A Boys' Committee as an Instrument of Communication

Abstract

Since 1962, TICO (Training Institution, Central Ohio), which serves older, habitually delinquent youth, has been experiment ing with a technique of using a Boys' Committee to help broaden the channels of communication between staff and youngsters through weekly meetings of the Committee with the superin tendent and other institutional personnel. The Committee, a quasi-official forum expressing the needs and views of its "repre sentatives," has been instrumental in improving regulations and procedures. At the same time, administrators and other staff have used the meetings to explain the philosophy and programs of the institution and to eliminate misconceptions relating to them. In short, the Boys' Committee has made it possible to provide channels of communication which flow upward as well as down ward.