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CHAPTER I

SELF-SUPPORT IN NEW YORK
HIGH schools

In a great city like New York there are numerous opportunities for
a high school pupil to earn money and pay wholly or in part his
expenses while in school. Part-time positions of various kinds are
open to boys and girls. Many small stores depend upon high school
students to take and deliver orders after school hours, and larger
stores employ students to assist in caring for the extra trade on Satur¬
days. The newspapers of the city give a number of school boys em¬
ployment for a few hours each day, and delivering papers or caring
for news-stands makes it possible for many a boy to remain in high
school. The long summer vacation instead of being a period of rest,
is used by a small army of boys and girls to earn money to meet the
needs of the next school year.

Working for salaries is not the only way in which boys and girls aie
helping themselves in securing an education. Many families own
small stores or stands, and children devote free hours to assisting
parents in caring for the family business. Assistance rendered parents
in this way frequently makes it possible to economize in hiring clerks
and thus the child is permitted to remain in school. Work of this
type is, therefore, a kind of self-support.

The following study has to do with New York City high school
students who are working. The first investigation covered 3,395
boys and 2,578 girls; the second, 161 boys who were studied inten¬
sively;  the third, groups of co-operative students' from three high
 

1 Co-operative students: Students who are taking vocational courses and who
work in pairs, alternating between the school and a position. In New York City
high schools this means every other week in school.

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