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The Goodness of Youth

Waterloo Iowa High School Helps Macon County High Tornado Victims

Waterloo High School StudentsElsewhere in this week’s issue readers will find an uplifting picture of five high school students from Waterloo, Iowa High School holding up T-shirts, which they are selling to raise money for the tornado victims of Macon County High School. When the students Waterloo High School heard of the plight of some Macon County High School students, they immediately went to work raising funds to help their fellow students, though separated by hundreds of miles.

This picture and story sustains a belief that I have always held – the goodness of youth. I’ve never held the view that some hold – that young people are going to the dogs. I was a high school counselor for 30 years, and a part time instructor in psychology at Vol State, and I always found that a large segment of our young people possessed goodness, and all they needed was for adults to believe in them, counsel them, encourage them, and praise them when they do good.

It is really a shame that more high schools do not spend more time and effort in bringing out the best in students. We never spare time and money in developing sports, but when it comes to the development of the potential in the masses of students who never participated in sports, we are negligent. Granted, sports are important, if not overemphasized, but they last only for a short time, but character, when properly developed and rewarded, lasts for a lifetime.

I take off my hat to the goodness of high school students at Waterloo High, and in Macon County, Sumner County, and throughout America. They are our hope for a better tomorrow and consequently, for a better America.