Central High School - Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 16 text:

W, . , , I Mr. Schloifor Doparimoni Head ls fhere a link befween peace and poefry, life and liferafure? ls fhe yoking ficfifious? We who deal wifh language in all ifs aspecfs do nof feel if is. Who fouches languages fouches people. Who reads liferafure reads of people. l-le learns a kind of knowledge which com lemenfs all fhe ofher knowl- edge which fhe worlj has accumulafed. And if is fhe kind of learning and knowledge which has ifs beginnings in fhe beginnings of mankind: ifs ending can only be wifh fhe ending of fhe world as we know if. We feach awarenesses of self which are found only in fhose records we call liferafure. We fhen find idenfifies - our problems are fhe ofher man's prob- lems-our ioys become his ioys. Truly fhen no man is an island. And if fhis knowing is confinuous, if if grows wifh fhe growfh of fhe individual, fhen barriers of boundaries and culfures seem fo dis- appear. If is a vivifying paradox. We learn more abouf you in your marvelous separafeness only fo see-fhaf 'rhe separafion can be overcome. This is undersfanding: who knows, from fhis can come more fhan an absence of conflicf. This is fhe frue peace of knowledge. BENJAMIN SCHLEIFER Head of English Deparfmenf ,ii ,,,..,'l'7!I'nmin-vgpmm . ii. ENGLISH DEPARTMENT English as a subiecf is nof as easily classified as rnafh, hisfory or science. Engilish is largely subiecfive, while fhe ofhers are obiecfive. If is concerned wifh communicafion of fhe fhoughfs and ideas which form fhe basis of all our knowledge. People sfarf co-mmunicafing af a very early age and are all iusfly proud of fhe facf fhaf fhey can speak, read, and wrife. lf follows fhaf anyone who is proud of his skills oughf fo seek fo improve fhem. Forfunafely, our insfrucfors fook if upon fhem- selves fo provide fhis welcome improvemenf. Hence, an English course was born. This course may be divided info fhree general areas: grammar, liferafure. and composifion. Firsf, fhere is grammar. Grammar is a game inof fo be confused wifh fhe ofher games fhaf some English feachers playl. lf is presided over by a man named Burnham. who is fo grammar whaf Hoyle is fo cards. The idea of fhe game is fhaf words have cerfain names-noun, verb, adiecfive--and fhe player musf fry fo mafch fhe word wifh fhe name. Why? Wh fry 'ro fhrow a ball fhrough a hoop? The game is played, sfudlenfs againsf feachers. The sfudenfs generally lose. Affer fenfh grade everybody fires of 'rhis game and quifs. Nexf fhere is liferafure. This is perhaps fhe mosf imporfanf area of English: for, many people, whom we wouldn'f meef af Berf's or fhe Hof Shop e lfhey're deadi, knew fhings. or fhoughf fhings, 'fhaf we oughf fo know. They wrofe fhese fhings down in books so fhaf we would have fhe opporfunify fo be- come enlighfened, and fhen forgef. Buf, we do remember fhem for a while, from fhree o'clock in 'rhe morning lwhen we've finished fheml. unfil we enfer class lafer in fhe day fo fake fesfs on fhem. This sifuafion is unforfunafe, since fhe classics la classic is fwice as fhick as an ordinary bookl are nof only essenfial +o our educafion, buf are fhe few milesfones marking our pafh fhrough Cenfral in fhe English deparfmenf. ln ninfh grade we read The Odyssey. This concerns a man named Odysseus who, having losf his way coming home from Troy, received help from a man named Homer. This caf, Homer. was blind. Advice fo freshmen-remember rosey-fingered dawn. and Odysseus' winged words. There was an Ancienf Mariner, who, having s+op- '12 -4. ,--wg . ff- Q. ' ..,, l .. ' . - ' i 4. .,'f'i:i.s fHEl l,n1,,:-:mi , E,:s.::..-:k4Li.4l-..1seg,s1a'Mu'-' A- l' l 1 A M,m,,L,L-in .,-,g.g. LA.. g,4,,J,qgii,,.A,i,,.T. ' ',...i.L,,,,gi AL I .Q ..:,,a,,J11 .-

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umm-wwf-A 'r-'r M new 3 MRS. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT S5 EAST 14751 STREET NEW YORK CITY It gives me great pleasure to send you the following message for your Record Book. 'The most important problem facing all nations is the establishment of uni- versal and permanent peace. I sincerely hope that our present efforts to reach agreement on disarmament will bring us nearer this goal. very sincerely yours. ll LhS'

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a li is Q' . re , B E ns E 5 uv : 'f 5 I. ' iff? . Q.-gr Mr. Ba sky Mr. Borkowih Mr. Cados M Ca puni 41 haroon r. Dis M Mr. Goldberg ii? X fe '-if f 'LL' 'WNW Vz, . . LL,'L1 1 lei? I EWMEM AD He Dr. Horan Mr. gli l pelhed one ol lhree, killed a bird lhal was supposed lo bring good luck: lrom lhen on lhe old guy had had il. Everyone had bad luck. Even hanging lhe dead bird around his neck did nol help. ln our innocenl sophomore days we read lhe line Waler, waler, everywhere, nor any drop lo drink. Bul now . . . Older and wiser we come lo Silas lvlarner. Juniors, re- member lhal George Eliol was a woman. You don'l have lo, bul if nolhing else will help you pass, lhal will. In Tale ol Two Cilies we were inlroduced lo Charles Dickens. ln lhis lale ol romance, advenlure, inlrigue, and knilling, we learned lhal, Tis a lar, lar beller lhing . . . We really learned lhal il is a lar. lar beller lhing lo allow plenly ol lime lo read a book by Dickens. This conlacl wilh Dickens bursl inlo lull bloom when we encounlered lhal lovable schoolboy, David Copperlieldf' This book was ol such glreal lenglh lhal we were immedialely hoslile lowards il. Bul, aller a monlh ol diligenl reading, we were nearly linished. Now, we are slill hoslile lowards il. Remember lhe names ol lhe characlers - you mighl wanl lo use lhem on your enemies somelime. Then, we have William Shakespeare. l-le wrole many plays, all ol lhem lamous. ln honor ol him lhe phrase spol and gloss was invenled. He was so loved by our classmales lhal many slayed on al Cenlral longer lhan lour years. They wanled lo gel lhe lull impacl ol lhis lileralure. We read Julius Caesar. Romeo and Juliel, Macbelh, l'lamlel, and possibly more -who can remember? Nol only did we read lhem, loul we read lhem again, and again, and again. We're educaled. We read olher lhings loo. We read poelry, essays, and even shorl slories. We read lols ol lhings. The lhird gieneral area ol English is composilion. We wrole aboul whal we did, whal we wanled lo do, and whal we would have done. We wenl so deeply inlo crilical analysis lhal we could crilicize lhe crilicism ol a crilical analysis. Since mosl ol us wanled lo do, did do, and would have done very much lhe same lhings, our papers were very much alike. The major difference was in lhe magnilude ol our abilily lo murder lhe English language. I3