Weymouth High School - Campus / Reflector Yearbook (Weymouth, MA)

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iW7Q5193769mR Salutatory Address Education and Democracy Winifred Evelyn Clare

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E. the Class of 1937, welcome you to our graduation exercises. To all of you parents, Superintendent, members of the School Committee, Principal, teachers, friends, we extend our greetings. For your saerihces, personal efforts, and encouragement, we are deeply grateful. Words alone cannot express our appreciation. May our deeds in life be our memorial to your interest in us! Since the World War, a vast tidal wave of anti-democratic movements has swept the world. As a result of this, certain nations have changed their attitude toward education. Why has democracy failed among these nations? Why do people allow themselves to be deprived of every vestige of political and intellectual freedom? When life is hard and security is threatened, people are forced to sub- mit to men who promise a way out of difficulties. The helplessness of a nation because of wars and economic depressions provides an opportunity for an ambi- tious man to make himself its master. The citizens of a dictatorship must pay dearly for the security which their leaders offer. Dictators see clearly the important relation of education to social organization. As a result, the educational system is the first to suffer. To preserve the totalitarian state, all education must discourage initiative and independent thinking. The schools must train yes men who know how to follow orders issued from the central government. The pupil must have his opinions formed for him. To this end, textbooks are rewritten in order to pattern the minds of students along certain fixed lines. These revisions are made to instill so-called patriotism and loyalty toward those in power. Needless to say teachers and professors who do not co-operate are removed from their positions. Germany used to produce some of tl1e world's lead- ing scientists. Where are they today? The German dictator did not hesitate to sacrifice even the great Einstein in his ruthless removal of independent thinkers. Those who still retain their positions are no longer teachers, but trainers of a Spar- tan race. They must misrepresent known truths, conceal all that is controversial, and prostrate themselves before the possessor of sheer power. The privilege of free speech and the right of assembly do not exist in a dic- tatorship. In any nation it should be the right of every citizen to voice his opin- ions. Not only must youth be made to conform, but adults may not express their ideals in free speech. The press, the great educator of the masses, becomes tl1e mouthpiece of the dictator. The ambition of those in command knows no bounds. Not even the destruc- tion of youth in imperialistic war hinders the dictator from seeking to increase his influence. Does it then seem strange that the nations which are more or less continually at war are diclalorships? To youth modern Caesars say, Yours is not to question whyg yours is but to do or die. To the world they proclaim, People believe what they are told and we propose to tell them. Eventually then the people lose their power to think and to form decisions. Consider for a moment how much trickery could be practised upon a person who knew nothing about arithmetic. This same illustration may be applied to the Page Fourteen