Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Schoa By Ellen Goodman Th? Boston Qlob* BOSTON ? "When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things." ? Corinthians I What about the years in be twee r childhood and adulthood? How dc we speak then? How do we think? How do we become men and women? For most of history there was no in-between, no adolescence as we know it. There was no such lengthy period of semi-autonomy, economic "uselessness," when the only occupation of a son or daughter was learning. In the 18th century, Americans weren't legally adults until they turned 21, but they did important work on farms by seven or eight. When they were physically grown, at only 13 or 16, they had virtually the same iobs as any other adult. SG uphill climb may begin soon " i... Cjamecock Founded 1908 Mark J. Lundgren Editor In Chief Don Fobes Copy Desk Chief Tom Travis News Editor David Baker Entertainment Editor Brett Friedlander Sports Editor Dave Roback Graphics Editor Barbara Mathews Wire Editor Jim Phillips Editorial Page Editor Leigh Grogan Assistant News Editor Lehman Stiles Assistant Entertainment Ed. Joey Holleman . . Assistant Sports Editor Janice Wood Graduate Assistant Jill Griffin Advertising Manager Fran George Production Manager Jon Clemmensen Genoral Manager Sam McKee Business Manager Mark Ethridge Jr Adviser Sole reproduction rights granted to the Associated Press. All other material contained herein may not be reprinted without the permission of the editor. Opinions expressed In the Gamecock are those, if signed, of the writer and, If unsigned, of the senior editorial staff. san Is inade In those days, education was irregular at best, but each child ; had his or her own vocational | guidance teacher: the family. So r the transition to adulthood was Kn 1 ?1 loiiuicu uiuugn nui aiways , easily or without tension ? } through a long apprenticeship, on the farm or in a craft, by people I who could point out a direct social path to adulthood. It was industrialization that changed all that. In the 19th century, mills and factories replaced farms, and cities replaced the countryside. Children didn't automatically follow their parents' occupations and so family relations became less important for job training than something nallpH srhnnl In that century, the need for child labor on farms diminished and the horrors of the industrial child labor became widespread. So we passed laws against child labor Today the first part of the annual doubleheader, Student Government elections, occurs. The finale of this "great" event is to be held Wednesday with the run-off election. Only this year it's not so great. Campaigns have so far been pretty bland: posters are not plastered everywhere as in past years; the Gamecock is not full of ads for the candidates; door-to-door campaigning is limited to a few candidates and even their efforts at campaign footwork do not seem serious. Even the Greeks seem unconcerned about this election. Their primary was unexciting and produced a relatively weak presidential candidate in Julian Emerson. They are not organized as in years past ? they are doing little work for their chosen candidate. The number of candidates for the Student Senate is probably ini I ===! dBNti J "HOW DID I FROM THE. V quate pi and in favor of mandatory education. Decade by decade we have raised both ages. School has replaced work not just out of our benevolence. There are also deep economic reasons. In 1933, at the height of the i Depression, the National Child Labor Committee put it as baldly as this: "It is now generally accepted that the exploitation of children, indefensible on humanitarian grounds, has become a genuine economic menace. Children should be in school and adults should have whatever worthwhile jobs there are." School became the place of reading and writing and certification. It provided the necessary paper for employment. School not only kept young people out of the marketplace but promised "better" jobs if they 1 1 -A. 1? - J sLity t*u anu siuoiea. dicative of the mood of the campus about Student Government. Out of 59 senate seats, 18 or 19 seats have no candidates signed up to run for them, depending on which list of senators is used, because the Elections Commission has two different lists. There are an adHlf O/? ???...UI -L. 1 - 1 umuiiai av acdlt> which nave oniy one candidate running unopposed. This leaves only 14 contests for senate seats. As a side note, most of the races are in on-campus or dormitory districts. The proposed new con? ?J 1 siiiuuuu wuuiu cui aormuory representation down to one representative. The bland campaigns and the lack of senate candidates were predictable. Student Government this year has produced only a few pieces of valuable legislation, and their internal fighting and disorganization has punctured the veneer they use to portray themselves as "student representatives." \ PREWRITTEN *oving [ The result of all this is clear: Today, school is what young people do for a living. In 1870, less thar five percent of the high school ag< group were in high school. In 1876, 86.1 percent of those 14 to 17 were in school. In 1977, nearly one-third of the 18 to 21-year-olds were in college. While a high school diploma or a college degree no longer guarantee a job, there are more and more jobs you can't even apply for without them. So the payoff is less certain, but the pressure is even greater to go to school longer and longer, to extend the state of semiautonomy further and further. The irony is that society worries more when the young try to grasp at adult "privileges" than when they remain in the passive fraternity-house state of mind. We worry about teenage drinking and A favorite word of everyone 01 this campus is "apathy." It is tru< that USC is about politically deat as concerning the government, anc the antics of Student Government have not helped the situation. Some government members though, seem genuinely concernec about the fate and condition of the organization. These are the feu people who finally stopped squabbling with other governmenl members and realized that severe criticism of the government was indeed correct and necessary. So, some of the members have turnec their attention to the needs ol students, or at least have though! about it. Student Government needs a rejuvenation, and maybe the elections could signal a break with the past and a new beginning. This is certainly necessary if the government is to survive anc regain its credibility. Only hard-working individuals ^?Ml wp **?^?3 J IrrrTnHMHM ^r^ORDEREC RESEARCH PA' ground driving and pregnancy ? all s perhaps misguided attempts at 1 "grown-up behavior." Yet we offer i few alternatives, few meaningful opportunities for adulthood training. We have virtually allowed sex, drinking and driving to become rites of passage. School just isn't enough. It demands only one skill, tests only 1-: i ^e r ? ^ - une miiu 01 penormance. r rom a pre-med dorm to an Animal House, it is a youth ghetto where adults are only authority figures, where students don't get the chance to test their own identities, their own authority, their own responsibility to others. Without enough options, we have left schools the job of producing adults. But schools are where the young are kept, not where they grow up. ?1979, Th? Boston Qlob? N?wspap?r Com pany/washlngton Pott Writer* Qroup can make a success of the I government. It is not the form of j Student Government nor the idea . of serving students, which is its J original intent, that is in need of revision. What is needed is new blood. I The major problem with the government this year has been a 5 lack of leadership. Seamus ' O'Boyle has been a do-nothing, ' lackluster president; Garry Norris - could never command lovaltv nr mrwm -^J>m. * respect from the senate as 1 president of that body. Norris told the Gamecock in early April of this ' past year that "I want to get rid of the circus atmosphere in the - senate," but Norris himself has become the ringleader of that 1 circus. i His inability to organize i an effective senate and provide leadership and inspiration for the I senators sealed the failure of this year's senate. Wp PfllllH havo oacilii -v. 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