High School G.l.s

Over 60% of the 15 million U.S. veterans of World War II have not finished high school. The G.I. Bill of Rights is ready to help pay their way through school and college, but it is not much help in the case of the G.I. who wants to go back to high school.

In most U.S. cities, battle veterans of Europe and the Pacific who need a few more credits to enter college must return to regular teen-age classrooms. Several cities--Houston, Baltimore, Washington --are about to do something to correct the situation; Detroit and Philadelphia already have.

The Detroit school board set up a separate authority, the Detroit Veterans Institute, and claimed tuition costs ($150 for 1,000 hours of instruction) under the G.I. Bill. It organized special G.I. classes at the centrally located Cass Technical High School, where veterans can choose what courses they like and progress as fast as possible. They are given specially condensed texts and hand-picked teachers. Being under the G.I. Bill of Rights, the students are eligible for a subsistence allotment of $50 a month, plus a $25 dependents allowance.

By last week, after ten months' operation, Detroit's Institute had enrolled scores of veterans, including a WAC and ,a woman marine. In nine days, one veteran completed a course that normally takes 100. Four G.I.s earned diplomas in the first five months; eleven more have been graduated since. For the new term beginning next week, 200 Detroit G.I.s have enrolled in evening classes, and a hundred more in day classes.

Philadelphia, starting its plan later, has added a couple of refinements, including a teacher who is himself a former lieutenant colonel. Veterans, in their separate school, are allowed to smoke in class. They are given a starting bonus of one credit in physical education (because they've had G.I. exercise) and one-half unit in social science for having gone through Army or Navy indoctrination courses. The 39 now enrolled (ranks: private through captain) cram 30 hours of classwork and 30 hours of homework into each week, which will allow them to complete a year's schooling in twelve weeks.

Typical student is 20-year-old John Piergalline, who enlisted in the Army after two years of high school, was wounded in Italy. Said he: "I thought of going back to my old school, but I would have felt funny being with kids 17 and 18. . . . I have some common sense now."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.