Castleton State College - Castletone Yearbook (Castleton, VT)

Page 97 text:

portunity. There is no reason why the mistakes of the past, responsible for the troubled world of the present, should be repeated in the World of Tomorrow . . . Preparedness is often on our lips today; I do not need to tell you in what sense . . . Preparedness for construction, not for destruction, learning how to live together, not how to destroy one another, that is the problem of the century, the problem which must be solved if civilization is to endure . . . To the words of Dr. Valkonen I add the words of Robert Sherwood: “We are conscious of our past failures. We are conscious of our present perils . . . We are armed with more bitter experience, more profound knowledge, than any generations that ever were in the history of the world. If we can’t use this ex¬ perience and this knowledge, then the human history is really finished, and we can go back and achieve forgetfulness and peace in the ooze from which we ascended.’’ Life based on the ideal of the Sermon on the Mount, or life based on the lack of ideals which today is making of Europe a shambles, . . . which shall it be? A race of human beings, believing in love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, good¬ ness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control, or a race of robots, the individual simply a cog in a mechanized world? The power of the spirit, it is the supreme need of the world, the hope of a new world order. May we be ready to meet this test in the World of Tomorrow. ninety-three

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Excerpts fr om THE WORLD OF TOMORROW Baccalaureate Address of Dr. Mary E. Woolley President Emeritus , Mount Holyoke College . . . Emphasis upon the changes which have come within the twentieth cen¬ tury is not new, they have been too spectacular to escape attention . . . Like a Frankenstein, humanity stands on the brink of being destroyed by its own in¬ ventions . . . As we look over the last twenty years, we know that it was indeed “one of the most tragic periods in history,” tragic because after the close of the World W ar, by the institution of a Society of Nations, man had professed “his faith in the principles of freedom and justice”—and then began his “retreat from that ideal . . . a retreat in which the United States participated.” Truly, the international hell of today is paved with neglected opportunities. As a result we are facing momentous issues. “A conflict between imperial¬ ism?” Would that it were that and nothing more! . . . The World of Tomorrow in 1919 has become in 1941 the World of Today . . . One of the merciful Providences of life is that the new day brings a new op- mnety-two

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Excerpts From SOMETHING HIDDEN BEHIND THE RANGES Commencement x ddress of Dr. Francis L. Bailey Commissioner of Education of Vermont Principal, Gorham Normal School . . . The thoughtful student recognizes the fact that he has now acquired only a few of the tools that will be needed in his life work and that purposeful and persistent learning will always be required of him who would use his know¬ ledge effectively and measure up to his own potentialities. Let this school continue to serve as a fountain-head of inspiration and as a source of practical help as you undertake your new problems. . . . The abundant life is one of exploration of unknown areas and of surmount¬ ing the difficulties which arise as barriers to achievement and happiness. “Learn or perish,” says Dorothy Canfield Fisher in a book by that title written with teachers especially in mind. . . . Of the many obstructing peaks which arise forbiddingly among our ranges of experience, one of the first to confront you will be Ignorance, perhaps the greatest barrier to human progress. . . The chief function of the school is not so much to teach the children how to make a living as it is to teach them how to live. The trail which leads over the barrier of Ignorance is the Open Mind, the Desire to Learn. Beyond the range lie Truth and Understanding. A second great obstacle, which lies in wait to ensnare one’s desire to learn, is the drag of Inertia, which has reduced many worthy aspirations to mere day ninety-four