"Is this boy mentally alert?" Instead, he refines his own observa¬ 
tions of the youth by asking himself a number of questions, such as 
the following: 
1* Will this youth be able to follow instructions for doing 
work such as planting or transplanting trees, building 
fences, and similar activities? 
2. Does this youth have enough "common sense" to become a 
safe worker? Would he handle an axe and other sharp 
tools without hurting himself or others? 
3. Does this youth seem to have the capacity and interest 
to learn to do one of the various CCC jobs reasonably 
well? Does he have the capacity and interest to profit 
by supplementary classroom instruction? 
4. Yfas this young man unusually retarded in school? For 
what reason? 
These are some of the questions which the selecting agent 
will ask himself in appraising the mental alertness of each youth. 
Other detailed questions will permit selecting agents to refine 
their judgments in appraising dependability, maturity and interest 
in the Corps as a work and training opportunity. 
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