Girls Latin School - Liber Annalis Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Glass Essay SOME HUMAN VALUES IN A CLASSICAL EDUCATION In the labyrinth of reconversion the thread which will lead man from bewilderment to clear thinking is education. It is the magical word pointing the road to world harmony. Everywhere educators are seeking to discover what type of high school as well as college education will best produce a people fitted to face the problems of a complex civilization. An important group of these educators is the Harvard Committee, who in its report on General Edu- cation in a Free Society explains education as not merely the imparting of knowledge but the cultivation of certain aptitudes and attitudes in the mind of the young . . . Education looks both to the nature of knowledge and to the good of man in society . . . Education should aim at the good man, the good citizen, and the useful man. That such an aim is not new can be proved by recalling the purpose of education as set forth by Thomas Jefferson. He believed the purpose of education to be: To form the statesmen, legislators, and judges, on whom public prosperity and individual happiness are so much to depend, To expound the principles and structure of government, the laws which regulate the intercourse of nations, those formed municipally for our own govern- ment, and a sound spirit of legislation, which, banishing all arbitrary and unnecessary restraint on individual action, shall leave us free to do whatever does not violate the equal rights of anotherg To harmonize and promote the interests of agriculture, manufacture, and commerce, and by well-informed views of political economy to give a free scope to the public industryg To develop the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds, cultivate their morals, and instill into them the precepts of virtue and order: To enlighten them with mathematical and physical sciences, which advance the arts and administer to the health, the subsistence, and comforts of human life: And, generally, to form them to habits of reflection and correct action rendering them examples of virtue to others, and of happiness within them- selves. How has our Latin school course helped us to meet these aims of education? It has acquainted us with the past through our study of the history of ancient peoples. Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Persia, Phoenicia, Palestine, Greece, and Rome have all had lessons to teach us which will make us better and more useful citizens. After studying the contributions of these people to the art, archi- tecture, literature, religion, philosophy, and sciences of the world, youth cannot help realizing the values of every race in building the world and tearing it down. l36l

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Mine was delightful, yes, delightful, murmured Dormouse in his sleep. But not quite as delightful, Alice answered, as the entertainment presented by Mistress of Ceremonies, Catherine Vakarg chairman, Joy Dorfman, and co- chairman Muriel Goldberg. Why, Hatter, there was even a pantomime, 'The Miracle of St. Nicholas,' with the singing all in French. The Hatter's eyes popped at this. The applause for directress, Katherine Welch, leadingj lady, Mary Clifford, and the players sounded like a hundred much- nesses falling on the moon - oh, dear, did I say that - mother will never recognize me when I get home. Well, to get back to the tea - there was music, too. Such artists as Barbara Lomax, Abigail Caplan, and Helen Lelecas, three piano virtuososg Charlotte Rothberg and Esta Greenberg, delightful duetersg Barbara Smythe, Estelle Berman, Barbara Enman and Joy Dorfman, quartet, were on the program. And, Dor- mouse CDormouse yawned in acknowledg- mentl, there was story telling, too. The stories of Saint Nick were told in a won- derfully Christmasy way by Lois Carlisle, Elizabeth Hoag, and Barbara Mahoney. S., rfb! O04 GOV qs By this time Dormouse was almost awake, and between pinches from the March Hare and the Mad Hatter was able to re- mark, But you can't feast on entertain- ment alone, can you, my friends? Hatter and March Hare were just about to nod their heads in agreement when Alice exclaimed, Why then, Sybil Green is just the person you would have appre- ciated. With the help of busy committee girls, Barbara Shafran, Irene Weiner, Joanne Prives, Barbara Reisner, Cynthia Marks, Esta Greenberg and Sandra Rowe, she made dainties Iit for the Red Queen. There were multi-colored and multi-flavored hors-d'oeuvres, the fanciest of cakes and cookies, and steaming hot wassail, the pun- gentest and spiciest drink I ever tasted. And pleasantest of all, there was a warm and gay feeling and everyone looked, oh, so pretty. Thanks for your hospitality but I guess I'll go back to Latin School. Alice sweetly curtsied and twirled away. The Dormouse fell asleep and slipped under the table and the Hatter shouted for them to move on to the next place in hopes that he'd find some hors-d'oeuvres there. PR fi f x! Q D 1 kd ,iff N I Q 7' f , , -'L 9: i, . ' Q1 ,,'f 9 Kgs. e u f,, E351

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This knowledge gives him the ability to judge a man by his own merits and not by his color, creed, or nationality. In this way youth will be accustomed to probe, to reason out, to sift all the sides of a question before he presumes to form an opinion. In practical applications he can reach a decision without bigotry or intolerance. Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay on Self Reliance said: Most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief and attached themselves to some . . . communities of opinion. Youth must tear off the bandage that has bound the eyes of previous generations. His education can and will teach him why. The history of peoples bewilderedly grasping at the wrong ideas or trying to solve problems without thought will open his eyes to the fact that decisions require study, penetrating thought, and an unclogged mind. Instead of hiding a new doctrine of government in a closet, youth must bring it out, lay it on a table for all to see, and examine it thoroughly. With his open mind, discrimination, and reason, he will be able to dissect it, probing and analyzing fairly its claims, its practicability, its advantages, its service. The study of Latin has also helped us meet these aims of education. In translating from the original masterpieces of literature one gains a deeper appreciation of human nature. In the study of Vergil, for example, the student meets the tragic and the heroic, the pathetic and the humorous, all stirring his imagination with vivid pictures of action, passion, and thought, and teaching him the power of discrimination. Having been taught to think clearly and to differentiate between sound and unsound, true and false, he will be a better and more useful citizen. What is true of Latin is true of English literature and modern languages. The latter have the added values of enabling one to understand better the nations of today. Science and mathematics should not be overlooked as important factors in fundamental education. In mathematics, the student develops methods of scientific thinking, powers of analysis and logic, and the ability to apply in a practical way his knowledge. Science keeps him alert and interested in dis- coveries that may change his whole life. No one would claim that only those taught in a classical high school are entirely prepared for the future and have covered all the necessary ground. In fact, schools of this type are generally deficient in the instruction of the fine arts. Yet that type of instruction stands firm only on the strong foundation that a classical education can give. Once the essential qualities of a trained mind are attained, the practical and the artistic can be learned more easily and retained with much more profit. A classical education does provide these essential qualities. It fulfills the requirements of education as defined by the Harvard Committee. Through its imparting of knowledge, this education does cultivate certain aptitudes and attitudes in the mind of the young 3 it does look both to the nature of knowledge and to the good of man in societyg and, most important of all, a classical education does aim at and produce the good man, the good citizen, and the useful man. LUCY MANUELIAN E 37 J