Yeshiva University High School For Boys - Elchanite Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Recreation is the re-creation of that which becomes damaged in human beings. It consists of the repair of human damage where it is reparable, and the prevention of it in the rising generation. There is an abundance of this human damage in the world. lronically, the cause of it is modern civilization, which, along with the benefits it confers, has done an enormous amount of harm to man- kind. Education for leisure is greatly needed, but it must take a new line. We can and ought to train young people, in the earliest childhood, to the point where they will be able to make a good choice of their leisure occupations. This we can accomplish by awakening their creative side, by giving them the opportunities for using those creative faculties which all humans possess to some degree. It is tragic that the creative streak of young people is often killed by their present education, to their great detriment in afterlife. The reason so many people are at a loss for what to do with themselves in their leisure time, and make foolish use of it in consequence, is that their creative faculties never were awakened when they were young. It is a mistake to suppose that creative activity has its place in leisure occu- pations only. The need for it is equally great in the more practical fields. What is more precious than creative thinking in business, in economics, in politics, in religion? The creative spirit in a human being, once aroused, spreads to all his endeavors. Teach a child to play creatively in his games and he will soon begin to think creatively in his lessons. Get it into leisure and it will soon spread to laborg into the fingers and it will soon find its way to the brain. The art of the ancient Greeks was due largely to their fine physical and mental culture, expressed in beautiful games. Games were the growing point of their arts. They learned to bring their bodies under the control of their minds, and having established skill in that fundamental form, they went on to the higher recreation in art and thought-creative wisdom, which is still one of our greatest treasures. There is no reason why we should not do likewise. But we shall never do it so long as we think of recreation as a mere affair of playing games. We must understand, as the Greeks understood. the integration of the body and the mind: to use lower forms of activities as motivation for the higher, to see the whole personality and educate the whole child. Howard Orenstein

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Man possesses a uniqueness which enhances every phase of his existence. Awareness of this wonder leads to appreciation of man's enormous depth of being. A fiower can never rise above its status, its existence may not be altered. Once it has reached maturity, we cannot ascribe new meaning or greater importance to the Hower: HA rose is a rose is a rose. YVe dare not make a similar pronouncement upon man. For he is able to soar to heights of undefinable significance and unlimited growth. And this uniqueness that characterizes man's supremacy and blessedness is none other than Potential. It is a seed whose ultimate is fruit and blossom. The seed is not content with its lot, it desires to enlarge, expand and bear produce. So man's potential must not remain a latent power, but an active reality. This is accomplished through Education. The Latin root of the word education is e-ducere, literally to lead forth or to bring out something that is potentially present. Thus education is the means for the realization of man's exalted destiny. We must not be deceived, however, by idolatrous imitations of education such as exist in the Soviet system. Soviet education starts with a postulate and shapes facts to fall in harmony with that assumption. In contrast, the definition of true education is the willingness to observe facts and follow them to their logical conclusion rather than to direct them into a pre-desired pattern. At this point a distinction must be made between Education and Knowl- edge. The latter is the objective study of man's orientation of facts. It is the acquisition of the end products of creative history. Education, however, is the evaluation, analysis, and subjective immersion into the underlying causes, con- cepts, and philosophic validity of knowledge. In our times of material wealth amidst intellectual poverty, the existence of humanity faces a double threat. Scientific progress endangers existence while the lack of education and morals challenges humanity. Man's optimistic potential now resides in a pit of pessimistic stagnation and suicide. The means are in our hands, but do we have the will to save man and restore his dignity? George Sobelman