Axton High School - Axtonian Yearbook (Axton, VA)

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THE AXTONIAN good moral homes for postwar America is unity among a God-fearing people in Chris- tian families. There must be a turning Godward for postwar success. Next, let us look into our churches. Is the moral situation there promising for our re- turning veterans? Servicemen are now returning at the rate of 100,000 monthly and they are passing judgment on the church. They find many of us insincere and half-hearted in our faith and fellowship. When one has been so close to death and felt that Providence alone has saved him, he respects sincerity in religion. He expects the church to exalt and enrich family life and to fight for a practical program for permanent peace. He demands that the church be a social champion of poor people and show more tolerance for other faiths. The church must not forget that “freedom of religion” is one of the four free- doms for which our men are fighting. Third, let us think of the morals of America as a whole. The war abroad is serious, but the war at home is more serious. Victories at the battlefront bought at the cost of American blood cannot offset the moral loss in America. The moral order of our age is far from what it should be. Many have not learned that morals are the secret of morale. The British labor statesman, Lord Elton, has said, “Morale, which is to say morals, is the foundation of successful civilization.” American veterans of World War I saw the demoralization which was the forerunner of the downfall of France twenty-five years ago in the streets of Paris and Marseille. They may not have recognized it then, but French patriots have recognized it now. Our soldiers of 1918 didn’t imagine that the same symptoms might appear on the streets of American cities. They have been appearing for several years. It took France twenty-five years to collapse. How long can America last ? Something must be done about the drinking, the reveling, the absenteeism and the im- morality that is weakening our nation. There is reckless spending and lawlessness abroad. There seems to be a breakdown in individual responsibility. We have seen that in many of our fellow pupils at school. The desire to make money is forever in the minds of many. Money is in the hands of people who never before had it and when the postwar factories open and the things people wish to buy are made available, the situation may become worse. We must become aware of the dangers and take steps to check them. Our motto, classmates, is “The truth will set us free.” Shall we, who have been seeking the true ideals these eleven years, let these moral disorders continue in our nation? Surely not. We must also study our labor situation and see where human values are being crowded out. Clearly, haphazard methods of meeting labor problems are not going to work. There must be a definite cooperative labor policy and disputes must be settled by arbitration. Management and labor are not opponents in life’s struggles, but partners in the battle for production. United they can help hold our nation together and show the world how democ- racy works. Likewise race problems must be faced and controlled in a fair way. There must be a brotherhood of men. We as individuals must learn to let God guide and control our hearts; and if we do, as Dr. Peter Marshall has said, “We have the genius and the skill, the political forms, the wealth, the natural resources, and the ability to lead the whole world into a bright tomorrow in which the hopes of the human heart may be achieved and our desires and prayers be realized.” Tonight as we welcome you to our graduation, we are facing the future more seriously than we ever have before. We hope that the principles of democracy, for which Ameri- cans have died on every battlefront, may be achieved in the postwar world. May Old Glory wave over a people who have become aware of the lax conditions of morals as they now exist in America. May they assume the responsibility of correcting the weaknesses and develop a strong unified nation for the good of mankind and the glory of our Creator. With these words, we salute you. Mary Elliott, Salutatorian Page Twenty-nine

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THE AXTONIAN What is the Postwar Outlook for Moral Standards RIENDS, patrons, and schoolmates, I salute you! Your presence adds much to our joy tonight. As we greet you with glowing faces, we are thinking of the many serious problems that confront us as we enter upon life’s career. Dur- ing our whole high school period, we have heard, in the seclusion of our homes and school, the terrible calamities of war. We have thought of war, read of war and some of us must experience war. But we see beyond this terrible cloud that overshadows us the day of peace, when our war veterans shall return. We know that many friends who have left us during our high school days for service are coming back different individuals. We wonder if the state of our homes, our churches, and our com- munities are such as to secure for the returning veterans and for us the “way of life” for which he has been fighting. I feel, as I salute you tonight, the seriousness of the situation in our country and I am going to ask you to think with me a few minutes on this ques- tion: What Is The Postwar Outlook For Moral Standards? First, let us consider our homes. Are the moral standards of our nation what they should be today? We know they are not! In a nation where one marriage in every 5.6 ends in a divorce court, there is something wrong. The sacred ties of marriage are being sadly ignored by many who are separated. Many marriages are too hasty; the parties have not known one another well enough. Sometimes not sufficient consideration has been given to the amount of money needed for essentials. Disagreement arises ; conflict of opinion causes rift in marital relations, which often ends in saparation or divorce. More forethought must be exercised in choosing one’s mate and more Christian forebear- ance after the choice has been made. Due to increased cost of living or patriotism, many mothers have thought it necessary to work outside the home, the children have felt neglected. They have somewhere to eat but not a real home. These mothers are too busy to be real mothers to their wayward sons or daughters. Some of the children are irresponsible and juvenile courts are correcting them. They must learn self-control and to be good citizens. Any child from twelve upward should feel himself responsible for his own conduct and should cooperate with his parents and other members of his family in making his home a happy one. The returning veteran is going to feel and know that changes have wrought havoc. He himself is going to be nervous, as Shakespeare put it, “jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel” ; and unless there is some awakening, some forethought, there will be a moral collapse of the home. Mothers must give more time to their homes ; if possible, they must give up outside jobs after the war. They must make an effort to understand their sons when they return. If a boy was eighteen when he went away and he has been gone several years, that mother must realize that he is now an adult. She must respect his sense of independence. These men have faced death and the horrors of war, and these same men will have to be taught readjustment to civilian life. If the young veteran is married, the best thing the mother can do is to let the young people face their own prob- lems. The young wife of a veteran has more difficult problems than the mother. She must remember that her husband is under a strain, trying to adjust to civilian life and to mar- riage at the same time. The wife must study beliefs and ideals by which her husband lives. She must be patient and understanding until he readjusts himself. She must encourage him to grasp the opportunities at hand. The quicker he seizes upon them the better. Un- less the mothers and wives help these veterans and overlook their shortcomings, there will be many broken homes. We need to inspect our homes beforehand and see if we have the qualities our nation needs. J. Blanton Belk in his recent book Our Fighting Faith has given us a splendid talk on building sound homes. He brings out the qualities of a traditional Hebrew home: A godly family — disciplined children — genuine love — and unity. The thing which will win Page Twenty-eight

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THE AXTONIAN Postwar Education 0 say the farewell words of the Class of ’45 to our many friends is a great honor and I appreciate it. But you will no doubt think I am brave when I ask your attention, for a little while, to the topic I want you to think about with me : Postwar Education. We, the graduates tonight, have worked patiently to obtain the best education our school can offer. However, I have been thinking of the many who have not had the opportunities that we have had, either because of the war, or for many other reasons. I have also been wondering if the education we have is the kind that will be needed by the majority of the young citizens in the postwar world. When we look into the war situation, we find that about 10,000,000 of our United States service men have less education than we who appear on this platform tonight 1 . We have heard much about the provision for the help of the 5,000,000 service men whose education puts them on the college level, but little has been said of the 10,000,000 below that level. So many of these men are returning to communities like Axton. Do we have what they need? We must turn to the service men for the answer. One ex-marine, who has already returned to high school ranks, says: Education, as we ex-fighters see it, should serve two purposes. It should prepare us to earn a living, and prepare us for God-fearing citizenship Many returning veterans will want and need intensive courses in practical trades. Arrangement for these courses should be made now, before the boys start pouring home in big numbers. Courses of six weeks to six months dura- tion in such trades as welding, farming, carpentering, machine shop work, clerk- ing in stores, even landscaping and barbering should be offered. Then our men can fit into peacetime industry quickly, leaving Longfellow and Shakespeare electives for those who want them 2 . While we agree with the young man that opportunity for vocational education should be included in the school curriculums, we do not think that the cultural side should be neglected. Both should be developed in the individual for true enjoyment of life. Coincident with the ex-fighters’ postwar education, we must take under consideration that of those cast adrift from the demobilization of war workers. So many of them have left school to become independent workers, and after the war, when their services are no longer needed, they will find themselves unprepared for other jobs. Unless something is done by social organizations to educate these younger workers, the high level of juvenile delinquency will increase. In regard to war workers, we will not only need to consider youth, but also adults who are unprepared to fill other jobs. These must be retrained for other useful work so that we will not have a great number of unemployed during the first postwar years. To carry out an adequate system of education for all, a heavy responsibility falls on our present educational system and social organizations. Our State Department of Edu- cation in Virginia has expressed full realization of this fact. However, if a postwar pro- gram is to be a success, local communities must wake up to the situation and make a survey of the needs and the possibilities of meeting them. The G.I. Bill of Rights makes available money to returning veterans to take advantage of educational opportunities, but the individual veteran can use this aid only “if he can find facilities to meet his needs.” 3 One drawback to educational expansion for the duration is the teacher shortage, caused by the drafting of so many men and the attracting of women into full-time jobs at better salaries. This problem will, in part, solve itself in the postwar period when war workers return to their before-war jobs. However, to enable schools to attract the best Page Thirty