Technical High School - Tech Tiger Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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24 THE 1913 ORIOLE from 'Tech,' and look to the graduating class to uphold the good record by sending a good bunch of men this year. At the time we entered Yale the entrance requirements were at variance with the usual studies pursued in the college preparatory course at 'Tech.' This year Yale has revisedzher requirements so that the high schools are placed on an equal footing with the big preparatory schools. The entire aim of the new system is to make the field of entrance subjects as broad as is consistent. A man is judged not by 'catchy' ex- aminations but by fair tests, for evidence of good general schol- arship and ability. While no certificates are accepted from any school, the results of the examinations may be weighed in con- nection with the candidate's school record, wherever this is submitted. This new regulation is especially devised to make access to Yale easier for those high school boys of exceptional ability who for any reason have not been able to follow exactly the courses of preparatory study prescribed. As a result of these changed entrance requirements we look to 'Tech' to send more and more men to profit from the exceptional opportunities offered at Yale for broad and scientific training. Yale, like every other college or university, has its own customs and traditions to which it clings most tenaciously. Yale is especially blessed with her customs, and we feel that they add a great deal to the charm of the college life there. We have our customs and traditionsg we have our social times and study periods. Outsiders think we are queer, but when you join the Yale ranks and catch the real Yale Spirit, all these oddities fall into line and become the natural course of events. If the men thinking of college will accept a few words of advice from a 'grad' who has neither a bald head nor gray hair, he will promise to be brief. Hundreds of men come to Yale with the social or athletic aim and find, when they just manage to pass, that after all their idea of college was fundamentally wrong. College is to prepare a man for his life work. Con- sequently scholarship is the shaft on which the wheel of college life really revolves. Each outgoing Senior Class at Yale votes on the question, 'What distinction did you most prize during the college course?' Each year the vote is overwhelmingly in favor of the Phi Beta Kappa key, the badge of scholarship. Next in order comes the making of the 'Y' on the major athletic teams, and third choice is the owl watch-charm which one gets

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THE 1915 ORIOLE 23 is bright for greater prosperity in the future. We have the best coaches in football and baseball, and a fellow with athletic aspirations will find here all of the major sports. Now for a few observations on college life in general. Of course the first and foremost thing a man goes to college for is study and mental development in definite directions, therefore you should give the books and 'profs' conscientious attention and interest. It will be to your benefit and personal satis- faction if you do, and you will surely regret it if you don't. But the man makes a serious mistake, who goes to college with good scholarship as his only ambition. You must cultivate the acquaintance and friendship of your fellow students. College activities, too, should form a part of your curriculum. If you can sing a little, go out for the glee club, if you can shoot a basket occasionally, or make a bluff that you are a football player, make a try for the class teams, if you can't make the varsity. The point is this,-identify yourself with some of the activities outside of your studies. In this way you meet men, and broaden out more than you realize. A' In college the faculty allows you much more freedom than you are accustomed to in High School. Any time when you don't have a class scheduled during the day, you are free to go and come as you please. There is no 'prof' keeping tabs on you and it is up to you whether or not you improve your time or waste it. This is only an instance illustrating the general principle that what a man makes of himself in college depends entirely upon himself. It isn't up to your dad, or your High School, or the college faculty, it's up to you. fsignedl CLYDE M. PACKARD, T. H. S. '09. From Yale I answer your request with a genuine feeling that I cannot in such a brief space adequately represent Yale for the alumni. The Technical High School as well as the Central High School holds an enviable position in the esteem of Yale authorities. Not many men have come to Yale from 'Tech,' but those who have come have kept 'Tech's' record unspotted. Two years ago Professor Chittenden, director of Yale's Scientific School, wrote a letter of Commendation to Mr. Warner on the men he had sent to Yale. We certainly are proud of the men who came

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THE 1915 ORIOLE 25 for being on the RECORD,-the literary distinction. But the key that locks the wheel to the shaft is the golden key of college friendships. Although you may not admire Shakespeares character, Polonius, you would do well to take seriously his advice to his son in the play 'Hamlet,' when he says, 'Those friends thou hast and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steelf No friendships are so lasting and worth while as college friendships. They are usually formed in the first years of the college course. lfVhether they are for good or bad depends on the character of the men chosen as friends. Yale has no place for the man without a serious purpose. She expects a certain degree of scholarship of every son and she expects him to excel in some one of the 'extra-curriculum activities' These comprise athletic, musical, Y. M. C. A., dram- atic and literary activities, besides many minor interests which may be participated in. But Yale, like all other colleges, has her floundering sons who go through their course without making either a clear failure or a noteworthy success. Yale knows her floundering sons, and because she teaches them, sooner or later, no longer to flounder, Yale is the mother of men. Whatever we may conceive the function of a university to be, Yale, like all academic colleges, is fundamentally a center of thought. The college has one purpose, which is the greatest, because it is unique: To send out men who have the ability and desire to think,-men who will think clearly and compre- hensively for other objects than those of immediate personal benent. If there is one thing only in all this paper that I hope will be remembered by those who expect to enter college, it is this 2-Learn how to study efficiently and to think logically and naturally to conclusions. HFinally let me leave a few words with the prospective candidates which an older graduate gave me when I entered college. They were these, 'Go in and do your level best every day, in every course, every term, and don't get a swelled head. ' fsignedl WALTER T. HUME, T. H. S. '09.