Chester High School - Flamstead Challenge Yearbook (Chester, VT)

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FLAMSTEAD CHALLENGE away can be replaced by a new one. These new nerves are taken from people who have donated their bodies to the spare parts banks. These nerves are immediately frozen and then dehydrated under high vacuum. 'Cartilage is one of the most essential factors in plastic surgery. You have all heard stories of soldiers on the battlefront losing an ear or parts of a nose or lips and having them made to look like new through the wonders of plastic surgery. Cartilage under refrigeration can be kept in the spare parts bank in a sterile container filled with a saline solution. No longer is infantile paralysis the dread disease that it has been in the past. Sister Kenny, an Australian nurse, has given us the theory that polio cases become crippled because of the inactivity of the muscles during spasm. Hitherto the victims were placed in casts, thus giving no chance for activity. Under the Kenny treatment the limbs are left free but inactive, the spasm and pain are relieved with hot packs, and then simple muscle training is started. In Minneapolis there is the Michael Dowling School for Crippled Children-a public school for children who are so badly crippled they cannot very well attend the regular schools. In Minneapolis in three years there were a hun' dred seventyfeight poliofstricken children. They were treated by the old method and fiftyfseven, of them were later enrolled in the Michael Dowling School. For the same period of time ninetyfone children were treated with the Kenny method and not one of them needed to attend the Michael Dowling School. This war is not like any other war we have fought. It affects the minds of the soldiers sometimes far more than their bodies. We hope that this will be the war fought to procure a permanent peace. Many advances in science and medicine have been made during this struggle which will make this a better world in, which to live. Third Honor Essay EDUCATION AS A FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE JOYCE SLADE, 1945 What is education? I think all of us will agree that education is the development of the talents and faculties of mind, body and spirit. The goal of education is sound character and trained intelligence. These possessions are valuable in any political order and are possessions that will keep us free. We all realize that education is the way of progress, and is one of the chief pursuits of every wise man. In a democratic government like ours, that rests upon the will of the people, it is tremendously important that education is broad and general. The progressive nations of the world today have seen to it that most of their people can at least read and write. In the countries of northern and western Europe, not more than one in a hundred of the entire population is illiterate. In the United States, people have probably talked more about education than any other country in the world, and yet we still have over four million illiterates. At each great period in American history, the purpose of education in schools and colleges had been redefined by pioneer thinkers. This was done after the estab' lishment of the republic. The purpose of schools, it was then said, was to create in-

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FLAMSTEAD CHALLENGE Forth to CI Better Woirld SALUTATORY ADDRESS THELMA LEWIS, 1945 We are venturing forth into a world made much better through the efforts of science and medicine. . Less than a few years ago you could not have had a brain surgery without neces- sitating the use of a metal plate, placed where the incision had been made. Now because of medical research a film called fibrin made from fibrinogin, contained in human blood, can be stretched across the opening. When the wound has healed the fibrin film is absorbed by the tissues. This film replaces the membrane which sheathes the brain under the skull until new tissue is formed. We have also gone a long way since the time of Wilhelm Roentgen, the German scientist who discovered the Xfray. At first Xfray machines were extremely expensive and large. During the last war about the only places where there were Xfrays were the large hospitals. This meant that those who needed to be Xfrayed must make the difficult journey to the hospital. Today Xfray machines are so reduced in size that they may be carried about the battlefronts in the back of a jeep. Madame Curie's discovery of radium and work in radiofactivity have now made it possible to cure the primary cases of cancer and slow the pace of the more advanced ones. Through the tireless efforts of many, cancer is not the dreaded disease it used to be although there are many phases yet unsolved. We can do a great deal ourselves. There are numerous cancer clinics all over the countryg it is your privilege to go to these clinics to be examined. The worst of this disease is that many times a person does not realize that he has it. If we all work together we can someday conquer cancer. Sulfa drugs and penicillin have added their contribution to the control of infec' tion. Without these many of our wounded would be minus arms and legs because the infection could not be stopped soon enough to save that limb. Many times doctors have decided to amputate only to find that one of the sulfa drugs has started its work of healing, thus dispelling the need of amputation. This reminds me of the story of the usually cheerful undertaker in a small Oregon town who was looking so glum that a friend asked what was the matter. The trouble was, confided the undertaker, he just couldn't Hgure ahead any more. I used to be able to pick up the weekly paper and count on likely business, he said. Now I can't count on anything. One week I read that Horace Brown is seriously ill-the next, he is reported up and around and as spry as ever. Not, he hastened to add, that I regret a person's recovery. But every' thing is so blame uncertain. And do you know what I lay it to-these sulfa drugs! A soldier has had his arm taken off at the shoulder and yet he complains of pain in his fingers. This is because the nerves have not been adjusted to the fact that they are no longer needed to register the pain in an arm which is no longer there. Through the use of pentothol sodium this pain was relieved permanently. It is hard to realize that some of our nerves send impulses to the brain that travel at the speed of a fast dive bomber, while others move at the speed of a fast walk. It is possible now to have a defective cornea replaced by a clear piece of cornea taken from another eye. There are only about twenty surgeons in the United States who are able to perform such a delicate operation. It is now possible to join severed nerves by the use of nerve glue made from blood. A nerve which has been torn

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FLAMSTEAD CHALLENGE telligent citizens for the protection of the democracy and to give all the children a chance to rise in the world. But after a hundred years of practice under this idea, education had encountered the distress of a depression. Millions of individuals, who were well trained, now found no chance to employ their talents. Soon people began asking the question: What can education do to keep the government from being disrupted now and then, bringing injury to the young, and to the republic? How could people take part wisely in government without having a knowledge of govern' ment and its work? Those who took part in the Revolutionary War knew that their education, formal and informal, had served them well in the days of the Revolution and in the work of setting up a new government As democracy grew into power, the lamp of learning grew brighter, and the darkness of illiteracy and ignorance was being lifted from the land. The American people were beginning to learn how to live by learning. Education was becoming a great national interest. Give everybody a chance to study anything he likes as long as he can, became an educational slogan, and it seemed to fit into the democratic theory of liberty and opportunity for all. A program of education was set up for the youths, not to serve such ends as the organization of the young people was made to serve in Europe under dictators, but to give the pupils a more realistic knowledge of the nation and the world. The main function of the new program was to prepare the pupils for promoting wiser and more effective co' operation among nations. . By the opening of the nineteenth century, education had taken that course. Pupils were becoming acquainted with the problems confronting the nation, with the history of human experience, and with thought about American questions. In short, students were preparing to take a broad and sound view on national questions. Americans took up the problems of the new age and were trying to deal with them. Even though the United States still has over four million illicerates, education has made a great advancement. When intelligence tests were applied to recruits for the Hrst World War, an astonishing lack of ability was shown, and a call went out for increased activity in education. Only 3.5 per cent of the soldiers in World War I had completed four years of high school. In this war 23.3 per cent have received high school diplomas. At this time, more than ever before the world needs all the aid which education can render. Everyone realizes that the main pillars of democracy are education and strength of character. These qualities are necessary to develop the kind of attitudes and habits the democratic process requires. The reason for education in a free country is not to teach people how to get rich or how to get power, but to preserve their freedom-freedom from fear, freedom from want, freedom of worship and freedom of speech. For instance, freedom of speech does not mean much unless we have something to say, or know how to think and have a mind of our own. After this crisis is over, education is going to have an important role in the postwar world. Plans will have to be made for peace, reconstruction and employment. These are difficult problems to handle, and cannot be carried through wisely and successfully without the careful and intelligent planning on the part of educated people. After the last war, President Woodrow Wilson made an effort to convert thc American people to the League of Nations idea. But the case for internationalism was presented too briefly and too late, and the United States withdrew into isolationism.