Belleville Township High School - Bellevinois Yearbook (Belleville, IL)

Page 14 text:

IsIS NEEDED-A HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION EARS ajr ) a common school education was thought quite sufficient for the educational needs of the average citizen, and in fact such a person who could point to a certificate showing that he or she had finished a com¬ mon school course was considered as being educated. Those years of bliss have passed and now nothing less than a high school education is considered as sufficient for the greater needs of better living on the part of the average citizen of today. So rapid has the high school gained ground throughout the length ami breadth of this country that the rate of in¬ crease in enrollment has far exceeded the rate ot t sc of population or the rate of increase of enrollment in the grades. All this goes to show that more and more pupils are entering the high school, that the high school is a greater need as a social and vitalizing agency in the betterment of the present genera¬ tion for happier and more wholesome living in the future. Big business of today demands nothing less than the intellectual training equivalent to that given by the best high schools of the land. “Has the appli¬ cant completed a high school course?” is the never-failing question of these business men who are looking for capable young men and women to take posi¬ tions of merit and responsibility in the business world. Many business houses will not employ any young man or woman who has not completed a high school course. The time when a young man could start at the bottom of a big busi¬ ness and grow to reach the top has passed. Business has become too complex. The young man of today must have intellectual perspective to meet the ques¬ tions of greater situations. Higher institutions of learning will not accept any prospective student who has not completed a high school course in some recognized high school. In many of the professions the candidate for state license to practice his pro¬ fession must be able to show in addition to his professional training that In has also completed a high school course of study. In all the professions of standing, a high school education is (he necessary passport to entry upon the pursuit of that pro¬ fession in study and later in practice. A greater degree of intelligence is needed now to live happily than was required twenty years ago, and the tendency of requirements is strongly upward so that it be¬ comes the duty of parents to see that their children are equipped to meet the more com¬ plex social situations that certainly arise with the greater complexity of our civilization. It behooves the boy and girl to use the present opportunities for mental, moral, and physical growth to meet the strenuous claims of business, or the professions of tomorrow. To our boys and girls the opportunities of tomorrow are available through the education of today, the success of tomorrow is largely measured by what you are mak¬ ing of yourself today. You can not be more profitably employed than in making in these years of small financial possibilities, yet of large growing facilities, the best use of your time by preparing for the time when you must step out Into the active duties of the busy world. Young people, you owe it to yourselves, to your parents who have made your edu¬ cation possible, and to your country which demands a high type of citizenship, that vou prepare now and prepare thoroughly for tomorrow by the best education you can get. and having attained that, take off your coat, roll up your sleeves and get into the duties of life with a firm will to accomplish something no matter what the occupation. Get an education not to get out of work, but get an education to get into work. Get an education not to escape duties and service, but get an education to be able to meet your duties acceptably and to serve well. h. G. Schmidt. Principal. 10