Brodhead High School - Red B Yearbook (Brodhead, WI)

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Last of all, after the bomb has been completed, the scientists must experiment to see if their efforts have been in vain. Our forefathers tested their efforts through letting the people work together, and run the government. There still remained some difficulties to be ironed out, but in the main, their work had been successful. This labor of our founders is our American Heritage. The American Heritage is whatever the citizen has that is not of his own effort and his own making, the thing that he has acquired and been brought into the world to enjoy. To the American, I think this heritage shows up as prin- ciples and opportunities and obligations. For example, principles of governmental organization and group action based on respect for the integrity of the human individual: and secondly, opportunities for build- ing his own life based on the idea that the amount of effort he exerts will be the thing that will make a difference. There are barriers, but effort and ability and individual initiative will overcome these. There are ob- ligations also, based on the assumption that the individual knows that his destiny depends on his participation. He knows that is true. If he fails in his job and does not live up to his obligations, then the whole structure collapses. We, as students of today, have a far greater problem than did our founders, although it demands of us the same qualities which were possessed by them. Their nation was tiny and so far removed from the rest of civiliza- tion that it wouldn't have had much effect on the rest of the world whether they had won or lost. ' But our task and responsibilities are different. Our nation is im- mense and its government very complex. The world, instead of being vast as it once was, has grown small. The countries that were once half a year away are now close neighbors-we can reach almost any country in the world in twenty-four hours. How we live and what laws we make, influence the whole world. You have heard people say, Why do we bother about these other countries at all? Why don't we close our doors and tend to our own busi- ness? Let the rest of the world do likewise. But history has proved that every time a government has grown strong, by good deeds or foul, and remained aloof from the world, that government's victory has been its ruination. It is up to us as future citizens to study and learn what we can do to keep this government-big, strong-in this world of nations. We, as the future lawmakers of our government, should keep in mind a famous quotation: To Whom much is given, of him much also is required. We must remember that much more is required of us today than of those a hundred years ago. Our obligation is greater, because our privileges are greater. For every one of our rights there is a duty- the right of freedom of worship, and the duty to practice religious toler- anceg the right of freedom of speech and press, the duty to speak the truth and to respect the opinions of others, the right of freedom of as- sembly and petition, the duty to refrain from mob action. These are only a few examples. I could mention many, many more, and so could you. The goal of our founders, then, was to create strong individuals, mentally, morally, spiritually, and physically, to allow them to work together as a small group, and gradually grow into a concrete, united nation with the essential principles of government laid down before them. Yes, that was the goal of our founders and they reached it. Why don't we then set our goal-to uphold the standards and principles they X

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Th F A CHALLENGE 6 L1'C1l1'e--To AMERICAN YOUTH THE GOAL OF OUR FOUNDERS VALEDICTORY Fourscore and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. These were Lincoln's words at Gettysburg in 1863. And now less than two hundred years later, we, an energetic, resourceful people, working together in a free economy and guided by a government of our own choosing, have built that new nation into the American way of life . . . a life which to me is themost outstanding of mankind. When the many great men, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and others, founded this country, what was their goal? Do you know? They had many ideas in mind, from their ideas developed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, the framework of our government. It is more, however, than the framework. It is the complete construction or building which guar- antees to every citizen his intrinsic right of freedom. In this construc- tion are embodied three fundamental concepts: ill That government be based on law and not on arbitrary will. Our government is based on laws which have been made honestly, for the good of the people. They are not the result of little thought, but of much reasoning, and are binding on everyone--Congress, the President, lawmakers, the courts, and general citizens alike. C25 That government must rest on the con- sent of the governed. One problem that faced our founders was a way in which they could develop a national state Without crushing the in- dividual beneath its power. This was solved by setting up local, state, and national governments. A person can decide about those questions concerning himself. The people in a community decide about local af- fairs, the communities about state matters, and the states in turn, help the national government. C35 That government must respect and pre- serve the rights of the individual. This fact is self explanatory. We know that our rights are guaranteed to us in our Constitution. Govern- ment should help where necessary but should not make moral cripples out of individuals by doing for them what they should be doing for themselves. In order to execute a government founded onhthese principles, our founders had to mold the nation into the desired unique form. I'd like to compare it to the making of the hydrogen bomb or the atomic bomb since we are living in the the atomic age. I know nothing about how to make an atomic bomb, but I imagine first of all, the scientists had to de- velop a plan to follow-the mathematical, physical, or other funda- mental principles concerning its making. Our founders too developed a plan-the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. ' Next, the scientist had to obtain the needed elements and combine them in the exact amount. Our founders had little difficulty in carrying out this step. The people were already available, but they had to be united. They did their utmost then to unite the people through com- promises to solve the difficulties, through representatives to speak for the people, and through speeches, books, and articles to convince the people that unity was necessary.

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so firmly established! Daniel Webster said, God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always willing to guard and defend it. The Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, or any other legal document, or a thousand freedom trains filled with historical documents and traveling from city to city can not guarantee that this way of life will be passed on to our children . . . that is our responsibility. The future of America can only be secured if we re-affirm the beliefs of our forefathers-that real security and self-reliance are inseparable. -Beverly Fairman. HOPE THROUGH EDUCATION CO-SALUTATORY e The United States, the oldest republic in the world, has the oldest public school system. We all know that public education began in co- lonial America. Education has always been highly regarded in America because of its promise to bring to reality the American dream of the ideal society and the good life for all. Now our American ideals and dreams face the threat of usurpation by an opposing ideology. We are well aware of how Communism is spread by deliberate manipulation of educational institutions. To judge the ability of our schools to withstand infiltration by a false ideology we may do well to look back in order that we may look forward the better. Henry Steele Commanger, noted Columbia University historian, lists four major gifts from our schools to the American way of life. The first of these gifts was the creation of an enlightened citizenry --an absolute necessity for successful self-government. The success of this gift can be attested to by a look at the presidents we have elected. Certainly mediocre presidents have been selected, but never a wicked or a dangerous one. Our leaders may have carried the Big Stick upon occasion but never have they lowered an iron curtain between millions of peoples and the outside world. We have faced ever recurring differ- ences and problems, but through compromise we have avoided revolu- tions and continuous political crises. The second of these gifts was the development of a national unity. The early colonists, because of diverse backgrounds, seemed to have a greater number of differences than points of agreement. Somehow they learned to work together and soon found more and more common in- terests and common goals to unite them. Since then our schools have held the key in carrying on the goal of striving for an imperishable na- tional unity to carry our country through each new crisis it must face. Third of these gifts was Americanization. Millions of immigrants have entered our country throughout the years. In our schools these people and their children have learned our language, history, customs, and ideals. Thus were they assimilated into our way of life and in a short time came to feel they, too, were Americans. ' And the fourth and greatest of these gifts our schools have given was the drive for a continual striving for the goal of equal opportunity for all. Our society, profoundly varied in racial background, in religious faiths, in social and economic backgrounds, has had to combat the forces of riotous privilege and disastrous division. These forces have been con- tinuously battled in the schoolroom where children have lived and learned in equality. Throughout the years the education of all its chil- dren has been the foremost concern of its citizens.