East Tennessee State University - Buccaneer Yearbook (Johnson City, TN)

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30 THE CHALK LINE June 5, 1931 and refusal to see the consequences to which like causes have led in the past. A college education for the man who has it, should fill this lack. Deal¬ ing much with the past—for which it is sometimes condemned—it should give the graduate, when he is acting as a citizen, the historical perspective from which to judge the policies he is asked to support or oppose by comparison with similar policies and their results in his own and other countries. The habit which it should give of looking on things not by themselves but in their relations to others will enable the citizen to ap¬ praise the proposals of either the enthusiastic re¬ former or the rigid reactionary; to search for and if necesary to expose to others the immedi¬ ate or remote consequences which the preponents of a scheme are very apt, with or without inten¬ tion, to keep somewhat in the background. And what of the value of the college education to the man, himself, as a man? It is well for a man to be devoted to his work, but man was not made to work all the time. Outside of his office, he should be something more than the “tired business man.” He can do his work better if his education has enabled him when the day ' s work is done to turn to something entirely different, something which will send him back to his desk refreshed by the rest which comes from an en¬ tire change of ideas and interests. Perhaps it is here that the college education pays best after all. For the other features which I have spoken of have to do only with making a living—this counts in making a life. LOVE ETERNAL Was I long, long ago with you somewhere ? Have we far distant lands ever trod? Since the Spirit returns to the Giver, Were we not long ago then with God? There is something that makes me recal it, But I cannot recall where or when, In the depths of my soul though I feel it, And I know that we love now as then. For our Love is of God, and eternal. It was then; it is now; it shall be, When, with bodies celestial, we enter Into joys mortal eyes cannot see. —I. L. H. THE TRAIL OF LONG AGO (Meditations of a T. C. Alumnus ? Years Hence) As I idly sit and gaze at the stars In the moonlight ' s shinning glow My mind goes back to a well worn track To a trail of long ago. I can see it still as it stretches way ' Twixt a border of maples and oaks With the sunlight here, and the shadows there, And the clouds floating by like smoke. I can feel the cool breeze on my cheek. Hear a ripple of laughter low. I can smell the perfume of the lilacs in bloom Down that trail of the long ago. But others are walking that trail tonight Little dreaming that we may know The mystic delight of those starry nights Down that trail of long ago. They go to the Library, and there they halt. Then up to the main building, slow. To the Cafe and back—they are all on the track In the trail of the long ago. Lost: Two nights sleep. Cause: A girl named Inez. Result: Red present at roll-call but passed right out. “Hello.” “Hello, is this Margaret?” “Yes.” “Do you still love me?” “Yes, who is it?” Frances: You raised your hat to that girl who passed. You don ' t know her, do you? Mr. Brown: No, but my brother does and this is his hat. A dainca A data Out lata Perchanca A classa A quizza No passa Gee whizza.

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THE CHALK LINE 29 June 5, 1931 equation. Let us admit at once that there are men on whom a college education would be wasted. The old saying about putting a thousand dollars worth of education over a hundred dollar boy is as true as it ever was. Also there are exceptional men to whom a college could give nothing—but only a few of them. Even within these limits what each individual student gets from his col¬ lege depends largely on himself. He may waste nis four years or make them of untold value. The question then returns to this: For the man with an average mind, or better, willing to make good use of his opportunities, does it pay to spend tour years in the general cultural studies included in what we ordinarily term a college course? for the professions the tendency has always been to answer the question in the affirmative. The law student finds some of the best law schools settling it for him by requiring two to four years of college work for admission as a regular stu¬ dent. The same is becom ing true of the medical schools, except that in their case there is a some¬ what more definite statement of the “pre¬ medical” work to be done in college. In both these cases the requirement is justified. A man may make a kind of a lawyer by building his legal studies on the foundation of a high school course or less; if he is a good business man, he may make a success in certain legal fields without a general education—and without much of a legal education either. But if he wishes to go any distance into the history and theory of the law; if he wishes to be able to deal with a new situ¬ ation on general legal principles rather than by a liberal citation of nearly parallel cases; if he has any hope of making any real contributions of his own to the science; then he needs a broader basis in history and philosophy, and the college is the surest and in some senses the cheapest means to get it. Likewise in medicine the physician needs today a broad foundation of pure science for his own specialty. While in both professions, deal¬ ing as they do with all kinds of people and all phases of their business, any item of any branch of knowledge may at some time or other prove useful if not vital. To the clergyman the value of a college course is still greater. I take for granted the need of the classics as a foundation for scriptural exegesis, and of secular history as a background for the history of the Church and its doctrines, of philosophy and psychology for an understanding of religion in itself and its in¬ fluence on human beings. But more than this we have to recognize today the weakness of the hold of the Church upon educated men, a weakness ac¬ centuated by the various failures of organized Christianity in connection with the Great War. One very influential cause of this has been the fact that such men found the clergy their intel¬ lectual inferiors, and have felt that they had nothing to give them, or that what they offered was unreliable. In that condition of things it is apparent that the man who enters the ministry will find the broadest possible education none too much. For teaching and its related professions the need of a college course is self-evident. But what of the man who does not enter a profession, but goes into business, or industry, or even back to the farm? Is a college course a paying investment for him? I answer emphatic¬ ally, “Yes.” Directly it is often of some help, that is some of the actual items of knowledge he has acquired may be turned directly to account. But its great value is indirect. Industry is today very special¬ ized. Most men have each a small field of action which they must know thoroughly. It is rare indeed that they can get just that information at college. But their college course should have given them the ability to learn their work, to see their position and its duties as a whole, the rela¬ tion of one part to another; to analyze it, and deal with each part in succession, so that they can get their work into running order quicker than the untrained man. From this specializa¬ tion of business another consequence follows: No one man can work alone, all must be made to work together; and the highest places and the highest rewards go to the men who can see all these small¬ er fields in their relation to the larger whole, and keep the army of special workers below them moving in harmony without friction or overlap- ing. And this broader vision, this grasp of method which may be applied to many different kinds of data, is exactly what the college educa¬ tion should give a man, and will, if, on his side, he works for it. He may get it without the col¬ lege—many men have, but it is at the cost of much labor and many failures. But whether a man is in business or a profes¬ sion, he must be a citizen whether he wishes it or not. As a citizen, however small, his infinitesimal part of the governing of the country may be, he is responsible for doing it right. Now many if not most of our mistakes in national policy in the past have risen from lack of knowledge of all the relations of our acts; or from heedlessness

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June 5, 1931 THE CHALK LINE 31 ALUMNI NEWS The alumni of State Teachers College have been successful in all fields of education. Some have made remarkable records in the school-room, others as coaches and still others as leaders in law and politics. Miss Pearl Archer has been teaching in John¬ son City Junior High School the past year and from all reports she has been an excellent teacher. Miss Bernadine Ballard taught English in the Lamar High School this year. Mr. Kirk Banks of Elizabethton is the super¬ intendent of Carter County schools. Raymond Barry, class 1930, has been teaching and coaching at Tellico Plains where he has made a good name for himself. Mrs. Gertrude Boren is the head of the History department at the Teachers College Training School. Mrs. Boren graduated at Teachers Col¬ lege in 1930. Miss Julia Brewer, also of the class of 1930, is a teacher at the West Side School, Johnson City. Miss Brewer has been very successful this year. Mr. Charles Edgar Britton is a teacher of Geography at the Johnson City Junior High School. Mr. Howard Carr is teacher and coach at Wash¬ ington College. Besides being efficient in the school room he has produced some good basket ball and baseball teams. Miss Velma Cloyd is at the head of the Mathe¬ matics department at the Teachers College Train¬ ing School. She certainly knows how to teach Math.—We ' ve observed her. Mr. Emmett Conner is studying and practising law in Johnson City. Miss Cora Mae Crockett is teaching the sixth grade at the West Side School. Mrs. Frank Field has been teaching at Happy Valley. She is so good that they won ' t give her up. Ross Fritts is Superintendent of County schools in Johnson County. Ross has been very successful in his work. Paul Gourley is teaching in the Appalachain Teachers College Training School at Boone, North Carolina. Another alumni who has made good. Another alumni who has a good record to be proud of is Miss Catherine Hartsook. She is teaching in the Martha Wilder School. Mr. Trent Huff, ex-superintendent of Schools in Polk County, is in Teachers College taking a post graduate course. Mr. Edwin Kennedy is a teacher and director of athletics in the Newport High School. Ed ' s success as a coach is known to everyone. Rodney McNabb, a member of the class of 1930, sold enough books to make a dozen libraries. Rodney was called from this profession to teach in the Unicoi County High School where he has been very successful. Miss Dorothy Whitlock is teaching violin at the Teachers College Training School. Since she has been there everyone has wanted to learn to play a violin. Ross Walker has done his part to make the class of 1930 famous by being elected Superin¬ tendent of the Hawkins County Schools. Any¬ body want to teach in Hawkins County? Mr. L. L. Sisk is the head of the Physics de¬ partment in the Senior High School of Johnson City. Besides being a teacher in the high school he also takes an active part in church work. Miss Blanche Shoun has been very succesful teaching History in the Bristol, Virginia High School. She has built up that department there and has won praise from her co-workers; also some from Miss Maxine Mathews. Miss Vera Ross is teaching at Happy Valley. She has enjoyed two successful years there. The record of Mr. James Mooney is known to everyone. He is now the property of the New York Giants. We could write and write about the remarkable records made by the alumni of Teachers College but space will not permit. Over the length and breadth of East Tennesee the good work of the Teachers College alumni is being manifest. —SELAH. Mildred Ellison: “Well, I finally got into the movies. Nicely: “You really did! How? Mildred: “Oh, I paid the usual fifty cents. Prof. Bible: “Thank God for our follies. Harville: “Yes, I like the women, too.