Northampton High School - Nesaki Yearbook (Northampton, MA)

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EQCLASSHC O Qu Q MYTMS if Qs e a tion of the state and local governments. It is heartening to learn that Worcester and many other communities have begun to help. Even the common people of the United States are youth-conscious. They are willing to try to supplement the action of the National Youth Administration. In addition to these organized forces striving to help us, there are various ways in which we must prepare to aid ourselves in obtaining and keeping a job. We must safeguard our health so that we shall have the strength and vitality necessary to fulfill the demands of our employment. Of course, it goes without saying that our personal appearance should always represent us at our best. We should try to cor- rect any obvious personality faults. We should study how to meet people and how to carry on intelligent conversation. By our attitude, we should show an alert interest in our prospective work. We must remember that many people judge us by our daily actions, and it is quite possible that some one whom we favorably impress may recom- mend us for a position. Besides, we should acquire a definite knowledge of what pre- paration we should make for our life of work. It is advisable to develop skills in more than one field, because such a person has many more chances to gain employment. Above all, we should keep on studying in order not to forget what we have mastered. We must keep our technical or professional abilities alive until we can use them in an actual work program. Finally, we must practice perseverance. In spite of all dis- appointments, we must go on living a normal life in a mental and physical sense. This means we have a difficult task to perform, whether we find a job or not. Yet it seems to us that the inevitable outcome of the combined efforts of the National Government, the local governments, and private citizens will be the making of a place in the revolving wheel of industrial life for those of us who are eagerly awaiting our opportunity. Twenty-five

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The Senior Looks at His Job N reaching the end of our high school course, we have also completed an important phase of our life. As graduates, We have a right to entertain certain aims and to expect their fulfilment. Our greatest desire, as We step from the supervised routine of school life to the uncertain and ruthless ways of the outside World, is to find our place as a cog in the huge wheel of life. Unless we are to continue our education in college, we hope to obtain a job without the loss of our optimistic spirit, our ambitions, or our ideals. If we are fortunate enough to get any work, we are concerned to have it measure up to certain standards. The wages must not be so low that we shall become discouraged before we begin. Physical ' K surroundings must be generally satisfactory, or our EDNA O- JEFFERY health will be threatened. The hours must be such that we shall have time for pleasure and relaxation, Above all, the position should be one in which we can feel that we are developing and making some advancement, for only in this way can our chosen work hold our enthusiasm and give us true satisfaction. But the conditions in the world of work are not ideal for youth, and we must realize this. Although we are justified in our expectations, we must open our eyes to the existing situation. For instance, there are three million young people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five on relief, and there are thousands of others who are roaming idly around the country. There is, also, a continuous outpour of graduates from the many schools all over our land. To make things all the more complicated, the labor world is over-crowded, and the various professions have too many appli- cants knocking at their doors. All this leads us to ask if there is anything that can be done to improve these conditions. Yes, there are ways in which such an unfavorable state of affairs may be bettered. In fact, outside agencies are already enlisted in our behalf. The problems of the youth of to-day are officially recognized by the Federal Government. By an execu- tive order, in June, 1935, President Roosevelt established the National Youth Administration and set aside fifty million dollars to carry out his plans. The objectives of the Act are the finding of employment in private industry for job- less youths, the training for industrial, technical, and professional employment, the providing of Work-relief upon many projects, and the giving of funds for continuing attendance at high school and college. This program is not adequate, but it is a step in the right direction. The success of the Act needs the support and coopera- Twenty-four

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The Senior Looks at His Environment y , HE high school senior, as he approaches graduation, is at a critical point in his career Realizing this, he stops to look about him in order to see which features of his environment are of help to him and which should be corrected. As he does this, he notices' immediately that the family as an influence over young people no longer holds the place it formerly did. He wonders about this change,-what caused it, and what results it may have. If we consider why these changes have come, we Hnd that contributing to the instability of the modern home are several factors, one of the greatest of which is mobility of our population. Each year millions of our rural residents move to the city, it is true that many city families take up farm life, but it is only very rarely that this balance is favorable to the farming districts. In this way the stable old country home is being constantly changed for the city apartment. Coincidental with this crowding of our population into the cities, has been the development of many modern forms of recreation not harmful in themselves, but tending to disturb family life to such an extent that youth no longer considers sufhcient the recreational diversions provided by the home, in fact, many young people do not stay at home nowadays even when they have no specific place to go. If this is true in homes of moderate comfort, what is the condition in the homes of those poverty-stricken people in the slums of our great cities? The harmful effect of living in crowded, unsanitary tenement houses is now generally recog- nized. In Great Britain the national government has embarked upon an ambitious program of slum clearance, and in this country various private organizations of social workers have long been doing their best to better conditions, but there is still room for improvement. Homes such as these, which are unable to provide decent living conditions, can hardly be expected to provide recreation. One result of this driving of children into the streets to find amusement is the general misuse of leisure and, ultimately, the formation of street gangs engaged in petty crimes. The number of cases now being tried in juvenile courts is testimony to this effect of a lack of useful occupation for leisure hours, occupation once provided by the home. The tendency for the delinquent youth to develop into the hardened criminal is well known. The outlook, then, is darkly menacing, for organized racketeering, the product of the petty crimes of youth, annually costs the citizens of Chicago the appalling sum of SS145,000,000, to say nothing of the greater loss in the lowering of moral standards of the general public. If such conditions prevailed in the majority of cities, as they certainly will if preventive measures are not taken, our country will be overrun with crime. ROLAND S. BRAND Twenty-.fix