Audubon High School - Le Souvenir Yearbook (Audubon, NJ)

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BoARD or EDUCATION A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD OE EDUCATION There is a Erench motto, unoblesse oblige , which means, Rank imposes certain obligations . lt was originally applicable to people ot noble birth. The modern world has to a large extent, particularly in the United States, done away with an hereditary nobility. There should be substituted in its place a nobility based on education and service. To this year's class of graduates ot the Audubon High School, l wish to say that the education which you have received is equivalent to a college education ot a century ago, and while it seems common enough in our own locality, compared to the entire country, you have received a better education at this point than the average American boy or girl, and while that education may give to you certain advantages over those not so fortunate to have received such an education, it also imposes on you certain responsibilities in relation to public lite. We live in a representative democracy. This type ot government is based on the theory that the government is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. The end is happiness, prosperity, and development ot the individual, and the government must intertere with the rights ot the individual only tar enough to protect and guarantee the corresponding rights ot all other indi- viduals. Tlee object is to permit each citizen to develop his own personality, and to be as successful as his own ability and industry will warrant. On you young people, who have had the privilege ot an education, rests the responsibility, not ot dictating to public opinion, but ot assisting in formu- lating it and leading it into proper channels. ARIA HOPKINS, President. 8

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A D M I N I S T R A T I O N I 9 3 8

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Education must transmit what is best and basic in the social heritage, the expe- rience and values men live by. It must enable youth to acquire the skills, the cultural resources, the power of thinking, sufficient to live in and adjust to a rapidly changing environment. It must produce a citizenry intelligent enough to follow the leader, not the demagogue or the special pleader. But education must train the in- tellectually advantaged in the techniques that will make it possible for mankind to exert an increasing measure of social con- trol over life in all its phases. WILLIAM L. FIDLER. MISS GRACE N. KRAMER, A.B., M.A. HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL WILLIAM L. FIDLER, B.S. in ED., EDM., ED.D. SUPERVISING PRINCIPAL The Freedom to Think, I conceive to be the very essence of democracy. That phrase, by the Way, is not my own. It was recalled to my mind recently when I listened to a discussion by a distin- guished lecturer. It comes from Lowell's HA Fable for Critics : And I honor the man Who is willing to sink Half his present repute For the Freedom to Think. This lectuger took a realistic attitude. He understood that in the very nature of things, it is impossible to prevent in- telligent young people from knowing that there are controversial questions. Shall they get their impressions from irresponsible propagandists, or shall they consider these questions calmly and dispassionately under the guidance of leaders who do their level best to present both sides without any remote attempt to influence conclusions? Free- dom to think ? Yes. But freedom limited by considerations of good taste and sane regard for the other fellow. GRACE N. KRAMER