Don’t Forget Education!

A cultural problem that has developed in connection with the evacuation of the Japanese people from the West Coast is that of caring for students in the higher educational institutions, and pupils in the high and elementary schools.

While this is a serious situation, yet it is pleasing to note that educational leaders and state officials are giving it attention, and that some progress has been made. If the young people are to take their place in the life of the nation after the dark days are over, as all hope will be the case, they should be better prepared than ever to meet the duties of now rudely interrupted by the exigencies citizenship. Should their education be of the emergency, they will not be prepared properly. [It appears that the typesetting has gone awry and the sentences should be: If the young people are to take their place in the life of the nation after the dark days are over, as all hope will be the case, they should be better prepared than ever to meet the duties of citizenship. Should their education be now rudely interrupted by the exigencies of the emergency, they will not be prepared properly.]

California appears to have taken the lead in this problem, perhaps because of the larger number of students and pupils in that state. The University of California we understand, has queried 32 inland universities and colleges as to receiving students in the higher grades. At last reports 14 had responded favorably, with the proviso that they must be citizens, and comply with the usual regulations. Governor Olson and leading educators approve the plan.

At the University of Washington the students have been registered, with a transfer in view, and the same, we understand is being done in Oregon.

Yet, it is the children in the high schools and the elementary schools that offer the big problem. California educators have offered a program, and other states should do likewise. We venture the hope that our government will not be unmindful of these children.