Carl Schurz High School - Schurzone Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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TI-IIE RADIO DIPLOMA is a piece of paper signed by the proper officers, certifying that you have completed a certain course of study. Of course, you have not completed anything. What have you done? High school education deals largely with language, science, history, mathematics, and art. The purpose of the study of language, whether it be 21, foreign language or one's native tongue, is to accomplish an easy transmission of thought from one mind to another. Some people speak and write with a clear, direct simplicity, others seem desirous of multiplying syllables until the mind of the receiver becomes cloudy as to the meaning intended. Whenever you hear the words, correlation, rela- tionship, allocation, cooperation, and the like, you may doubt whether the speaker has a clear picture. Lincoln, when asked to give a eulogy on Washington, spoke as follows: A eulogy is expected. Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name and in its naked, death- less splendor, leave it, shining onf' MacDonald, one of the greatest ministers of the Broad Church of England, went on board a ship to say farewell to two of his friends who were sailing to Australia. His words are not polysyllabic. HWe were all strong to bear the parting. That great iron steamer went down in the middle of the Atlantic, and I have not yet seen my friend again. These are the closing words of his greatest novel. The great speeches and compositions that have shaped the lives of men abound in simple words. I trust that you have discovered this truth. The purpose of the study of science is to know the great facts of nature and the laws of her operations. The great fact of physical science is gravitation. It can be changed into all other forms of force, heat, light, electricity, and all the more minute manifestations, such as adhesion, cohesion, molecular attraction, chemical affinity, etc. However, I never heard of anyone attempting to derive the human will from gravitation. Can you see the picture of the human will slowly acquiring control over part of this force we call gravitation with the promise of greater control as time flows on? Emerson says. He who sees through the design presides over it. Think of how the human will has trained against the forces of nature in the early stages of civilization until now it .has gained such control that nature, through machinery, threatens to leave no physical work for man to do. I have even heard of machines that add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Are you sensitive to this picture? The purpose of the study of history is to learn of the different and successive efforts of people to live together. Slowly democracy has emerged from the various forms of government. One hundred and twenty million people could not function as a pure democracy, so lNiNu1

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WALTER F. SLOCUM, Principal

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we have the representative form called a republic. Lincoln, in the eulogy referred to earlier in this message, said that '4Washington was the greatest name in history, greatest in the Held of political reforma- tion. Do you realize what a tremendous, momentous step was taken when the Declaration of Independence of l776 was uttered in the world? Have you the faith, in spite of crime, lawlessness, and the temporary idolatry of commercialism, that the ideal of self-govern- ment as typiied in the constitution of the United States of America will prevail and slowly draw all nations to its wisdom? One sees often in the public press adverse comments on large high schools. You who have lived together in the largest high school in the world can better judge whether or not the effort to respect the rights of others, the effort to carry on such regulations as will insure the main purpose of scholarship, is not the very best preparation for social contact in those larger groups-our city, our state, and our nation. Let me say, I am proud of the leadership of this graduating class, proud of the absence of flaunting, collective egotism, proud of the quiet adherence to the traditions of the school, proud of the high standard of excellence which you expect and demand, proud of the natural grace of your con- duct toward one another, all of which is a high degree of citizenship, all of which is a capacity to live less hysterically and more sanely as members of an even larger group. Is your radio sufficiently sensitive to make you conscious that you have been living history? Mathematics is mental gymnastics. Grown up people are con- fronted with problems to be solved. We must think logically and not draw false conclusions. With symbols, such as X'l, and lines and circles, we reason and learn to draw accurate conclusions, not permit- ting a false deduction. Best of all, we learn a concentration of mind. No one can go far in mathematics unless he learns to concentrate. Thoughts flow in from some alien source if we concentrate. I am not so sure that our five senses are the only avenues of knowledge. The existence of the radio is more than signiicant. There is a field of vibration about us. The optic nerve, the auditory nerve, etc., may not be the only receiving instruments we possess. In moments of great concentration thought flashes upon us. 'This is the experience of every real mathematician. The theory of the transcendentalists was based upon this idea. Emerson said, ffWhen I perceive the river of thoughts that flow into me from sources I see not, I know I am but a pensioner, and from some alien energy the vision comes. I trust when some one presents an argument to you that you will concentrate to such a degree that the first deviation from a logical conclusion will stir up a violent static on your mental radio. Beauty is trying to speak to us, to utter in its various voices a mes- sage. Generally speaking, it says, f'Come in this direction, just as ugliness says, f'Do not move in this direction. The stars whisper to some, 'fIn my Father's house are many mansions. The sunset hints ITENI I