Dickinson High School - Gnome Yearbook (Jersey City, NJ)

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FRAINR 1' RIATHTW mx VVNI L DICKINIBON HIGH bCHOOI 1912 1930 Dxed NI ly 12 1930 A Y ' 1. 1 1 x 1 Director, Imlustrial and Techozifral Dcpcvrtmen-t 'A 2 Q 5 1 r 8 .

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Jin illlmnnrmnn Eighteen years ago the era of the old rather narrow type of high school rn thrs crty was brought to a close by the advent of the new Comprehensive High School wrth rts motto To grve any krnd of educatron to any boy or girl, to prepare hrm or her for any positron rn lrfe The Board of Education had searched the country for the most outstanding avail able man to be the organmer and chief executive rn the development of thrs ncwest and important field of education Frank E Mathewson was called rn 1912 to become the Director of the Technrr rl and Industrial Department of Wm L Drckrnson High School It rs drffrcult for us today to realize the magnrtude of the problem which confronted hrm, technical industrial education was unknown rn thrs crty, what subjects to offer what equipment to buy whom to select for teachers how to organize the cour se these were but a few of the problems lard upon the new drrector A man more rap able or better prepared by actual experience would have been drffrcult to find No mere theoretical education had been hrs, but he was a graduate of the school ol cxperrence Mr Mathewson was born rn Chrcopee Falls Massachusetts rn 1869 He was compelled to leave high school to earn hrs lrvrng before the completion of hrs course To the average boy thrs would have meant the end of education :but lfrank Mathewson was not an average boy What he could not complete at day school he continued at night Picture hrm, a boy of sixteen fatigued by hrs day s worl steadfastly spending hrs evenings rn the mechanical drawing class So outstanding, was hrs work that he was rrrade the instructor of the class whrle strll rn hrs tecrrs Draftsman for the Spalding Bicycle Co But hrs ambrtron was along educatronal lrnes, and he hailed with Joy the call to become full time day and night teacher rn Mechanical Arts High School of Springfield Massachusetts A short time later he was called to become assistant prrncrpal and to help rn the organization of the Cleveland Technical High School After three strenu ous years rn Ohro he returned east, thrs time to the new Wentworth Instrtutc rn Boston where he headed the department of drawing and design Before a ye rr had passed however, he was called to begin the great work of hrs lrfe rn Jersey Crty So outstanding was the success of the work he established here, and so far flung, was rts fame that Drckrnson High School became a veritable Mecca of educators lhe vrsrtors record of that day rs a roster of hundreds of promrnent men and women and of scores of delegations from almost every state and country, who had comc to examine thrs new educatronal experiment Jersey Crty was on the educatronal map and Mathewson had put rt there In 1918, when the fate of democracy was yet rn the balance, he was chosen by the War Department to become the Drstrrct Educational Director for Vocational Instruc tron for all the War Trade Trarnrng Schools of New York and New Jersey Hrs last great work has been the promotion of the Eastern Arts Assocratron, of whrch, as secretary treasurer, he has been for many years the acknowledged leading sprrrt The lrfe of Frank E Mathewson should be an rnsprratron to every boy who faces drscouragement or to whom the way seems impossible Wrth but a fragmentary school ing he became by self applrcatron alone as cultured a man as the most highly trained college graduate No errors of speech, no nrrsspelled words, no lack of appreciation of lrterature and art betrayed hrm No higher trrbute can be pard hrm than these words of a promrnent professor rn a great unrversrty Frank Mathewsons highest degree rs DA tDoctor of Accom plrshmentj Hrs sheepskrn rs from the Unrversrty of Hard Knocks He needs no monument There could be none greater than thrs school He lrves, and wrll lrve enshrrned rn the hearts of thousands of grateful young men and women here and elsewhere whom rt was hrs supreme desrre to serve r 3 0 . I I I I .I . . . I . . , . - ' 1 . N . . . . . I . I I 1 L' I I. . . . ,, . I . II I . I w I ' ' ' u . 1 a l nz . - I. I. I. . . . , - I . I .. II - , I- - . I- I- 1 Q , I ' 'Q I -, .. - II I . I I . . I U I I ' . x ,' v I I . . I I . I ' . . v ' ' V ,, F. V - v -1 . I . . ' . I . I . . . . I, ' II . '- , x, II . . . . . I . II I :I . II I . I . I . . . ,I U I ,, His mastery of mechanical drawi-ng prepared him for' the enviable position of Chief I I. I. I . .I I .IIII I. II.II I . I I . I . , . . I I . I. II I . . ' . . . . H U , . ,, . . I , I . I I . - 4 ' - ' . 1 I. I . . I Iv I I . . I . I . q A4 I , . . l A ,1 . . - ' . . . . . . ,, 1 ' i 9