Brookline High School - Murivian Yearbook (Brookline, MA)

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4 H l H E T E E H THIRTY - llmfri ' ft (E. AUmi Headmaster, Brookline High School 1913-1930 Of New England by ancestry, birth and education, Mr. Akers is truly representative of that section of the country from which many of America’s great men have come. As a youth he was serious of purpose, ambitious, industrious. At college he was a leader in both scholastic and athletic activities, and a member of a fraternity which is one of the three leading fraternities of the college world. As a professional man he has realized the promise which he showed as a youth, for here, too, he is a lead- er, beloved bv his colleagues, and respected by schoolmasters throughout the state. Although he is a modest man and has persistently shunned publicity, his name and accomplishments are known far and wide; and his opinion and advice are frequently sought by those who would make their schools better. As an educator, a progressive educator, he has done much to enhance the reputation of Brookline High School. Being open-minded, he has been quick to see and adopt what was good in new methods of administra- tion and teaching, — for example, he has established a splendid system of teacher-student government and a flourishing Honorary Society; he has revised the curriculum effectually, and provided a course for motor-mind- ed or retarded children ; he has attended to the health of the pupils bv pro- viding adequate luncheon facilities and a well-proportioned physical edu- cation program. Yet, being a sane and well-balanced administrator, he has not rushed into some of the half-baked experiments that are so popu- lar in many of the schools of education. Because he is just, he is admired and respected by pupils and teach- ers alike; because he is in all respects lovable, he has the deep affection of every teacher who has ever had the privilege of working with him, and of many hundreds of Brookline boys and girls who still acknowledge his influence and leadership. After seventeen years of richly productive service, he resigns. Al- though his physical presence will be lacking, his spirit will be for many years a vital influence in Brookline High School; and that is indeed for- tunate, for never again will there be found a man with quite the same nicely balanced combination of qualities — of scholarship, of leadership, of dignity, and of warm, human feeling. It is to be hoped that as our dear Mr. Akers closes his active work as a schoolmaster, he may feel that he still has a duty to his profession : namely, by writing and by lecturing, to pass on to the younger, less richly endowed, less perfectly equipped members of the teaching world, something of the wisdom of his charac- ter and his experience. Ave atque vale Alice Howard Spaulding 10

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Assistant Master Secretary Ass’t Secretary Dean or Girls