Fordham University School of Education - Grail Yearbook (New York, NY)

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sters in our world-hardened eyes. Taken up with part-time jobs and practice teaching, we had little time to spend in school beyond classes. Indeed, it was seldom that we saw the Freshmen. lt only seemed that the lounge was filled with strange new faces. We were amused at their initiation antics and every now and then got to know one or two of them, through meeting them in extracurricular activities. Dan Moriarty was our chief liason between the two classes. Taking Freshman French, he quickly got to know many of them and intro- duced them to us in a sort of share-the-wealth plan. ln the Curved Horn office we met a few more. Some of us met the Freshmen earlier. This year's Freshmen week was again conducted by a Student Council Committee. Headed by Ray Connolly, it again organized and conducted the entire schedule of proceedings in the Freshman introduction period. Returning in September, we quickly be- came attracted to Fr. Hooper's new addition to the lounge. The television set had been in- stalled in the middle of our third year, but it was not until September, the World Series and the televising of Fordham football games that we began to appreciate the wonders of the new medium. Mr. Grace and others of the faculty still fulminated against the gimmick , but progress was not to be denied. Kukla, Fran and Ollie and Hopalong Cassidy vied with sixteenth century British Constitutional History and all too often, the puppets and the cowboys won. ln September we saw a few more new faces in our company, Some of our number switched to the evening session and many of the vets had to forego their scholarship status with the expiring of their GI Bill benefits. These lowly Freshmen A p

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I I I I we ' CB glinrdham Zllma matzr, what mzmurias Kath mall During the summer that intervened be- tween our third and fourth years, the Korean war broke out. All through the course of our college education we had been, in a sense apart from the world of reality. The academic community in which we were involved seemed to close out a large portion of the doings of the workday world. Korea served to bring us back to the grim world outside. We began to chafe at the necessarily imposed artificiality of the little world of 302 Broadway. Almost immeditely some of our number were called to active duty. Vinnie O'Reilly left for the Infantry. Bill Burke, a prime mover in student affairs was recalled into the Air Force and every now and then we would see him back at school. Bruce Heath was called into the Army and Lou Staiano was momentarily ex- pecting orders from the Marine Reserve. John Belson had us worried for a while. He succeeded in obtaining a temporary deferrment from the Marines, then an extension and then another extension before a heart murmur kept him out. Thus the Curved Horn had to junk three of their farewell editorials to their erst- while editor. The world situation evoked a change in our attitudes towards school. In the face of a pos- sible atom bomb attack, studies lost a bit of their all consuming urgency. Extracurricular activities experienced a bit of a letdown after last year's peak. We began to visit the chapel more often. We learned that the best insur- ance against sudden death was frequenting the Sacraments. For some, life was reduced to its simplest terms. We no longer worried about trivia or concerned ourselves too much about the whole world of academic detail that in the face of a 5g I Milf! '..f ' F 4 if f potentially dying civilization seemed to lose their importance. Others, quite naturally, be- gan to bury themselves in a mass of artificially important affairs, they sought escape from- the massive problems that were approaching. lssues in our lives were clarities as they never before had been clarities. Those of us who had not yet found ourselves were given ample time to do so. Major decisions in our lives were either hastened or put off as a re- sult of the outside world's cosmic decision. We were frankly worried about the future. Externally not too much was altered as yet. Aside from the formation of a University Selec- tive Service Committee, the posting of defer- ment and postponement advice and air raid notices on the bulletin boards, not much was changed. We were told to stay put, that if the government wanted us, they could easily enough get us. For the most part we were all too willing to continue as students but there were some exceptions. We felt sorry for the underclassmen, par- ticularly the Freshmen. Most of the class of 'Sl could expect to be allowed to finish their college education. Such was not the case with the underclassmen. We envisioned the school completely devoid of male students in a year. The Freshmen didn't seem to mind how- ever. The novelty of college life, the absorbing attractions of the whole gamut of activities in the School of Education and the demands of their teachers seemed to take their minds off the world situation. Like us, they didn't want to read the newspapers beyond the grim Jan- uary headlines. They were too much occupied with school life. Like all Freshmen from time immemorial, they were eager, enthusiastic idealistic young-

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History Club, ln the History Club, those of us who had the time began an intensive study of modern world problems. Korea, Foreign Aid, State Department Policy and manpower resources were avidly studied by the world conscious. Under the leadership ot Larry Berglas, this or- ganization enjoyed a particularly fine program. No mention of the History Club would be complete without a word about Mr. Mannion, its moderator. ln Sophomore year, those of us who chose History as a major or minor were frankly frightened by the stories we heard from the upperclassmen concerning the fabu- lous Mr. Mannion. We were told that he had a massive intellect, a great capacity for work and a thorough knowledge of subject matter. What frightened us however, were reports that he expected his students to be as he was. Those of us who took his courses were made to try and in general enjoyed the attempt as well as Literary Society. profiting greatly from it, ln the end, we were all convinced of the utter impossibility of ever attaining to his degree of knowledge. For Mr. Mannion was for us the epitome of the creative scholar. Never the pedant, he enriched his vast and well ordered knowledge of subject matter with a cuttingly acute inter- pretation of historical data which when pre- sented to us, literally shocked us into deep thought. ln his classes, many of us were com- pelled to think for the first time in our lives. Never dry or boring, always interesting and thought-provoking, Mr. Mannion is a well re- membered figure in our lives. The Literary Society, in the capable hands of Mr. Connors, also reflected the doings of the world outside. Making a protracted study of the poetrysof disenchantment, they investi- gated the work of T, S. Eliot and gained much from their association with Mr. Connors its faculty moderator. The English department in the School of Education is characterized by variety and the English majors were greatly rewarded in their studies by having several insights into litera- ture presented to them. The creativity and informality of Mr. Jay's class served as a valu- able and interesting counterpoint for Mr. Con- nors' more formal and strictly organized con- sideration. Mr. Grace's insistance on the social and historical implications of literature differed from Mr. Hines' essentially aesthetic approach, while the realism of Mr. Walsh's attitude served to complement Mr. Hassett's consideration of the study of letters. We have said that Mr. Connors presented a formally organized approach to literature. However, its organization did not prevent, but rather insisted on depth of penetration. You always knew that you were in for quite a bit of work when you signed up for one of Mr. Con- nors' courses. Nevertheless, the kindliness and interest shown by Mr. Connors served to ease the drudgery of his seemingly more burden- some assignments.