Arts High School - Vignette Yearbook (Newark, NJ)

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SpeGe NG OLE. avHEE SCHOOL

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OIA ORMIUAUL IT HAS BEEN TWELVE YEARS since we entered the halls of knowledge, and of those twelve, four have been spent in this building. The time now arrives when we must leave these sheltered walls for the conflicts of the outer world. This world, ravaged by war and oppression, presents a problem which must be faced and surmounted. For many years we have been nurtured in the halls of knowledge, and in that time we have moulded the fun- damentals of our character, we have learned the principles that govern human behavior; we have studied human nature. We are young, we are fresh in ideas and ideals and are determined to put into practice the best that we have. Let us not lose the wisdom absorbed here in the whirlpool of a rapidly changing world. So many young people have had their hopes crushed, their ideals shat- tered; but let us look at what is happening at present, and from what we have learned, let us anticipate the future. TOO MANY NATIONS have crumbled. The flaws in building a unified world were too numerous. Will we never learn that experience is the best teacher? Can we not construct something durable of which we can be proud? Let us not be crushed by the weight of mistakes, as nations have been before us. Let nothing impede the forward growth of civilization. There are and always will be new things to be discovered and invented. IT IS THE NATURE OF MAN to explore and discover. His inherent desire to want something better and finer than that which preceded, has caused him to delve into the unknown and return with the treasures of discovery. The average youth, who goes out into the world today, is apt to say that there is nothing new to be discovered. But there was nothing new to discover when Columbus found America. There was nothing new to discover for the Wright Brothers and Edison. The youth will cry, “That was yesterday’. He does not realize that the Todays will soon be the Yesterdays and the Tomorrows will be the Todays. He thinks only in terms of new lands to be found. Our attitude will be different. There are millions of things to uncover from their places of hiding. When the earth has finished thrashing itself about, it is for us youthful idealists to begin our work. The world is ours, and we shall take it. Then with strong and well-honed tools we shall work hard and earnestly to over- come the difficulties and hardships. We shall work with sincerity and dedicate our lives to eternal peace. EAU RWEIGES HIGH Ss © HH @O,@g

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TOLERANCE... Our Heritage and Our Future The following is a speech which was presented by lola Schipler on March 5, 1942 in the Newark City Hall when she represented Arts High School in the National Oratorical Contest sponsored by the American Legion. In these times when we are fighting for the restoration of human decency the world over, it is essential that we re-examine certain aspects of that fundamental American princi- ple, tolerance. What is tolerance? According to the diction- ary the word comes from a Latin root which means ‘to bear’. This origin leads to the pres- ent meaning ‘to bear with others’. Tolerance is a disposition to be patient and indulgent toward those whose opinions and practices dif- fer from our own. Tolerance means a sympa- thetic understanding of, and a due respect for the beliefs of others. Tolerance is the recogni- tion of the right of private judgment. It is an antidote for prejudiced opinion and unwar- ranted dislike. It is an attitude of forbearance with reference to other people’s views and con- victions. But it is important to understand that tolerance is not an attitude of indifference to the plight of our fellow men. Indifference is not real tolerance. It is criminal to be indifferent when a nation, race, or religion is threatened. The world today is paying a terrific toll in human life and misery for such indifference. I believe we can have real tolerance without indifference. You may ask, “Why discuss tolerance in America where it has been firmly established for years?” It is true that tolerance has always been an ideal towards which we have worked. The story of America’s struggle against intol- erance dates back to the beginning of our his- tory. It has been a long and hard struggle filled with great effort and sacrifice, but the fight is not completely won. The early part of our past deals with the struggle for religious tolerance. Some of our first settlers, the Pil- grims, risked their lives and fortunes and landed on American shores in 1620 to escape religious intolerance in England. In 1629 the oppressed English Puritans established the Massachu- setts Bay Colony. But these very same Puri- tans, not realizing that they were destroying their worthy ideal, tolerated Puritans only. As a result the brave young pastor, Roger Wil- ASRS lel Il (Go Jal liams, who preached that the state had no right to control a man’s conscience, was exiled in 1635. He and a small group of followers made their dangerous way through the wilderness and founded the colony of Rhode Island. This new settlement was based on the principle of complete religious freedom for all men. A few years later the first religious toleration act in America was passed by the Maryland Assem- bly. It stated that no person professing to believe in Jesus Christ would be in any way troubled for his or her religion. This meant some tolerance but not complete tolerance be- cause it excluded non-Christians. Then in 1681 came William Penn, the greatest of the found- ers of American colonies. Penn's colony, which was settled to provide a home for the oppressed English Quakers, was the highest example of freedom and tolerance in America before we gained our independence. Penn’s noble experi- ment was based on the principle of a peaceful and prosperous society under a humane gov- ernment welcoming peoples of various nation- alities and tolerating the worship of various creeds. And so we see that in the Colonial period our forefathers had laid the foundations for religious tolerance in this country. Then came that great document, the Dec- laration of Independence. Here we stated our ideals of government and human liberty. We made it clear to the rest of the world that our heritage would always be the idea of a gov- ernment based on the consent of the governed, based on the principle that every man, woman, and child has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. What a sharp contrast to the heritage of the Old World! In our Con- stitution of 1787, the Bill of Rights of 1791, and the other amendments these liberties were more firmly fixed. As Amendment One states, “Congre ss shall make no law respecting an es- tablishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.” But intolerance was not banished the day the Bill of Rights was signed. There was and there oS © H O,Oge