Central High School - Brecky Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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ear kffow Genfrafifesz Recently the following letter came to the Principal's desk: 'Dear Sir: 'Miss e has applied to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and states that she was graduated from your school in 1935. 'In order that the applicant may receive consideration, it will be appreciated if you will advise us in confidence of any facts you may possess concerning her character, personality, habits, and capabilities. In particular, we are interested in knowing whether she displayed any elements of leadership in school activities and, if so, along what lines and with what success...........' Since the applicant was not known to me personally, I referred, as always in handling such requests, to the young lady's permanent record sheet. These permanent record sheets are kept in alphabetical file in the office safe. Even though a student has spent but a single semester in Central High School, his permanent record sheet is kept on file for any use it may be to him or us at any future time. After a careful examination of the record sheet of the alumnus of the school referred to above, I wrote the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System as follows: 'Gentlemen: 'Miss was graduated number 52 in a class of 499 in our June, 1935 class. The best testimony to this young lady's character qualities may be found in the fact that she was selected by the faculty in her junior year for membership in the National Honor Society. This organization, as you know, stresses qualities of leadership, scholarship, character, and service. Miss ....... according to our records is considerably above the average in intelligence, so much so indeed that she would be called exceptional. 'Perhaps from the above you may gather sufficient information to judge Miss .......'s fitness to fill the position for which she has applied.' . Many years ago, as an undergraduate student in the state university, it was my good fortune to sit in the classes of a distinguished professor of botany. Classes were large, and in the oral quizzes each student received only a few questions a semester. If a student failed to answer his ques- tion, the professor was wont to remark in his dry humorous way, as he wrote a zero in his record book, 'I'm writing history.' THE Rlvrlw IIOJ

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After I got there, I asked a policeman, who was standing on one of those funny little platforms with an awning over it, directing traffic, How can I get to Sugar Loaf ? First I tried English. No sabel Then German. Still to no avail! Finally I got desperate and tried Pig-Latin. I forgot to try Spanish! Anyway, Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. Then I got disgusted and plunged recklessly into the devious windings and narrow streets of the old town. I gave up Sugar Loaf temporarily, I thought, but I'm sorry to say I didn't ever get a ride in the cable-car up the mountain. Eventu- ally I lost sight of Sugar Loaf, lost sight of every- thing, except that my feet were beginning to hurt from so much unaccustomed walking, and that I wanted to find a policeman who spoke some language of which I had even a smattering, and who could direct me back to the Avenida Rio Branco, from which I knew the way back to the ship. I finally found one who spoke English of a sort. He stood six-feet-something-or-other and really looked handsome with his flashing white teeth and bushy black mustache. His, by the way, were almost the only white and well-cared-for teeth that I saw -in South America. Apparently most South Americans, or at least the ones with whom I came in contact, never heard of dentists or toothbrushes. Their teeth were horrible. This policeman set me on the right bus, and I thanked him whole-heartedly. He was the type of officer of the law that really commanded respect. There can never be too many of his kind. Rio reminded me somewhat of Washington witn its broad avenues, breath-taking vistas, and reck- less drivers. Even the Washington motorists, though, are not as reckless as those of Rio. They never go slower than thirty-five, if they can help it. If they see a pedestrian attempting to cross the street, they seem to take a iiendish delight in coming straight for him at full speed and making him run for safetv. The side streets are a couple of centuries be- hind the main thoroughfares, however. They are paved with cobblestones and lined with blank and solemn houses, which come all the way to the sidewalk, and whose ground fioors are open- fronted shops. Bars and shoe-stores predominate. Otherwise, the side streets are just as narrow and colorful as anything in the travel folders, only dirtier. Thursday, July 28 Tonight we sailed out of the harbor, past the Brazilian Navy Yard, past Sugar Loaf and the rocks guarding the entrance. It was just dusk. Everywhere lights were going on. By the time we reached the outer harbor, it was pitch dark, and all we could see of Rio de Janeiro were lights twinkling like jewels in the fast-increasing dis- tance. It is about ten o'clock now, and already we are far out of Rio and well on the way to Santos, the great coffee port, which we shall reach in the morning. I To be continued in January issue Q Calling all Centralites! Here's the opportunity you're looking for! Would you like to see your name in print? Would you like to join an important and growing organization? If you want to write for this magazine, or if you de- sire any sort of work with the editorial, business, or art staffs, we're looking for you. It's an invita- tion! Calling all Centralites! Calling all ----- THB REVIEW WE

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How important it is, then, that this writing of the record of four years of high school life contain nothing that will condemn the student to a lower place or humbler task than is commensurate with his natural abilities! Too often the principal of a high school is compelled with regret to submit an inferior record to an inquiry, a record which he is sure will frustrate rather than help the former student. Too often the student, too late, finds that he has written his own 'death warrant' so far as a coveted posi- tion or college entrance is concerned. The 'it might have been' is bitter and irrevocable, but nothing can be done to mitigate the disaster. Too few students realize that from the time they enter Central High School they are writing a personal history which is recorded for future refer- ence. This record may be used in a transfer of credits to another high school: as a record for college entrance: or, as in the example given above, as reference in securing a position. Something may be done now, however, by those undergraduates who have yet a substantial part of their high school careers before them. And I am sure that each member of the Central High School faculty joins me in the wish that it might be written with fire in the consciousness of each under- graduate that he, in this respect, is today and each succeeding day THE MASTER OF HIS FATE. Centrafs Merry-Go Round is Waiting for you! Turn to page 19. Tn: Review E111