Brockton High School - Brocktonia Yearbook (Brockton, MA)

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Cfam tgzczfion by THEODORE TEPLOW On one occasion, Aristotle was asked how much educated men were superior to those uneducated. As much, said he, as the living to the dead. Those of us who graduate so happily this week are determined to be among the group of the living. Thus we must analyze the word educated, which is really a blanket term covering many meanings and interpretations. First, perhaps, we have to realize that life itself is a process of education, which ought to be a continual upward struggle, with the climber forever dissatisfied with his progress. As Thomas Huxley said, The rung of the ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher. So with the person who seeks to be educated, there are no fertile oases along the road where he may linger, content with past advances. The mind is constantly improving or deteriorating: it is never static. Therefore, since degeneration results if we are mentally lazy, why not try to direct our education to the ideal? After all, youth is idealistic, since it has not yet suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, nor borne the whips and scorns of time. And what a blessing it is that we are idealists! Thus we shall try all the more gallantly-to reach the peak of the ladder: to broaden our mental horizon so that we may possess the qualities of the truly educated person. According to Mr. Albert Wiggam, An educated man keeps his mind open on every question until all the evidence is ing secondly, he always listens atten- tively to the man who knows: thirdly, he never laughs at new ideas. Conse- quently, with open minds we young folks may consider the problem of what constitutes a truly educated individual. Incidentally, this is a question which has interested the greatest intellects of all ages. So it is only with extreme humility that we, young and inexperienced in life, dare add our ideas to the record. To begin with, possibly, we should first set dovsm a few errors which many people make when they think of education. The first is the opinion that mere possession of a vast fund of information constitutes an educated person. The truth of the matter is that an educated person does not need to load his mind with a clutter of unrelated facts which he is not using daily, and which he can quickly find answered in any reference book. The mere possession of facts is not wisdom. I may be a wizard at assembling or designing monstrous mechanisms, or be an authority on the culinary art. But that alone does not render me worthy to be called educated. In fact, if that is the entire scope of my knowledge and interest, I am relatively a dunce, con- sidering how vast a reservoir of knowledge there is in the world-ea reservoir, of which l am entirely ignorant. Or perhaps I am one of those hateful bigots who vigorously gather facts simply to re-enforce the strong prejudices which I am unwilling to surrender, no matter how brightly the light of truth shines to show my error. In that case, regardless of my knowledge, I am still narrow-minded. As Henry Adams says, There is nothing so astonishing in education as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts. He who simply amasses information as a miser hoards gold is a liability to society. lust as the magnificent plumage of the bird of paradise adds nothing to his power of flight, so the possession of knowledge 24

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Qian Dafa and Jlffuiic LISA GOLDSTEIN CLYDE SAVAGE The turbulent stream of hfe runs by We set sall unafrald The Jagged chffs and reefs defy For God our sktff has made The future hes before us now We face 1t strong 1D heart A better world that IS our vow A world from hate apart W0f?06' L A534 GOL 067'L7!V Lo' yonder hes the perfect World The land of peace subhrne We cast our anchor flag unfurled To greater glorles cl1mb M0676 C L YDE JAV4 GE ri Il lu! -O' mi i llll' gn 5 3 iffifffgl

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may be worthless unless 1t IS used wrsely ln any case it IS definitely only an auxlllary to the other requirements of an educated person Another mrsconceptlon of today IS that a person IS w1se or shall we say educated? slmply because he has passed through college and acquired degrees But he IS not wise lf he uses his trained mind for evil A college bred villain IS far worse than one who IS totally unschooled For example a few of the blackest scoundrels 1n modern society are university men Surely one does not conslder Ioseph Goebbels Heinrich l-limmler or Hideke ToJo as truly edu cated' Yet they are college graduates Goebbels even flaunts a Doctor of Phrlosophy degree Besides the college we attend may stress only the vocational side of life One may well graduate from such an institution knowing only one subiect thor cughly but blind to the broader aspects of life and ent1rely ignorant of one s duty to one s fellowmen In the words of Dr Wlllldm Perry Faunce late DIGSI aent of Brown University Vocatlonal training necessary and valuable as it IS does not attempt to liberate but to concentrate not to broaden a man s horizon but to focus his mind on his Job Therefore merely holding degrees or diplomas does not signify enlrghtenment 1n the general sense Such honors may denote only proficiency in the special field of endeavor for which they are awarded A third delusion rs that possession of wealth or high worldly position means that the person involved is educated and deserves respect To explode this false idea we need only to consider the multitude of petty thieves who have garnered their money through graft No the degree of respect a person deserves or the quality of his education 1S not determlned solely by his financial status or social rank or professional rating Thus We find that knowledge learning or the mere possession of diplomas degrees or riches does not make one educated Therefore further analysis of culture Webster says that it IS the tra1n1ng or refining of the moral and in tellectual nature In the word moral we have the very heart of the matter To teach man s brain alone and to ignore h1s soul IS to pour water into a sieve ln this day and era with the world suffering from the savagery of war and irternatronal distrust and suspicion everywhere ethical development through education has become lncreasingly rrnportant In fact Dr Richard Cabot in his splendid book Honesty goes so far as to say that what the schools of today need is not more academic sublects and vocational courses but on each faculty a teacher of ethics an lnstructor in the 1deals of conduct He believes with the Bible that the strength of a natlon 1S ln the number of its wise men its good men Whose alert mlnds and gentle manners are 1nd1cat1ons of their f1ne souls So then we arrive at our conception of what the term educated should mean to us Along with the acquisition of culture 1t involves the strengthening of our morals and our sense of responsibility to all who walk the earth True educa tion respects the rlghts of every decent mdzvidual regardless of his convictions Voltarre advises us to think for ourselves and to let others enioy the privilege of doing so too In conclusion may I offer as a working definition of educat1on the splendid summary quoted so often by the late Dean Hawkes of Columbia University The qualities desirable in any educated person are a good mind a sound body tolerance of the ideas and opinions and manners of others appreciation of the beautiful a character above reproach As we of the graduating class pass this flrst important goal in our educational life let us keep in m1nd the loftiest 1deals of true culture and by our personal conduct in l1v1ng according to the Golden Rule prove that we have profited from all the rlchness of learning and from all the ideals that have thus far been 1nculcated by our parents and our teachers 25 , : ' ' , n r I I ll I ' our subject leads us to the top of the ladder-to real culture. In his definition of I I v , I I