Adult education courses, work-study programs of various sorts -- these are all evidence of a continuing interest of the schools in furthering educational opportunities for out-of-school youth. In general, however, it may be said that when a boy or a girl leaves the high school, the school authorities play little or no part in the decision of what happens next. If the student drops out of high school, the break with the school is even more complete. When there is employment opportunity for youth, this arrangement -- or lack of arrangement -- works out quite well. Indeed, in some periods of our history and in some neighborhoods the job opportunities have been so good that undoubtedly a great many boys who were potential members of the professions quit school at an early age and went to work. Statistically this has represented a loss to the nation, although one must admit that in an individual case the decision in retrospect may have been a wise one. I make no attempt to measure the enduring satisfaction and material well-being of a man who went to work on graduation from high school and was highly successful in the business which he entered. He may or may not be ``better off'' than his classmate who went on to a college and professional school. But in the next decades the nation needs to educate for the professions all the potential professional talent.

In a later chapter dealing with the suburban school, I shall discuss the importance of arranging a program for the academically talented and highly gifted youth in any high school where he is found. In the Negro neighborhoods and also to some extent in the mixed neighborhoods the problem may be one of identification and motivation. High motivation towards higher education must start early enough so that by the time the boy or girl reaches grade 9 he or she has at least developed those basic skills which are essential for academic work. Undoubtedly far more can be done in the lower grades in this regard in the Negro schools. However, the teacher can only go so far if the attitude of the community and the family is anti-intellectual. And the fact remains that there are today few shining examples of Negroes in positions of intellectual leadership. This is not due to any policy of discrimination on the part of the Northern universities. Quite the contrary, as I can testify from personal experience as a former university president. Rather we see here another vicious circle. The absence of successful Negroes in the world of scholarship and science has tended to tamp down enthusiasm among Negro youth for academic careers. I believe the situation is improving, but the success stories need to be heavily publicized. Here again we run into the roadblock that Negroes do not like to be designated as Negroes in the press. How can the vicious circle be broken? This is a problem to which leaders of opinion, both Negro and white, should devote far more attention. It is at least as important as the more dramatic attempts to break down barriers of inequality in the South.