IDLE BOYS AND GIRLS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3400, 30 July 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

IDLE BOYS AND GIRLS

GAP IN THE INDUSTRIAL MACHINE. AN EDUCATIONIST’S WARNING. “ UNWANTED CHILDREN OF THE NATION.” “ Thousands of young persons have left the schools during the last five .years who have not done a day’s useful work.” This warning relating to a gap in the industrial mach ne by which boys and girls from 14 to 16 years had no chart or rudder to guide them in approaching their work in life was a feature of the presidential address of Mr W. E. Summers at the thirty-fifth annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers in London recently. Discussing the “ economic bomb ’ and the holding up of school schemes due to the withdrawal of building grants, Mr Summers said: “ The word ‘ temporary ’ has been freely used, but this will be little consolation to the children now passing through the schools. Chi’dhood is temporary, and these children will miss the tide. Nursery schools, clinics for crippled children workshops for the blind, and arrangements for the mentally defective are not being proceeded -with.

COMPULSORY IDLENESS. “ Everyone concerned about the future of the nation will find cause for alarm and misgiving in the compulsory idleness of the boys and girls who are leaving the schools. Thousands of young persons have left the schools during the last five years—trained and schooled at great national expense—'but who have not yet done a day’s useful work. “ Throughout the school life, the teachers encourage industry, and hold before their pupils the hope of reward for work well done. These children leave the busy school with high hopes, only to find that the active, useful life for which they have been prepared is not to is no place for them in the industrial machine —success is a mirage—they are ready to set out on life’s adventure fresh, virile, and fu’l of enthusiasm, but there is no demand for their services, and with idle hands in empty pockets, and with sick hearts, they see the years go by—the unwanted children of the nation.”