RURAL YOUTH 7 



Two-thirds of these >oung people said they would enroll for vocational courses 

 if such courses were made available. This means that many young people not 

 intending to go to school would be interested in taking specific training courses 

 along some vocational line. The tjpes of training which most interested them 

 are shown in figure 3. Two out of five boys who said they might enroll for voca- 

 tional courses if such courses were available, wanted training in some mechan- 

 ical line — 59 percent of those surveyed by field workers, and 14 percent of the 

 boys in vocational classes. Of the latter, the great majority were most interested 

 in vocational agriculture. 



The girls' major interest was in commercial courses, both in-school and out-of- 

 school girls desiring this type of training. Not many of the girls who were still 

 in school wanted home economics courses, but to the girls who had left school, 

 such training was considered as important as commercial and business courses. 

 The girls were definitely interested in professional preparation. Not many 

 wanted to be teachers, but one girl out of seven showed interest in nurse's training 

 courses. 



The Social Life of Rural Youth 



The \oung people's leisure-time pursuits were distributed over a wide field, 

 with moving pictures and the radio furnishing the most frequent diversions. 

 Nine out of 10 bo>s and girls listened to the radio at least once a week, and 3 out 

 of 7 attended more than one "movie" a week. 



Some differences were found between forms of recreation enjo>ed by those in 

 school and those out of school. In general, the in-school youth patronized the 

 more informal leisure activities such as reading, riding, engaging in hobbies, 

 participating in sports, and dancing. Out-of-school youths depended more upon 

 the commercialized forms of recreation : moving pictures, public dances, bowling, 

 and roller-skating. 



One in 10 of the youths did not belong to an}- organization. Most young people 

 belonged to one or two organizations, and the girls had, on the average, a wider 

 membership than the boys. Church, Sunday School, and young people's church 

 groups were listed most frequently, and yet one out of four boys, and one out of 

 seven girls reported having taken no part in church groups during the last year. 

 All other organizations together were not attended by more than one-half the 

 boys or two-fifths of the girls. 



The out-of-school group was apparenth' not being reached either by religious 

 or by secular organizations. This would seem to indicate that if social groups, 

 in the churches or out of them, are to continue to attract young people, programs 

 must be developed that will interest the older group of young folks. 



The Organizational Needs of Rural Youth 



Apparently these young people felt the lack of programs especially adapted 

 to their needs. A fourth of them said there was no organization in their com- 

 munity that had a program for young people. Among the replies of those who 

 thought otherwise, the 4-H Club, the Grange, and the churches were mentioned 

 (in that order) most frequently. 



A program which would attempt to meet more fully the needs of older rural 

 youth was thus definitely indicated, but opinion was divided as to whether there 

 should be a completely new organization. Just half of the group wanted such 

 an organization, slightly more than a third did not feel the need of any, and the 



