Framingham High School - Philomath Yearbook (Framingham, MA)

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Page Ten 11' school, made the suggestion that we con- tinue the Christmas work begun in 1928. The matter was then thoroughly dis- cussed in the Student Council and the plan was adopted. A committee was appointed by the president of the Council to supervise this great project. Each home room in turn elected a committee to take charge of its business. Then a family was assigned to each room. These families were designated by numbers and the students were told the number of individuals in the family for whom they were providing, as well as the age and sex of each member. For two weeks the building was buzzing with the voices of cheerful givers as they heaped boxes high with supplies. At last the final day for contributions came. Such goodies, such clothing! Boxes just crammed with cheer for those less fortunate than we are! Yes, indeed, their Christmas would be a happy one, but those eager, generous, young providers were blessed with the merriest and most beautiful Christmas ever! Nor is Christmas the only time that such work is carried on, for every Thanksgiving huge boxes of food are dis- tributed and during the year articles of clothing are provided. In this manner the problem of educa- tion along social lines is solved. What better solution could be found? Surely there is no better, for by this method we actual experiencewand are taught by experience is the best teacher. Before closing my talk, I shall ask the of the Student Council Senior members and the Marshal Force to rise. Your duties, fellow-classmates, have been many and difficult, but during your three years at Framingham High School you have done your work willingly and well. Your services have been deeply appreciated. Not only are our leaders to be con- gratulated, but also all the other students HE CPI-IILOMATH of the Framingham High School who have so kindly cooperated to make our school outstanding in all its undertakings. May our students, so carefully and excellently trained along the lines of good citizenship, ever continue to work for the honor and glory of our nation, as they have worked in the past for the honor and glory of our school. Virginia McNally, '31. J-5 Class Orafion The Necessify for a Liberal Eclucafion We, the Class of Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-One, shall soon be citizens of the world, in which intellectually or physically we shall be responsible for carrying on and contributing to civiliza- tion. The question here arises as to how we can best fit ourselves to do our share in life with the greatest efficiency. The only solution lies in the continuation of our education, by attending higher schools of learning if possible, and, if we cannot have that privilege, by teaching ourselves. It is to this paramount question of educa- tion that I should like to call your atten- tion this evening. Modern education falls distinctly into two types: first, cultural education, the study of liberal arts, in- cluding such subjects as languages, his- tory, music, philosophy, and pure mathe- matics, secondly, technical education, re- lating to the study of science and applied mathematics. The first type needs no introduction, for mankind has been acquainted with it since the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the scholars of that eventful period called the 'fRenaissance eagerly de- voured all the classical manuscripts of Greece and Rome, and built a foundation of classical learning which has been flourishing to this day. Classical sub- jects have been quite frequently studied and have been zealously sought for, but

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'THE CPHILOMATH P !4eNf e went to school merely to be educated in the basic principles. Reading, 'riting and 'rithmeticf' the three all-important 'fR's, were greatly stressed, and when they were mastered, a person's education, at least his public education, was thought to be sufhcient. But these people who were graduated from our schols were our lead- ers, and as such were expected to execute various social and political tasks. People began to realize that our citizens lacked education along certain lines. A most per- plexing problem faced our great educa- tors. How could our young people be taught to be worthy citizens without inter- fering with their scholastic education? The problem was studied and restudied by many eminent scholars. Did they solve it? Certainly they did, and in a most creditable manner. The method is found in a description of the governing bodies of the Framingham High School. The foremost student-governing organ- ization in the school is the Student Coun- cil, which is in reality a sort of miniature House of Representatives, composed of members elected from each home-room. This is our Legislative Department where problems of school government are solved and where school laws are made. These solutions and laws are subject to the approval or veto of our Principal, who is the executive head of our school. Aiding the Principal in the enforcement of the school laws is the Marshal Force, which is composed of students elected by the members of the school. The chief duty of the latter is to supervise inter- class passing. Our judicial Department is vested in the Executive Committee of Marshals, in the Executive Committee of the Student Council, and in our Principal. Thus we have right here in our own school a small but efficient government, which has as its model the government of the United States of America! What bet- ter training could there be for our future citizens? Along with the various courses which the students are pursuing, they learn how to vote, supervise elections and execute laws. They learn to put aside personal feelings and to elect candidates that are best suited for office, to study situations carefully, and make laws wise- ly, and last of all to obey each and every law that is made. It is in this manner that the civil training of students is cared for in the Framingham High School. Now we come to the social education, which includes pleasant things like the planning of parties and dances, as well as the more touching but none the less grati- fying task of caring for those who are in need of aid of a practical nature. The former business is cared for by the class or organization which is sponsoring the social function. The students carry out every phase of this work-refreshments, checking, and building-patrol. You may be puzzled at the phrase Ubuilding- patrol,'l and consequently I will endeavor to explain it. At every social affair of the year, several students volunteer for so- called ffpatrol-dutyf' Usually they bear some mark of distinction such as arm- bands or badges. These boys and girls act as marshals, directing guests to their various destinations and preserving order in the hall and in the corridors. How could these socials be other than success- ful with such eager, willing cooperation? As a sweet-toothed child leaves the frosting on his cake to eat last of all, so I have left until last what we consider the most beautiful work of all, our charitable work. This is a more recent development in our school, and indeed it is our finest and most interesting project. As an in- stance of this eagerness to help these less fortunate people, let me describe to you the splendid work done by our high school during the last Christmas holidays. Our Principal, the executive head of the

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THE CPI-IILOMATH Pf'8'eElf 'f ' the tendency of the modern age is to read them superlicially, gathering only-a dim impression of their true meaning and studying them only because they offer diversion and relaxation from the daily routine of life. This tendency is explained by the fact that the rapid strides taken by science in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have revolutionized all modes of living. Modern life demands knowledge which will give the individual control over his environment. This knowledge is strictly scientific, and to become efficient today, one must have some technical training. This type of education deserves much Commendation because of its utility to mankindg it has made possible our cities of skyscrapers, our complicated fac- tories, our elaborate railway and canal systems-all achievements which could not have been accomplished by the raw muscle of man. Although these marvels of science remain unchallenged for their economic value, they cannot totally re- place the liberal arts, which are an abso- lute necessity for the progress of the human mind. Scientific developments, if unaccompanied by a knowledge of cul- tural subjects, will eventually make man unavoidably mechanical, causing him to lose independence and self-reliance. He will no longer have an aesthetic inclina- tion, he will only be an instrument which will act as an attendant, and harken to the commanding voice of grinding wheels. Today even the schools and colleges are being influenced by mechanical enter- prises, especially in the cities. In purely technical schools attention is not paid to giving the pupil acquaintance with the magnificence of life, but to achieving some definite result, to the amassing of a certain amount of information which must be stored up in the person's mind. Because of these requirements the tech- nical schools and colleges are tending to turn out as a finished product of educa- tion a human textbook of merely scien- tific information. Is this the purpose of education? Not if one is to believe the words of Everett Dean Martin that f'Learning is an adventure in any kind of truth-seeking which changes the quality of one's future experience and enables him to behave not merely efficiently, but wisely, with a broad view and a sympa- thetic understanding of the many ways in which men have striven to create mean- ing and value out of the possibilities of human life. Back in the days when Greece was at the height of her power only the free man was permitted a liberal education, the slave was held in subjection in part by his lack of knowledge and therefore it was a necessity that he remain ignorant. In Europe, even today, liberal education is for the gentlemen, the nobility and those who do not work as laborers. But here in America, where the opportunities and advantages are greater than in any other nation, the doors of culture are open to any man who will devote himself to a liberal course. The profits that man reaps from these fields are undebatably those which will forward human civiliza- tion. Whenever such phases of history as the Roman Empire, the Hundred Years' War, and the French Revolution, or such famous names as Augustus Cwsar, joan of Arc, Robespierre, are mentioned, the liberally educated individual is rapidly carried into the past to experience many forgotten achievements and ideals, which are unfamiliar to the man with the purely scientific background. Let us not only live in the present, but during this short life which is given us, let us enter into the pages of history to live a thousand lives and to learn how past ages have at- tempted to create for us a better world with higher ideals. Furthermore, by means of a liberal