, students joined Distributive Education. Devoting half their school day to work, they fulfilled school requirements as they gained on-the-job experience. Payday compensated for hard work, late hours and limited free time. The new midicoat received extra care and Sports Illustrated was read with greater relish when bought with hard-earned money. Students discovered that the four-letter word work” actually spelled the 21-letter phrase, “financial independence.” For a gleam to attract prospective buyers, Larry Thiel polishes a gun stock. Rapidly taking another order, Denise Stokes hides her fatigue behind a pleasant face. 12

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NAME GAME Graduates question social stigma of working man “Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief.” Even as toddlers lisping nursery rhymes, people begin to think about their future occupations. Striving for success and wealth, they decide the methods by which they ' ll attain these goals. One popular route to success is college. But is this way always the best? “Yes,” some people declare. “If you want a well-paying job, college is a must.” Is it? Last year, two teachers together received less money for sponsoring the Junior Class than janitors earned preparing and cleaning up the gym for Prom. “If you don’t go to college, you’ll never get ahead.” Does this statement always hold true? Many college graduates can ' t .even join the race, let alone get ahead. Consider the teaching profession. Recently, college graduates with degrees in education acquired jobs only with great difficulty. Even Griffith felt the effect. Although the system had only 35 openings last year. 600 candidates applied. Another overcrowded field is science, particularly now that the government has cut back on space programs. Last June, Princeton graduated 32 from the aerospace and mechanical science department. After five months of job hunting, none had managed to fine employ- ment. Today 819 men with Ph.d.’s competed eagerly for every 23 job vacancies in chemistry. Job difficulties aren ' t peculiar to only these fields. Medical schools across the country reported that 26,000 college graduates applied for 11,800 openings last year. Of the 14,200 rejected, half were qualified to enter; there simply wasn’t room. Law schools had a similar problem; almost three times as many people applied for admission as were needed to fill 35,000 vacancies. Between March 1970 and March 1971, accord- ing to Time, job bids for male B.A. ' s fell 61 per cent. Obviously, college is not the solution for the average student who simply wants a good job and a chance to get ahead. What is? With the rise in service industries, skilled workmen command large salaries. In June 1970, according to World Almanac 1971, painters were averaging $4.05 an hour, electricians $4.37 and construction men $5.93. Yet few people seem to be aware that well-paying, challenging work not requiring a college diploma exists. Why is this? Could school guidance be partly to blame? Perhaps there’s too much emphasis on college prep and not enough on vocational and business. Are alternatives to college overlooked? More than 1,500 vocational schools across the country prepare high school graduates for skilled trades. Apprenticeship programs, which last from two to four years, enrolled 300,000 in 1970. Another choice might be two-year junior colleges. Offering training in areas such as auto mechanics, chefs and dental assistants. Such information should force many to re-evaluate their purposes in going to college. The reason “Because Mom and Dad want me to” can be a powerful influence on some students. But consider Mom and Dad’s motive for stressing college. Could it be they are more concerned with boast- ing of their well-educated children? Are they going because “everyone else is”? Look around. Not everyone is. Only 17 per cent of this year ' s senior class indicated on North Central Evaluation questionaires they planned to attend four-year schools. Do students continue their educa- tion to postpone that inevitable choice of occupation? Then they risk wasting $8,000 or more on an education that may never be used. What is your answer? Park Avenue Blue robes, white roses and motto “We finish only to begin” symbolized final class ties. Like a modern Ichabod Crane, Jim Caron escapes the confines of the auditorium as his billowing figure sets out for the open road. Spring fever, that perennial bug, fills the air infecting seniors as a few of them break from graduation practice and the hesitation step.” 11

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NAME GAME Digits judge students’ fates With television sets blaring and newspapers scattered over the floor, three seniors discovered their diverse futures hingejd on the roll of the big wooden drums in Washington, over 700 miles away. A guy’s vulnerability to the draft is determined by the annual lottery established in 1969. The drawing is held early each year to assign numbers to young men who turn 19 that year, pairing each date with numbers from 1 to 366. If a boy receives a very low number his chances of being drafted are great. If he receives a high number, his chances of being drafted are much less, the safe cut-off number being around 150. Greg Roe’s future is one of almost certainty in being called for duty. Larry Gradek’s is one of uncertainty as to whether he has to go or not. Eutiquio Soto’s is one of relief in that he probably won’t have to go. A high, medium and low number drawn by the boys is the why. Wednesday. Feb. 2, the night of the drawing, Greg was working. Because he starts work immediately after school, he would not know his number until late at night when he returns home. With sweaty palms and anxious faces his parents were home awaiting the results of the lottery. The list was reported on the 5 p.m. news. When the number for October 31 was broadcasted, his mother ' s shrill scream of, “Oh my God, no!” pierced the silence of the Roe’s living room. October 31 was Number 10. When Greg arrived home the only thought on his mind was getting his number. He was crushed when he learned what it was, because a number of 10 means almost certainty in being called for duty. Because he gets out of school at 11:10 a.m., Larry was able to turn to Channel 5 on his television set to watch the noon news and get a report of his number earlier than most other guys. December 21 appeared on the screen. Crossing Larry’s mind was the same question going through thousands of other 18-year-olds. Would he or would he not be called? Would he get a high or a low number? He didn ' t. December 21 was number 80. Larry’s parents aren’t bothered either. They know that the boys are coming home and not too many are going over to Viet Nam. If Larry is called, they’re prepared for it. They feel that every boy should have some military training, but they are still uncomfortable as to their son’s future, just as all parents whose sons get any type of lottery number, low, medium or high. As soon as the newsboy dropped the Hammond Times on the step, Eutiquio was out the door. Frantically scanning through the endless lists of birthdates. he finally spied September 27. “Number 248! September 27 is number 248! Thank God! I probably won’thave to go!” Eutiquio is the luckiest of the three. He got a high enough number to keep him safe from having to serve in the army. His parents are as greatly relieved as their son. They are glad Eutiquio won’t have to go fight in a war that they feel is “not the United States’ problem.” Although the three boys are affected by the lottery in three different ways, they all agree that this method is the fairest to all involved. “Everyone has the same chances of being called,” “the draft is set up so everyone has a year before he is called, and What other way could it be done?” are the ideas expressed by the three seniors on the draft. A statement from Greg summed up the feelings of all three, “Although the draft is fair to all guys, it still isn’t right. I don ' t think we should have to go if we don ' t want to.” Like a magnet attracting metal, the annual draft lottery drew clusters of shop students as they learned their fates. 13