Ben Blewett High School - Brochure Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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mam ff In I tluc ltcd PLISUII HAVE just cleaned out my desk here at school and put things in order I don t often do it I fear you may have noticed that fact l XI think buildings ought to be so constructed that desks could be iff 6 tucked away where they wouldn t show Besides after you clean up your desk and put things away you can t find them' But in one httle drawer I found a piece of paper on which I had copied this sentence from the message to the legislature of Iowa by the governor at that time Mr William L Harding I copied lt a year or so ago because nt expressed so well the ideally educated individual This IS the quotatlon The best conception of an educated person today is one whose mind is trained to enjoy and appreciate the best things of life whose hands are tra1ned to do some useful labor well whose heart is attuned to the noblest impulses and whose patrlotism is grounded on the fundamentals of our form of govern ment IRM 9 Principals superintendents and educators in general are criticised some Scmetimes they themselves feel uncertain hard as they are trying that they are furnishing the best kind that should be provided Some people think that the process of educat1on is not a progressive one that because the father studied Latln and Algebra when he entered high school the son or daughter should do likewise Perhaps the son or daughter should and perhaps not It is worth while occasionally to check up our school life against some defined ideal to see 1f we have any right to expect to attam it What are the best things of l1fe to which Mr Harding refers? It is rather difficult to make a list of them but we know what they are they vary with the mdi vidual but in most cases they may fairly be called best thmgs Are you in your school life learning to enjoy and appreclate these or does your school life seem to make you feel as if you were being driven in a deep trench so deep you can t see out at either side but can see only an almost endless path in front of you some day you will be able to get out when you quit school or graduate If so you are losmg out on one of these aims of education Which kind of training are you now getting in school? Is the school teaching you only theoretical things or practlcal as well? And do you do them just so so or well9 Schools are improving all the t1rr1e in this respect and they will improve a great deal more I think that when the author spoke of hands that are trained he meant to mclude all mdi viduals that are tramed and trained not merely to do work of a D or C grade but rather always of a B or A grade So you have a right to ask yourself whether the school is helping you so that later you may do your work according to the B or A standard, And then have you the strength of character to carry out the noble lm I 0 ,ti ' ' A . A 11 in j x 1 1 I A C I , n c I , - - - . s - . , . , , . 5 YV times because they do not provide the proper type of education for children. Q . V l U 4 . V 4 . - . v . H . ,, , . . ' . I . U . ,, n , 1 . - . ,. . . . . ' Q ' l ' If u U ss vv , Q it as It vs ' 4 , . ' nt 'Y tr 91 1 1

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amrwreat mem I clue mon lht lommumlx s Im tstmtnl OW and then I have occaslon to talk wlth a ch1ld who has de clared the xntentron to leave school and get a Job That IS the cue for me to make a plea for h1s contlnumg hls educat1on I 15650941 try to pomt out to h1m the advantages whxch w1l1 accrue to h1m through further choollng I wonder sometlmes how smcere my argument sounds for whlle I talk to h1m about what he Wlll gam from more educatlon my m1nd and consclence perslst 1n jumpmg to another thought f fafmvk vii Of course he w1ll profit IH many ways rf he remams and apphes hlmself to h1s task but I can t help thlflklflg that after all by all odds the greatest profit goes to the Clty of St Louxs or to the commumty 1n whxch he IS to take up hls abode Every lgnorant man ln th1s town has xt IH h1m to make trouble tor us all Every thmkmg man has It 1n h1m to be an asset to the commumty Of course there are uneducated people who make the world better by thelr membershlp and there are educated crlmmals There IS the dlffer ence that character makes Perhaps some forms of monarchy would profit by having a c1t1zenry ol lgnorant nar1ow vrsmoned serfs But ln thlS country we have not only the Job of making a l1v1ng but the task of governing ourselves The latter IS much harder than the former It takes more study and thought and more character Our salvatxon in matters of government w1ll come through keep mg chlldren at study durmg the1r youth so that all our boys and glrls may be equxpped wlth ideals and knowledge and sklll ln self government Wl'llCh have been taught them by persons who understand the problem and who have the mterests of the communlty at heart So th1s school 1ntends to keep ltS pupils unt1l it can send them on 1nto further educatlon or at least unt1l the perlod of chlldhood IS past If one of these pupxls does not seem to fit the course of study we are golng to take the pos1t1on that the Creator knew what He was domg when He made the pupll that we human school people who have made the cour e of study are ln error In other words the questlon IS not so much whether the ch1ld lb sultable for the school it IS rath r whether the school IS fit to recelve the ch1ld H H Ryan l ' l ,A . 1 1 - r- w ' 9 4 ll x 7 ' YL' l A C A A K ., tx . . . - .N gr ,, -! . . ,A - -y - B ,Q ' Q? a . . . . . n t. - f, , . . . . - 1' ,17 '-fu :- e,, if V , S . . . V - . - 9 . . , . . ' 9 l - 1 9 ' ' Cr , ' . , . ' 9 7 ,- . v .u 1 Q 1 y -f i Y . 1 l. . p .4 . . , .. . -1

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agiraruzrorat JEZEEEZN pulses that you and every other boy and glrl has? Or have you a long l1st of al1b1s that you thlnk excuse you? Lastly IS the government all wrong or are you wlllmg to accept It and strrve to correct lt where rt rs weakg If you have read thls far suppose you go back and read the quotatlon agaln I can have no better or truer wlsh for the boys and glrls of thls school than that thls school may vvrth others help you to measure up to th1s dehnltron of an educated person C H Sackett tlx A H I guess I can get by How often one hears this expressron nowadays Many people seem to have adopted It as a sort of if motto for thelr l1ves But lb It a safe motto for any of us I 3 MQ' 0 If we were to look at the hves of any of the men or women who have been real successes ln llfe we should hnd that they are 16Cpl6 who were not content wlth srmply gettrng by Whatever they have undertaken they have acconaphshed by means of therr greatest possrble efforts A bellever 1n get by cannot be a real success IU any llfe Work He 15 the one who mstead of makmg opportunltles for hrmself or preparrncf hrm self for opportumtles when they do come IS dr1ft1ng wa1t1ng for somethmv to turn up Does the successful doctor engrneer or archltect sxrnply try to get by 1n l'11S work? Thmk what catastroph1es would result lf such were the case A engmeer who bullds a bridge does not construct It strong enough slmply to susta1n the maxlmum load lt wrll probably have to bear Instead he bullds a brldge to carry live or ten tlmes the heavlest welght A successful career 15 bullt lrke a secure brldge wth dally preparation not just enough preparatron but five trmes ten tlmes as much To succeed 1n school work rn your work of after lxfe does not mean crcssmg a dehnrte border lrne There lb a twrhght zone where the ordrnary student the ord1nary behever m get by ns left whlle the ambltlous go on to success beyond Not to obtam the coveted word Passed but to obtam a mastery over the subject IS the goal It IS not vvrth the motto get by that the pleasant land of achievement 1s reached G C Forsman l , .ft ' x' , + - ' 1 . 6 I lg I I V ' 5 Y 3 v fr 1 lm ., f?7- 4 ,, A . 1 1. , , . - ' . r' . .4 , sl ' A grxthg , c . 1 . . , , . ' ' kt ' 17 1 n ' V L. . . H ,, M . . . ' ' ' v 3 . rs ' y . r tw .. H A 9 I I . 4 . I1 D 4 . . . , N . M . , , S 1 A . . - N . 1 . ' I. . v ' , s I , V . . . H ,, . i . . . - , Y ., . At A YI ' 1 . ' ' ' li 77