During the summer of 1917 the Reserve confined its activities principally to giving federal recognition to those youths who, as members of state organizations, had worked at least three weeks on farms or in food production. At present it is organized in 40 states and in the District of Columbia. Recently it has extended its activities to include industrial occupations. Each boy who is physically fit and who, with the consent of his parents, has taken the oath of service, is enrolled as a recruit and given an enrollment button and a certificate bearing the great seal of the United States. When he has worked faithfully and capably for the stated period, he is awarded a federal bronze badge of honor.
After January 1, 1918, thirty-six days of eight hours each are to be required on the farm or in food production in order to earn the badge. In industrial occupations the boy will be required to work at least sixty days of eight hours in some occupation considered essential in helping the nation in the conduct of the war, in order to receive recognition.
The national director, Mr. William E. Hall, encourages every boy to remain in school and in spare time to pursue some vocational training to make himself capable of performing a productive war service, in the expectation that he will be awarded a badge of honor when he has actually entered an essential occupation. It is expected that we shall soon see a registered army of young men ordinarily not available, which may be used to fill the gaps in the labor ranks caused by war activities.
The Reserve has been indorsed by President Wilson in the following language:
Permit me to express my great appreciation of the work undertaken by the United States Boys' Working Reserve of the Employment Service of Department of Labor. To give to the young men between the ages of 16 and 21 the privilege of spending their spare time in productive enterprise without interrupting their studies at school, while their older brothers are battling in the trenches and on the seas, must greatly increase the means of providing for the forces at the front and the maintenance of those whose services are needed here. It is a high privilege, no less than a patriotic duty, to help support the nation by devoted and intelligent work in this great crisis.
Theodore Roosevelt, in writing of the good work which the Reserve is doing, says, in part:
I am glad that you intend to encourage the training of the boys to prepare for some essential industry where they can take the place of a man called to the front. One of the great benefits you confer is that of making the boy realize that he is part of Uncle Sam's team; that he is doing his share in this great war; that he holds his services in trust for the nation; and that though it is proper to consider the question of material gain and the question of his own desires, yet that what he must most strongly consider at this time is where his services will do most good to our people as a whole.
The teachers of America, as well as the boys, are making themselves a part of Uncle Sam's team; and they too hold their services in trust for the nation. The Junior Red Cross movement in the schools has swept the country. The school children have advertised and sold bonds of the second Liberty Loan.[12] The teachers of cooking are serving as local representatives for the food administrator at Washington. Agricultural teachers have pledged themselves as community workers for the summer of 1918. Manual-training teachers are developing plans for substituting garden projects in the spring for the manual-training models of the schoolroom. Technical colleges and institutes are filled with students in uniform. Industrial and trade schools on the seacoast are planning to discard their house carpentry for shipbuilding courses. County superintendents of schools are studying government bulletins for the last word in preserving and drying farm products on a large scale, in order that they may give directions to the schools. Teachers in academic schools have enlisted for service on relief, loan, garden, thrift, and conservation committees. Men who were leaders and supervisors of farm-cadet camps in 1917 are planning for similar work in the future on a larger and improved basis. Programs for teachers' institutes and state associations of teachers now include the topics: "What can our schools do in war time?" and "Our schools after the war."
These efforts of the teachers and the pupils respond to our President's appeal that each of us must do his share in making the world safe for democracy.
At present, to be sure, we center our thoughts on how to make the world safe for democracy. But what of the future? What of the contribution of the schools after the war? Should not the schools then center their aims and methods on making democracy safe for the world? If the people themselves are to be masters, must they not be provided with an education making for mastership? Is it not well for us to examine our present schools to determine whether they are making a democracy which will be safe for the world? Have we a system of education which actually gives an opportunity for every child to make the most of himself? Have we a liberalized course of study which actually stimulates and develops intellectual and aesthetic interests in music, art, literature, science, travel, and history? Have we evolved a socialized education developing moral habits, civic incentives, possession and use of ethical ideals and standards for a successful group life? Has our formative process been able to bring about refinements of social behavior beyond the point required for group participation? Have we arrived at the point where we can say that our people have even the common culture which it is expected all members of a democracy shall possess, to say nothing about the development of individual culture, which is a possession of the interested individual and his congenial fellows? How far have we gone in recognizing that "by-education" which comes through a child's self-direction of his natural or spontaneous learning instincts and impulses?