Aragon High School - El Tesoro Yearbook (San Mateo, CA)

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If I may use the vernacular of the day, Iwould say that high school for me was a very straight experience. The highlights of the year were always the evening ball games and dances like the Grid Classic or Senior Ball. We went to class most always and listened to KYA at one hundred decibels whenever we could. Our daily routine was occasionally spiced by a class prank. I must confess however that my time was used more to prepare for college than to live and enjoy each moment. I say that somewhat regret- tably since I am sure that drinking beer with my buddies in the bushes would have been more fun than studying evenings. In fact, as a senior, I began to fear that I had thrown the four most carefree years of my life into the library and had shut the door on better things. And yet I have no real regrets. I have found since then that almost no time was ever wasted studying. I am frustrated now by being unable to learn fast enough to keep pace with my inter- ests. I appreciate Aragon now as a place where Iwas able to learn, for one reason or another, at a time when Iwas not smart enough to see myself the value of my own education. I hope that students today are taking advantage of the new scheduling to explore and develop their talents and interests. I fear however that they are revelling in newly found freedom, as I once longed to do, but fortuitously never did. - - Bruce Allen . 965W I remember once trying to describe the phenom- enon of American High School, and especially Aragon High School, to a group of Turkish stu- dents while waiting for a ferry to Rhodes from the Turkish mainland. After a bit of reflexion, I remarked that High School was for us a sort of market place of ideas and center for development in a miniature model of our particular civic culture. We readily assume roles, work with others, and even come to have an appreciation of literature and scholastical material in High Schoolg but the main function of our public high schools seems to be the development of a struc- ture within which the many segments of our society can meet, interact, compete, develop, and enjoy each other. I remember High School as four years of in- volved residence at an institution which served as a center for encounter of different elements, a sometimes stage or market place where ideas were traded and roles acted out in a structural model of our society. Aragon was a place to make friends, experience a certain amount of civic oriented life, gain an introduction to the world of learning, and develop as a person be- fore being booted out into the world to find a place in society and to begin a more specialised role. --Randy Linehan

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,iuwwlwvllfl XJ KW WW wx ,wlienwwf ,, , lull' 1 we li lll lwlfle, wx Jwvll l ' l l llll lwul,,.1,,,, 1 . H an 2 , ,ll X l ll is.. ii' . V we Wfxlw. W35il:ll in w r, f t 'iyl,,.93a, ,al Q., will V will rw lwlsiilwrwltllllifwlwl yi li ,N if ' W ' 'li lnafwa. llWNlfwil.l,,i ' J: liWllwuiwili' fl:'!Q1 .i'frM,: +w.w'lww A' ' ' W VW ll Aragon was a part ' of my life, a four -ww' 1,149-N F -um ' .Q fi . , ,- - -5453 JA.-21:9 + ef year piece. I can now look into the past and see myself as a person who ,,or r rew a reat deal ? i it g g SJ' but also a person who has a deal more to grow. You will find contradictions to days gone but one A if. .' f -A ,M M. ,uw ll, in ' x 'll fly gp K, My 'X i mma Mill' W il .30 ' W W1 My l ve-MW lt., w w in .lv x-:1 frlnt,t 'il ,. ' W' ',uv,'WF'liil -ulftjy 'villain ww if SW i ' Q, ll i v Q3 Qi, W' 2 3 w.- ml A M vi h W. Mlm Q25 terday for today 1970 can not reject yes- becomes yesterday, as does tomorrow. Get it on! Today everyday. Peace. --George Eisenberg 1965 When l remember Aragon, I am deeply dissatisfied, even angry. lronically enough, I am perhaps most dissatisfied about the fact that lwas once student body president, for I currently see that achievement as a symbol of what l now reject about my growing- up-in-America. To be sure, l am most angry at my- self, for more sensitive souls would not have been caught up as long as I was in the fundamentally un- critical process which was my high school experience. However, my dissatisfaction must extend to that basically uncritical process, itself. Aragon: an un- critical process? For me, yes. CThere may have been teachers during my years at Aragon who were encouraging radical questioning of commonly accept- ed social values and of the nature of education, itself Q l only regret that Iwas so oblivious to what they may have been saying. J Aragon did not really help me to see the bloodshed, agony and stupidity in the worldg Aragon rather helped to program meytoward what our society labels. 7'nuccess , which seems, always achieved at the ,expense both of othenfrnenf and of one's own human realization. Todayyl non-violent revolutionary, 5 refusing to cooperate, the draft, refusinglto pay war-related taxes, in a community dedicated to fworking for truly QZBVQ-fi lutionary social change. Only indirectly--perhaps way of reaction--did Aragon help me to be what now. But perhaps things are different now at I hope so. p -p X L

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j 1967 7 jg a. tif '. I7 K W V 3 W. ,N fYvwjwi'ivjf3-5? 4' M ii i I I I it M, - I all Y ll I Wim.. it miwn ll 1971 5 3 fi K . S, ,K M. A1971 ji A high school is a testing ground for ideas, along with a training ground aimed at perfecting the pres entation of these ideas. But this could describe any educational unit. But in high school there is a pres- ence of blissful security and friendship which are the natural product of the system. The faculty and students are on a closer relationship which makes the exchange of ideas a pleasure, not a chore. High school is the place where you should get involved in as much as you can, realizing that this involvement is on a limited scale. Try to better understand what A 6 Aw is present around you. Become aware of the vastness of possible educational endeavors. Aragon was my it high school. I enjoyed my four years. I hope all the things offered to me are still available to the student seeking an exciting four years at Aragon. '55 --Hugh S. Robertson III '35 Studying at: University of Stockholm Advanced Institude of Glacier Studies Cultural Geography Major He writes his family: I am now writing my thesis on rock and soil erosion. I have spent many hours in the Archives of the Royal Academy studying maps from the 18th Century and comparing them to new flight-photography maps. We have just completed a study of hydrology in connection with water power in northern Norway. 1967 I imagine this must seem strange to you to see that I am so involved with science and technology after my interest in English and Humanities at Aragon. How- ever, directions can be changed at any time if the basis for study is broad and sound enough. - -Bruce j. Mayor Although I am only two years removed from Aragon, it seems I could be no further away from my high school days than I am at the present--separated by thousands of miles and years of tradition in Wien, Austria. This distance quickly diminishes whenl think of my Aragon years. Aragon was an experience in learning, maturation and friendship from the time I entered in 1965 to the time I left in 1969. Aragon did most of its growing during this time and being a part of this maturation was what I remember most. My class was fortunate to experience high school at its dynamic best--from the typical six period per day school to the atypical and much more progressive system of modular scheduling. One only attends high school once. The more diverse his exper- iences are the more prepared he is for future endeavors. I thank Aragon for this diversity. 20 --Bob Burmeister