East Brunswick High School - Emerald Yearbook (East Brunswick, NJ)

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Something completely different Like most of our fellow countrymen down through the years, we tend to distrust the old and favor the new. We will tear down a fine old building to make room for a parking lot or a glass-and-chrome box. We will modify a traditional rite like commencement until we end up with a ceremony quite different from the first such. We do the same even with words. A valedictorian used to be the person who ranked tops in his class. Last year we graduated no less than seventeen from the same class! This year was no different as far as change went. Student Council became the Student Union and a committee replaced the usual cadre of officers. We went to an eight- period schedule. The attendace procedure was computerized and the machine was programmed to block out a passing grade for any subject you cut more than four times in a quarter. Football had a losing season for the first time in memory. Monty Python got more laughs than Mel Brooks and more kids watched Mary Hartman. Mary Hartman than All in the Family. Democrats seemed inclined to nominate Jimmy Carter for the fall's Presidential campaign, and Republicans were taking a se- cond look at Ronald Reagan. STUDENT LIFE—13

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12—STUDENT LIFE SENIORS WON the Homecoming float contest which isn't very unusual But their float was generally credited with being the best one ever! Nature followed suit and hit us with the best flu virus ever—the Victoria A kind. The after-effects lasted for months THIS YEAR WAS DIFFERENT Girls joined the bowling team. Student Council dissolv- ed into a Student Union and tried out new ideas—like giving a friend a flower. We chose a Homecoming King for the first time, and AV did their own show on cable TV's channel 8.

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KANSAS WHEAT turns from gold to amber under the afternoon sun Best known for its farm products and its beef. Kansas also has a large aircraft industry It also produces yearbooks, including this one. Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie Most of us are mildly schizophrenic. You know, you stand in line for half an hour waiting to get a Big Mac, and all the while you tell yourself. This is crazy. Well, we like change but we also like nostalgia. We get angry if someone reminds us that the battle took place on Breed's Hill, not Bunker Hill. We re- sent being told that Paul Revere didn't make the whole ride himself. We don't like being told that a bear hibernates all winter. We retain Homecoming, though few here can tell you why the game is a homecoming. The l-hate-this- school crowd will cry at gradua- tion. We flock to sock hops. Bogart film festivals, and the county fair. We idolize Fonzie, dress like the greasers of the fifties, and drink like it were still Prohibition. Given the excesses of Progressive Education and Dr. Spoch, many are even yearning for the more traditional school and urging that education get back to the basics. 14—STUDENT LIFE