Radio: Kid Stuff

Moderator Ted Granik, who originated American Forum of the Air, had a suspicion that high-school students would be no more confused about the issues in an election year than their parents. About a year ago he launched the teen-age program called Youth Wants to Know (Sun. 1 p.m., NBC). What neither Granik nor the TV audience expected was the sharp ness, tenacity and hard-boiled skepticism” shown by the articulate and argumentative youngsters.

Next Question. Youth Wants to Know most often originates in Washington. Its panel is picked by the faculties in local high schools. Usually the youngsters are bright and prepared to back their questions with facts supplied by their own research, or based on material and voting records forwarded to them by the American Legion, which handles relations with the schools for the program.

Senator Joseph McCarthy has proved venturesome enough to appear twice on the show. Once, in Chicago, Student Ruth Copel wanted to know the sources for his evidence in accusing Government employees of Communism. Said McCarthy: “You can’t have them.” Ruth persisted: “Don’t you feel that as long as it is affecting the public, the public ought to know just where you get your information?” McCarthy didn’t. Another student got up to ask whether McCarthy had ever used wiretapping. McCarthy: “Thank you. Next question.” The next question: Wasn’t he going to answer the first question? McCarthy: “No. I cannot answer.”

How Much & Why? Windy and-inconclusive answers by the elders get summary treatment. Publicist Carl Byoir was interrupted in mid-speech by a student who said politely: “I want to say to Mr. Byoir that we have a lot of questions to ask, and to stop the filibustering.” Often the questions are as explosive as they are unexpected. A young New Yorker asked Democrat James Farley how much he contributed to the Democratic National Committee. Startled, Farley asked: “Me?” “Yes, sir.” Farley blinked and replied: “Too much for my own good.” Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt’s well-known poise was ruffled by persistent questions as to why she had contributed to such Communist fronts as the Youth Congress. After one session on Youth Wants to Know, Industrialist Charles Wilson asked suspiciously if the questioners were really high-school students.

Teacher Roderick Cox of Washington’s Sidwell Friends School, who has often been “distressed” by the inept questioning he has heard on adult forum shows, says flatly that “the thinking student asks far better questions than the average adult.” In fact, he has found that teen-age information sometimes outpaces his own. Cox walked into class one morning last week to discover that his students had drawn up complete lists of possible Cabinet members for both Stevenson and Eisenhower. What disturbed him most, says Cox, was that “some of the names they had listed, I didn’t even recognize.”