Champlain Central School - Aurora Borealis Yearbook (Champlain, NY)

Page 13 text:

NEW EDUCATION VERSUS THE OLD I wish to congratulate the Seniors in having completed satis- factorily four years of high school. You have acquired a good education. It is an education not only as good as, or better than, can be found in most parts of the world, but it is distinctly better than the education your father or your grandfather had when they completed high school. There will be people who will tell you differently. High school students today can't spell. High school students can't use arithmetic. High school pupils don't know the facts of Amer- ican History. Modern education has its shortcomings, without question. But the plain fact is that it is better education than your fathers or grandfathers had. Schools have changed in the numbers and make up of the student body, in the subjects taught and, most of all, in the methods of teaching. In 1880 there were only about 67,000 high school students in all of New York State. Today we have approximately 7 +5,000 high school students in New York State. The subjects studied have changed because today's graduates are citi- zens of a state and a nation, and of a world, that are more com- plicated and challenging than ever before. Two American Educators undertook an interesting experiment. They found a complete set of examination papers - pupils' papers, teachers' corrections and all - that had been given in the schools of Boston in 185 . They gave these same examinations to modern day pupils in a number of American schools. The I85P+ pupils tak- ing the examination were described as The flower of the Boston Schools. The 20th Century pupils were unselected. The modern day pupils gave better and more correct answers than did the pupil of 185 . If it is true that you have received a better education, it is also true that there is a greater need today for better edu- cated citizens than there ever was before. Democracy is Govern- ment of the people, by the people, and for the people. You are the government. Democracy cannot exist without education. It is your responsibility to see that those younger than yourselves, and later your own children, have not only the advantages of edu- cation that you have had, but new and better advantages that fut- ure changes in education and in the world about us are sure to bring. Daniel E. Maher, Principal