HE impact of war on the
~ €ducation of young people
the pets in many forms. In
a nited States, the ROTC
initiates Officers Training Corps),
Ante ed after World War I, con-
influe, to exercise a reactionary
Rime << on the campuses. In
Pe ols students are re-
Vol to join, in others, it is
untary. Students who refuse
J0in are sometimes persecut-

~ Nd marked as “radicals.”

ai Schools in general, one re-
Of the war psychology has
ae an increase in efforts to
Sor books in libraries, to con-
te masher’ statements, speak-
Dossipy ols This is made more
a le because the reactionary
ce PS interested in stifling dis-
‘ Can and do make use of the
ed ae SO carefully indoctrinat-
~~ ~*he citizenry — of saying
as
pveteran American writer
-zabeth Moos discusses the
perence of the war and vio-
a Psychology on chil-
a a Many of the questions
live! Faises could provoke
‘ FY Iscussion,
the | mong parents and in
Gor movement.

ORR
doing Something that can be

onsig
“oy, red a breach of securit
Subversive.» y;

Obseggj most. evil effects of the
early On with war is evident in
Ur g4 Childhood education. In
Clety, television, films, ra-

e& role comic books play a larg-
Dreg,;, /2 “upbringing” than the
Ols which are relatively

a Smal y private, and touch

Number of families.

hen, do our parents face
Shildre &y try to educate their

1 aN n in cooperation, human-
_, YMpathy and kindness?

“4 the Stores: toy grenades,
Y vill 4Z0okas, pistols, knives,
bombin ees to be destroyed by
Childe’. 2 play, we know,
duit 4 assume the role of the

Whe a admire. In a society

7 ae Child may be a “Two-
Ne jn 20d shoot up every-
Sight, he may be an “‘X-

pro and —

Man” in a space war (never
simply a space explorer, seeking
knowledge for the good of man-
kind), he may be a Super-Killer
with secret weapons. This year
mock missiles were a favorite.
Teenagers can obtain real guns
by mail and even. toys for little
children advertise — “real live
ACtON «cer 3%

Children in the United States,
it is said, spend more time
watching television than in any
other out-of-school activity.
What do they learn from their
concentrated watching? That
might makes right. That the hero
is the man most violent and
brutal. They see that “anything
goes” in mercilessness. Bullets
whine, police sirens shriek. The
aduult world is presented as a
place where crime and physical
violence are the way of life. An
analysis of programs shown in
a city over a five-day period,
showed on the “children’s hour”
12 murders, 21 gunfights, 37
very brutal hand-to-hand fights,
stranglings, robberies, killings,
cars rolling over cliffs, people
pushed over them, etc., etc.

Our society uses violence as a
form of entertainment. Children
conditioned by the gouging,
stamping, smashing and killing
they see daily find a counter-
part in the daily press. There are
stories of burning villages, ac-
counts of torturing prisoners,
killing children in Vietnam. They
see pictures of Southern (or
Northern) police beating women
and children, using cattle prods
and police dogs on human be-
ings. It all ties together.

The same attitude of callous
cruelty toward our fellow men
appears in extreme form in the
comic books “for children.” Their
evil effect is known, yet, in spite
of great efforts by parents, they
are still — most of them — car-
rying their message of hate and
violence.

Young people find much the
same approach to life — and
death — in the movies. Even
though they may not attend all
showings, the placards outside
are read by all and represent to
the average: child the accepted
adult pattern: “Male Brute with
the Whip.” “The Thing That
Devoured Women,” “The Killer
No One Could Stop,” etc.

Children love to imitate. Raymond Adams, 7, showed the in-
fluence of a cadet parade at Jarvis Collegiate in Toronto in 1964.

Yet there are still people who
wonder at the rapid rise in juv-
enile crime! When the young
people, imbued with the con-
cept that brutality and violence
are the accepted way of solving
life’s problems, put this into ac-
tion (at home, not on the battle-
field) we have a series of rapes,
murders, beatings of men and
women, old and young. Many of
these daily crimes are not for
robbery. They are, as the young
people themselves say, ‘for
kicks.” Emotions dulled, sensi-
bilities calloused, these tragical-
ly corrupted young people seek
sensations in violent experienc-
es. So they turn to drugs. And

thus begins the dreadful round:
to get the drugs now essential
to them they rob and kill, more
drugs are needed, more crimes
follow. :

‘The war atmosphere and all it
brings with it must be blamed
too for the fatalism found among
students. Many either develop a
“callous over their souls” in

the face of the world of violence -

or seek refuge in neuroticism
and/or drugs. Pessimism about
the future, stemming from the

-doom of nuclear - war, affects:

many young people. This often
results in “living it up” today,

in early marriages, pre-teenagers

The ultimate war psychology—American soldiers landing in

South Vietnam.

Elizabeth
Moos

acting like those in the late
teens, teenagers assuming adult
preoccupations. with sex and
sensation.

It is, I believe, a miracle that
there are so many thousands of
young people, so many parents
consciously working against the
wonderful, dedicated serious
war atmosphere in all its mani-

_festations. The barrage of hate

and violence has not wholly suc-
ceeded. The domestic struggle
against prejudice and hate in the
south — and the north — is led
by young people, black and
white. They have found in this
battle those satisfactions which
were never taught them in
school or outside it: the joy of
comradeship, the satisfactions of
sacrifice for the common good.

The war hawks have failed to
indoctrinate all our youth. An
ever growing number have
thrown off fears and hates And
are standing firm and courage-
ously for peace and brotherhood.
Many are risking physical viol-
ence as they demonstrate for an
end to the war in Vietnam. All
jeopardize their careers and jobs
as they “sit-in” on the steps of
the U.S. Mission to the UN.,
march on Washington, stand be-
fore the gates of arms plants.

A very inspiring and positive
result of the revulsion against
the war in Vietnam has been
the awakening of the academic
community, so long frozen after
the Korean War and the period
of “witch-hunting.” Advertise-
ments opposing government poli-
cies are appearing in the press
all over the country, paid for by
professors and signed with their
names — again at great risk to
careers. Speakers are heard on
campuses that, a few years ago,
would never have been permit-
ted to address students. The
young people themselves are de-
manding their right to hear and
to read all points of view and
make their own decisions.

Women are coming out to de-
monstrate their opposition to
war as they have not done for
years. All the forces making for
violence and hatred are under
attack: television, films, books.
In numbers, those opposing the
war and war psychology are few.
They are growing and are great
in spirit.

August 27, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3