Kent State University - Chestnut Burr Yearbook (Kent, OH)

Page 15 text:

A favorite spot for skating is a pond behind the Administration building. from 1911 to 1926, he will work to make many of them realities. He will waken interest and kindle enthusiasm. He will induce men and women to think! Outside the classroom social activities are many and varied. They range from skating in winter on a pond back of the Administration building, to dancing round a May pole in spring. They range from week-end nights popping corn, having fudge parties, parading and singing to summer evenings canoeing on Brady lake. Rag- time is the music and fox-trotting the dance. Songs like The Little Old Ford Rambled Right Along and We ' ll Play Cards on Mother ' s Grave are popular. How ' bout the movies? Hurray! for the movies. But in Kent, the movies have just been branded as an illegitimate pastime for Normal students by Ruby La Verne Downey in her prize-winning essay, Normal Students Should Not Habitually Attend the Movies. It appears in the Kentonian, the college weekly. Any- how, so much for fun. Suddenly there ' s another first, a tragic one. An open-air theater on the front campus hosts the first cultural programs. President McGilvrey thinks there should be an open house once a year and so the tradition of Campus Day begins. During War I, faculty and students make a large flag for background at assemblies.

Page 14 text:

McQilvrey Symbolizes Progress Indeed, classroom work is McGilvrey ' s main interest. His school is offering courses from household arts to manual training; there are food, clothing and the home, woodworking, me- chanical drawing and homeplanning, sociology, economics, agriculture, psychology, and art and design. President McGilvrey, who frequently quotes Emerson, believes in non-conformity and inde- pendence of thought. He does not grade by let- ters or numbers as most colleges are doing; instead, he grades them by simply issuing a white slip (passing) or a blue slip (fail- ing). His college is not structured on the semes- ter basis as are most colleges; instead, his oper- ates on the quarter plan. A man with vision. President McGilvrey foresees the growth of the institution. He fore- sees its responsibilities in an area rapidly ex- panding in industry and population. The idea of the Normal school giving its students know- ledge of the problems and principles of teach- ing, of the Normal school developing originality and individuality, of the Normal school keeping alive in the pupil-teacher a sense of the dignity and worth of teaching, spurs his dreams, and Laboratory facilities are provided and emphasis is given to individual work. Weavmg is ottered by the art department under the direction of Nma S. Humphrey. An early poster advertises cottages on Brady lake and free tuition during the 1917 summer sessions at Kent State Normal. 3NT STATE NORMAL COLLEGE SUMMER 1917 Long Summ r Tl f2 W h k Short Sumn Titm, W k M V 7 Augus Junt. 25 Aui:us 3 ADVlNT l-l- 15|t - . » TATE U 1 lESTintATE §§-jL l l F -%1 . -Ui t FREE Tl ITI Ml S-. ■ , - ■€ Kent Ohio I 1 „ ™ Harness-making class. Courses in manual training include work in paper, strawboard, wood, metal, cement and leather.

Page 16 text:

World War I. Students leave Normal to become soldiers and make the world safe for democracy. World War I. One million young Americans are sent to France to help save the world for democracy. Students leave for service or for employment in business and industry. Old campus activities are curtailed, and a new one begins. Faculty members and students are making The Big Flag as a background for as- semblies and meetings. It will be brought out once each year, at least, in rememberance of those who fought the war to end wars. By October, 1918, the Germans have been pushed out of France. A month later they ' ll sur- render to the Allies. Soldiers and sailors who were once students return to visit the campus. Things Qo Qlittering Students return from war. Some are bitter, many are disillusioned. They are the lost gen- eration and theirs is the Age of Jazz. The Age gets its name from a restless style of music, someone says, that makes dancing an athletic experience. Forty million people rush out to the movies every week. Flappers, bobbed hair, rolled stockings, smoking in public and coonskin coats typify this glittering era when business booms, everybody spends money and almost no- body sits at home. In Kent, Ohio, a normal school is just beginning its climb to the top. In France, the Yanks are already over the top.