The Pittsburgh Press (May 2, 1941)
YOUTH IS SMARTER
By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
Three cheers for Mrs. Mary Ellis, dean of women at Cleveland College, who says modern students are too busy and too smart to be bad. I think she is right on both counts.
You’ll usually find the people who work with young people standing up for them. And one who spends a day or two in any high school or on any college campus cannot but feel amazement at the tremendous amount of activity. It’s like stepping into a strange world which hums with energy and hope.
And there’s no doubt about the kids being smarter. They know so much more at their age than their fathers and mothers did have it must cause some embarrassment to many elderly group. Their advantages have been greater, of course, but it seems to me their brains turn over twice as fast.
At any rate, we are convinced that the badness of youth can always be traced to the mistakes of age – sometimes it seems as if the children get along in spite of us, rather than because of us – which may be hard on our egos but is bound to be good for our souls.
The young wives show surprising good sense about homes and babies. They stand clear-eyed against a hostile world, and because there are so many big problems to be faced they are not bothering about the trivialities which upset their mothers. They don’t particularly care whether their rooms have been done by an interior decorator, or whether they can afford service plates and oyster forks, but they do insist upon the proper formulas for the babies.
The desire for “things,” which was such a fetish in the '20s, no longer obsesses them. Therefore their attitudes are saner, and they have a better sense of life’s values.
I wish we could hear more often from women like Mrs. Ellis, who have faith in youth and are not afraid to express it. Marked and steady improvement is shown in high school groups when compared with those of a decade ago. And, given a decent break, tomorrow’s children probably will be superior to those of today.