BOYS TOWN: A PLACE CALLED HOME

[Music] in the overall pattern of existence that gives form and meaning to the modern American team are many dark colors and designs too often lost in the broad perspective of day-to-day living the proper care and guidance of our children [Music] the menace of broken home the question of juvenile delinquency these are some of the obscure problems that form the hard core of our future as a nation [Music] boy in trouble in the minds of many a bad boy fit only for reform school for police authorities for punishment and social menace 40 years ago there was a young priest in Omaha from his native five boys three hours of juvenile courts and two picked off the street from that shabby building in the heart of the city father Flanagan built well through the years - boys boys from every state in the Union a miniature City on the Lincoln Highway ten miles west of Omaha Nebraska this is father Flanagan's dream come true a place where homeless neglected and unloved boys could find the day-to-day affection care and companionship summed up in the word home he was beloved of God and man and his name is in benediction the memory of him shall not pass away today as a living memorial to father Flanagan the principles of life work and education upon which the home was founded are carried forward by father Wagner general director of Boys Town his is a dedicated life serving garden country McCarran without other than the home he makes for them here at Boys Town education has two primary aims one a good education to teach a boy how to live and two it should teach him how to make a living both are considered essential to his well-being each boy is placed in one of three general programs college preparatory vocational farming trades and farm students spend half of each day in their specialized field college preparatory students devote full time to scholastic courses academic fitness alone does not qualify a teacher for a position in the Boystown school system for these boys the product of broken homes have special needs in terms of human relationships and emotional understanding the teacher at Boys Town must be equipped by native endowment and training to respond to those needs from the heart as well as from the mind as in most schools throughout the country the majority of Boystown students do not expect to go on to college they must be prepared therefore to earn a living after graduation today the vocational Department of Boys Town offers practical training in 15 essential trades ranging from printing to automobile mechanics preparing the boys for the real workaday world which he will one day enter here he becomes familiar with machines tools and working conditions he experiences the thrill of working with his hands and he learns that there can be intelligence at his fingers as well as in his mind upon completion of a full course in any one of the trade talk here the boy receives a high school diploma and a trade certificate which qualifies him to enter his chosen field with a two-year apprentice rate [Music] the agricultural program at Boys Town has developed into one of the best equipped scientifically operated farms in the Middle West with main crops of corn wheat oats produce and alfalfa dairy products can be most of it consumed on the premises basically the farm is run by men of skill and training in scientific farming and served at a practical working schoolhouse for those boys will chosen agriculture as their life's work it is a rare year that does not bring the 4-h club of Boys Town at least one award and usually more from state and county fairs and from nationally known livestock exposition [Music] give a boy something he likes to do and the chances are you'll wind up with a healthy happy well-adjusted young many a homeless and neglected boy gets into trouble for no more reason than that he has never had a chance to find himself he has been pushed around backed into a corner and robbed of any feeling of importance like this boy only recently arrived in Boys Town and not yet adjusted to life here [Music] healthy social adjustment is not achieved overnight sometimes sad to say it is never achieved if you want to know what kind of a future your boy will have examine his everyday living habit does he tend to withdraw and isolate himself from boys his own age does he refuse to listen to reason and always insist on having his own way [Music] as he give up easily in the face of difficulty these are some of the problems investigated and worked through by the welfare department at Boys Town fundamentally the program here is based on counselling and teamwork between the boys the welfare staff and the teachers most of these boys originally came to Boys Town weighed down by a feeling of inferiority induced by shameful neglect and lack of sympathy in their previous environment here at Boys Town every effort is made to instill in the boy a feeling of self confidence of warm acceptance and security in short to provide element that comes closest to a real home we in the welfare department and on the teaching staff at Boys Town know that the boy with mental and emotional problems needs help and we try to see that he gets it we know to that the feeling of inferiority in a boy is a tragic thing it constitutes one of our major problems here at Boys Town a point will know he is worth something only if he can feel wanted if he is accepted and respected by those with whom he associates every day we feel that these factors of encouragement and social acceptance to normal growth in the boy as the foodie and the air he breathes the job as we see it is to cultivate in the boy a true sense of values in terms of himself and his relationship to others the important thing to us is not how much talent or ability he has but what he learns to do with what he has pre-play activity is one of the first and most important lessons in child care and guidance through play he learns how to give as well as take he finds he can't always have his own way but must yield to the pressure of the group if he wants to continue as a part of that group in other words to belong this training and discipline enables him in later life to adjust to the requirements of business social life and good citizenship in the extensive and intensive intramural program there is room in one or more sports for every boy in Boys Town this great field house can accommodate hundreds of boys engaged in basketball wrestling handball gymnastics and volleyball even while indoor varsity football practice is going on our farm attract another play fields in every season of the year there is always something taking place in every sport at every age level in house against house league competition or on a most informal and sometimes hilariously haphazard choose up sides basis [Music] as for the Interscholastic competition football is the big sport with Boystown teams year in and year out holding their own and more against some of the crack high school teams from coast to coast [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in the early days father Flanagan used to say you've got to take the hungry look out of a boy's eyes before you can start helping him find himself that tradition has been extended into a maxim that says feed them first feed them well and half your worries are over this then is feeding time at Boys Town three times a day big healthy meals planned by expert dieticians and prepared by experienced cooks in ample quantities for growing boys the age of adolescence is a critical period in a boy's life psychological changes are taking place in him he is growing into a sharper awareness of self-worth he has social needs that must be filled after school hours and off the playing field the social side of life at boy's town takes tin a varied program that ranges from weekly movies for the entire population of Boys Town to formal and informal proms host dances and parties for the older boys [Music] religion forms a very important part in the boys life at Boys Town every boy whether Catholic Protestant or Jew attends his respective religious instructions two periods a week this Chapel donated by a noble and generous lady since passed away is one of the most beautiful houses of God in America a monuments not only to the citizens of Boys Town but to all underprivileged children everywhere in this sanctified building it hurt the glorious music of the boys tire a group of 60 fresh young voices heard every year on tour in the major concert halls of the nation from Carnegie Hall in New York to Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles California about a year after my father died my mother married again I couldn't seem to get along at home anymore I started hanging around the street looking for trouble and most times finding it I'm a social service lady wrote to Boys Town about me and the next thing I knew here I was and not liking it I figured to give it a play for a week or two on account of my mother and then write out somewhere anywhere but somehow I stuck around no walls no locks gates to shut me in everything right open nobody watch me funny how you get to feel about that in no uniform just regular clothes it made a big difference I stayed [Music] well it's almost five years now I'll be graduating soon high school diploma and apprentice machinist card I made a couple of the team and saying baritone in the concert choir I seen 20 other kids come here some by train or bus a hobo style for hitchhiking on their own lots of them in pretty bad shape a few not many from juvenile court they all made out okay how do we feel about this place well it's tough to talk about what it means to us where we might have wound up if we hadn't come here to live it's home but that doesn't say it off we found things here we never figured we'd ever have the kind of things other guys have we've got real homes and other kids in the family about Boys Town well all I can say is just believe me that's plenty it's a place called home [Music] every year almost half a million people come to visit they find that Boys Town is not a correctional institution that it doesn't belong to any individual or group or to any Civic or governmental agency they find that Boys Town belongs to and it's self governed by the boys who live here and call it their home how then is Boys Town supported not by money from city county state or federal government nor from civic or church groups but entirely by donations from people the world over people who want to share in providing the unwanted neglected boy with a home and education and a start in life on the footing with more fortunate for these citizens of Boys Town know that private donations built the roof over their head put the food on their tables gave them the clothes they wear but there is no feeling among them are accepting this generosity as their due there is dignity here lightheartedness and friendliness because they feel themselves not object to public charity but coworkers in a great social project building for the better life in the years to come [Music] [Applause] [Music]