OVERPROTECIED AMERICAN YOUTH Ntt^ FACE REALITK
. r, _ _ T„ o tVioii£rh. that the amount of shelter.
THE
By Ann Brinson
Every seven and one-half seconds
a child is born in the United States.
Upon birth he is put into a sterile
nursery where he can watch, and
be watched by, the world on the
other side of a pane of glass with
out being contaminated by coming
competition with students of his
own abilities he could sometimes
excel in the group.)
In grammar schools as well as in
high schools now, educators are
stressing the importance of teach
ing in correlated units, of using
bulletin boards, visual aids, and
into contact with it. This is fine other methods to add interest and
and necessary for the first few days
of his life, but unfortunately, as
soon as he is removed from this
sterile nursery, unless he is a very
lucky child of very unusual parents,
he will be placed in a very sterile
nutshell and kept there as long as
possible. Every so often most
children are allowed a small look
outside their shell, and the children
who are allowed the most freedom
begin to lieach a small understand
ing of this world outside.
However, there are a ^real many
parents who seem to think that the
biggest favor they can do their
child is to shield him from as many
of these views of life as possible.
They usually find that after a
“child” reaches the age of twenty-
one it becomes rather difficult to
contain him for much longer, that
being the arbitrary age set up for
becoming a self-sufficient adult in
the United States.
Since I am gtetting dangerously
near the “letting out stage, I have
begun to wonder if 1 am sufficient
unto myself. I am perhaps better
equipped than some to meet life on
its grounds, because 1 have been
allowed out of my shell somewhat.
However, I can recognize many
signs of immaturity in my actions,
and I have given some thought to
this “protection racket” that most
adults think is necessary for the
youth of the United States. I be
lieve that this protection which is
so lovingly given us in every phase
of our lives not only impedes our
personal development, but also im
pairs the development of our youths
in general.
A main area in which this pro
tection plays a big part is the realm
of education. The idea, advanced
by the more progressive educators,
of separating children into classes
according to their individual capa
cities for learning, has been con-
demried by parents and some psy
chologists who think that this
would be a terrible shock to the
slow students. The fast students
must be slowed up so the inferior
students don’t have to face their
intellectual slowness. (This seems
to be a fallacy in itself, because
while in competition with intellec
tually superior students, the slow
child would be continually on the
failing end; however, if he was in
amusement to the learning of sub
ject matter. This makes the dosage
of education much easier to take,
but unfortunately it never makes
children learn the need for mental
self-discipline. It makes hard, and
sometimes unpleasant, drilling of a
subject seem terribly boring and
therefore quite unnecessary. High
school students have come to ex
pect to be excused from the un
pleasantness of homework on the
night of a big football game or the
Senior Class play, and they look
forward to their senior year so they
can have four classes and two
study halls. High school becomes
the country club, and the popular
teachers who cater to the students
certainly don’t make them face the
fact that however disagreeable it
may be, people riiust take care of
their responsibilities before they
can be free for pleasure.
By the time the students reach
college thejr should have been led
to appreciate, and take seriously, an
education. However, even at this
level they'balk at any strenuous
thinking, because they’ve been pro
tected from doing any such thing
for so long. Most college students
have never had to employ any men
tal self -discipline and consequently,
they don’t know where to begin.
They desire, if not actually expect,
their professors to hand them
their knowledge on a well-plated,
if not sterling, platter. Once in a
while these students will try to
rebel against this easy education.
They’ll talk about reading original
works instead of “books about
“books”, and they are being very
sincere about wanting to think for
themselves. It is too bad that it
isn’t expected of them all along the
way so that they are in practice
and can do it.
area, service clubs, organized under
Civic clubs to do service in the
school and in the community, have
been banned because they take in
members by invitation only. Par
ents of girls dnd boys that have
not been invited to join want no
social distinction made in any child
ren. I am most sympathetic to the
fact that these organizations hurt
some fine young people; however,
1 do not think that taking away
this learning experience from all
students will benefit the other stu
dents one bit. It does protect them
from facing one of thle most un
pleasant and brutal facts of our
go^-iety—until they get to college.
A typical example of this situ
ation was shown several years ago
in the movie, “Take Care of My
Little Girl”. A girl whose parents
had seen to it that she was included
in every social event in her town,
came to college and,.failed to get
a bid from the sorority of her
choice. She immediately folded up
and went homle to Mother’s protec
tion. She could not be expected to
show a mature reaction to this situ
ation, because she had never had
to face anything socially unpleasant
before.
our shoulders quite often. In a
large percentage of homes, children
are given an allowance without
even nominal responsibilities to
“earn” it. This keeps a child from
being restricted to taking care of
his duties before leaving for a good
time with his friends, and it also
keeps him from developing a sense
of the value of money. In most
private colleges parents pay in ad
vance for all room, food, laundry,
etc. expenses so that a child (of
twenty or twenty-one) doiesn’t have
to worry about budgeting her
money. If more students were re
quired, or allowed, to earn some of
the money for their support, they
would soon acquire a sensle of
monetary value.
These examples of the ways in
which the American youths are
protected from life may be in some
cases extreme examples. I feel.
In the Virginia and Arkansas
schools parents are now engaged in
protecting their children socially
They have closed integrated schools
instead of making sure their child
ren had an adequate and sound
basis for deciding for themselves
how to conduct themselves in inter
racial relationships. Sometimes pro
tection is easier than education.
though, that the amount of shelter,
ing that does go on produces sonit
rather unfortunate consequences;
terrific shock upon meeting for tht
first time a world that thinks yoj
are no longer a child and suddenly
expects you to be a responsibk
adult; a definite delay in reachitij
the age of responsibility and ma
turity; a terrible waste of potential
among the intelligent youths who
never had their abilities challengd
and so never developed them to
their fullest; a rather mediocre so
ciety where the outstanding havt
been held back to the level of tht
inferior. The biggest favor that
adults could do for, the Americaa
youths is to reduce protection to i
minimum and instead take the tint
and trouble to instill in them tht
basis for accepting their place a
responsible, intelligent, realistii
adults.
Rondthaler Contest Opens
For Creative Salemites
In th'e social world as well as in
educational institutions, the protec
tion agents are just as stifling to
mature development. Parents pro
tect their children by either push
ing them into social activities or by
making sure that no other child
gets a head of them, even if it
means the other children. In cer
tain high schools in the Miami
It is not only in social and edu
cational realms that the youth of
the United States are protected, but
also ctuite often our personal and
moral responsibilities ar'e taken care
of for us. Courts of law protect
the juvenile delinquents by not re
vealing their names to the press.
Our religious beliefs are .formulated
for us and handed to us in mass
according to our denominations’
doctrines. We are so seldom faced
with serious issues, that would call
for searching ourselves for our
philosophy of life that we never
think about such things. Even our
iimple repponsibilities are taken off
I I nil—» MM WMYniiBiaia
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For
The annual competition for the
Katharine Rondthaler awards in its
ninth year is now open. The com
petition is open to all Salem stu
dents interested in creative work
in art, music, and creative writing.
Entries must be submitted to Miss
Marsh, Alumnae Secretary, not
later than May 1, 1959. The entries
will be judged in the three classifi
cations by judges appointed by Pre
sident Gramley.
The Katharine Rondthaler
Awards were established in 1950 by
thle Alumnae Association in honor
of the wife of Salem’s former presi
dent, Bishop Howard E. Rondtha
ler. Mrs. Rondthaler knew the
name of every College and Aca
demy student who came to Salem
during the forty years the Rond-
thalers were at Salem. In addition
to many other talents, she was the
author of a book for children en
titled “Tell Me A Story”.
The first plan, for the contest was
for original entries of “Salem-in-
spiried” subject matter. It was hoped
that Salem students would becoii
interested in doing research ini
the history of their school and pn
duce interesting and valuable ma
erial. However, this idea did n
seem to work and the “Saler
inspired” requirement was enlargi
to include creative work in the cla
sifications of art, music, and writir
The awards are made at the la
assembly of the year, and again
the annual meletirig of the Alumn
Association and on Commenceme
Day. The prizes are silver tra
engraved as Katharine Rondtha
Award with the winner’s name a
the date.
The winners last year wfere, M;
garet Taylor for her watered
“Happy Hill” and Shan Helms
her story, “Salvation.” There v
no award given in music.
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