DO WE HAVE TOO MANY YOUTH ORGANISATIONS?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 96, 17 September 1948, Page 5

DO WE HAVE TOO MANY YOUTH ORGANISATIONS?

Lax Parents And Irresponsibility Have we put youth on a pedestal, and pandered too much to youngsters with the abundance of oi-ganisations which cater for them. And does this detract from home life? Local Rotarians’ varied opinions on that question were aired at Tuesday evening’s gathering after Rotarian C. S. Armstrong' had re-read Past Governor Blair Tennant’s address on community service.The Past Governor’s address was full of helpful hints, with emphasis on the assistance that should always be accorded to youth organisations, particularly such organisations as the Scout movement, which had much in common with the Rotary ideal. Rotarian C. Kingsley-Smith spoke at some length concerning the Scout movement and its benefits to youth, but he did agreed with some other speakers that the youth organisation business could be overdone,

and pointed with regret to an alleged- deterioration in home life in the past generation or two. This, he said,- had led modern parents to take filll advantage 'of organisations which were prepared to take over some of the responsibility of guiding the young. that should be the responsibility of the parent. It was mentioned by another of the speakers that there were no less than 29 youth organisations of various sorts in Whakatane, which, while it showed enterprise and public spirit amongst the organisers, might be said to be too many for a town this size. President H. G. Warren, quoting from a recent Rotary conference, said what youth needed was more prayer at mother’s knee and more discipline over fathers knee. Maybe he’s right!