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

Page 11 text:

the sounds of concentrotion a new look for the “front” office

Page 10 text:

the most pleasant half hour of the day The grow th of Belleville Township I ligh School through fifty years reflects the changing concepts of schooling in our society, brought about by changing economic, political, social conditions in LI.S. democracy. “Years ago a common school education was thought quite sufficient for the educational needs of the average citizen . . . 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,” wrote Mr. H. G. Schmidt, principal, for the 1920 Bellevinois, Less than fifty years later, Mr. K. Lane Miller, prin¬ cipal, penned for the 1966 Bellevinois the current need for schooling: “ Today the high school diploma is the minimum in the educational attainment ol the average citizen. To compete favorably with one’s fellowman many people will acquire technological, trade, or college train¬ ing. Only through continued education may today’s citi¬ zen enjoy the better life anti maintain the status appropri¬ ate for his talents.” striving for an extra inch

Page 12 text:

5? Lest we forget “Living honestly up to the letter ol the law, lending ourselves sincerely to the services ol our country or any part thereof in anv form in which we can serve effectively makes a democracy more dynamic than other forms ol .government because of the mass good will ol all. Not what we get from our country hut what we give measures our patriotism. So wrote Mr. H. G. Schmidt in the 1941 Bellevinois, the year in which BTHS and the nation faced up to Pearl Harbor and World War II. These words ring true in this year as B IT IS and the nation and the entire lrce world face up to Vietnam ami the continuing struggle with the forces that seek to destroy all the freedoms and values that enlightened men have created for themselves and seek to preserve for mankind. Today we voice the sentiment ol those who wrote in the pages of the 1945 Bellevinois: “We dedicate this page in memory of all those of Belleville Township High School who have paid the supreme price of liberty, that sch x)ls like ours and na¬ tions like ours might endure.