Chelmsford High School - Yearbook (Chelmsford, MA)

Page 8 text:

Eolucoitions Chctllenge to American Youth The success of American democracy is so closely related to education that one wonders why at any time people would lose sight of its value and significance in our way of life. Yet, in spite of the dependence of our form of government upon the processes of education, we ind ourselves in a period of educational depression which has assumed the proportions of a crisis. Two great aspects of this crisis seem to center around the apparent lack of concern on the part of the general public as to-what is happening to our schools, and the large number of teachers who have left the pro- fession in recent years never to return, together with the small number of persons preparing to become teachers. That schools cost too much , that our educational program is good enough , and that what was acceptable schooling for my grandfather is all right for the pres' ent generation are remarks often made by those who fail to understand the prob' lem or to measure the consequences if it is not solved successfully. People look at statistics of increasing school costs and decreasing enrollments and wonder where it will all end. They seldom look beyond their own communities to measure the extent of the cost. In our nation as a whole less than two per cent of our national income is spent on educationfa small investment for so great an undertaking. If local ref sources are being taxed to the limit, then state and national governments must bear their fair share, for the value and influence of education are as great as the nation itself. Educational programs can never be just good enough . They must always be adjusted to the needs of our youth. The same people who argue that the schools of grandfather's day are all right for the present generation would rebel if one sug- gested that they be satisfied with a 1911 model automobile instead of the smooth run' ning, beautiful, and efficient machine of today. It was expected that during the war years many of our teachers would leave the profession for industry or service with the armed forces. About 350,000 of the nearly 1,000,000 teachers in the United States left their school rooms in recent years leaving many classrooms without replacements. NVhat we did not realize, perhaps, was that many of these young people would fail to return to teaching at all. Add to this situ' ation the fact that our teacher training institutions are currently graduating only a handful of persons prepared to enter our classrooms and it is not difficult to see that our schools are in a serious plight. ,I Education needs the best thinking, the keen interest, and the continuous attenf tion of all persons, but most of all it seems to me, it requires the active concern of those closest to it, that is, parents of children in school, and those young people who will graduate from our High Schools in June. High School graduates can do much to safeguard the future of education by actively concerning themselves with the wel' fare of our schools now, not ten years in the future, when thoughts and ideas con- cerning education are apt to be out of adjustment with the problems then being faced. Teaching is a great profession. Teachers work with minds and personalities, and the impressions they leave, for good or ill, are never quite erased. The influence of a great teacher is never forgotten and may change the course of many lives, while the consequences of ineffective teaching are tragic to contemplate. Truly, teaching is a profession which demands the best. If the basis of our democracy is to be safeguarded, our High School graduates should maintain an active and purposeful interest in education even though their for- mal schooling may have ended. More young people must enroll in our teacher train' ing institutions lest our classrooms go empty and our youth untaught. This is the challenge of education to American youth. EVERETT L. HANDY Superintendent

Page 7 text:

Wit, IIIL' Class of 1947, LiULilL'Ll!L' H115 book to C11A1aLo'1 1'E S. CAIQIKIEL zf'lm.w gzudancu and tcczclnngs luwc shown us infinite horizons in study, 1'UL'flIfOHS, and human frclcltionslnps.

Page 9 text:

DR. EVERE'T'1' L. HANDT S1cfwT1'ntm1dc11t of thc Sflmols of Cl1L'Z771.SAflJTfl