Hale High School - Pompositticut Yearbook (Stow, MA)

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Durmg the next eleven years, Mann traveled through many towns to glve teachers ad vxce on proper teachmg methods He persuaded the state to ra1se money to help support them Many of the schoolmasters wanted nexther h1s help nor h1s advlce They beheved they we re doxng well enough as It was Mann part1cularly stressed that the relxglous belzefs of any sect should not be forced on the pupils wh1le 1n school Through Mann s efforts normal schools for teachers were set up, and when funds ran short Mann and hzs frxends gave money to help the cause Other states soon followed m he steps of Massachusetts They, too, set up normal schools and the state helped to fmance the1r pubhc schools In 1843 Mann marrled agam and went to Europe There he studled school systems and dlscussed the problems w1th forelgn teachers The report whlch he wrote up on h1s return caused bxtter argument w1th those who opposed hlm Mann beheved that each person rxch or poor should have the same chance to recewe a good free educat1on, and thzs was has mam goal He was a flghter and he fought for these behefs He stated that teachers should try to understand the1r pupxls and should not fnghten them contmually In spxte of all h1s program succeeded Hxgh schools were bullt and the state fund for ed ucat1on more than doubled For the fxrst txme xt was posslble for the average youth to recewe a free educatxon whlch would prepare ham for hxgher learnmg The attendance of schools whxch had been so small suddenly rose, and continued to soar durmg the followxng years Mann s Interest ln educat1on was not hxs only concern He was very much agamst slavery, worked to Improve cond1t1ons 1n state hospltals and Jails Mann was nommated for governor of Massachusetts, but at the same txme, he was offered the pos1t1on of presxdent of Antxoch College He chose to become preszdent of the college, once aga1n, because h1s xnterest ln educatlon was greater than that m pohtlcs Antxoch was then a new college Its bulldmgs were not flmshed and there was no water supply Mann was exhausted and m bad health when he went to Antxoch, and ln trymg to put the college on fxrm foundatlon, h1s health gave out and he d1ed on August Z 1859 The hfe of Horace Mann was spent for one thmg to attam free education for all He and the many other persons l1ke h1m who worked so hard for the1r cause are the ones who made xt posszble for us to have our educatmon The story of Horace Mann as typxcal of many others who have been able to brmg reforms mto the American llfe Because of these people and the1r new zdeas Amerxca has gamed 1ts place of mfluence and power among the natlons of the world Classmates The past twelve years and especzally the last four years of hzgh school whzch have meant so much to us, have now come to an end We have gamed new knowledge from a varxed number of fxelds knowledge that has opened our eyes to strange and wonderful things knowledge that msplres us wxth enthusmasm for greater learmng knowledge that has help ed us to grasp thlngs as they are and as they mxght be If we have acquxred good habxts of study and work, we owe lt to our teachers If we have learned how to become better c1t1zens of our country, agam we owe xt to our teachers What 13 5 I . ' ' . t , . . . . O , . . . . . I 0 ' , . , . . . . . and when he became a congressman, he clashed with Daniel Webster on this question. He also . . . . . . I . . . . . , . r - . . . . . . . . D O I

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HORACE MANN AND HIS INFLUENCE ON OUR LIVES For twelve whole years, we, the class of 1949, have been gomg to school, and the cost to each one of us has been so small as to be neglxgxble It has been a free educatlon How often have we really stopped to conszder how th1s xs posslble ? How are the young people ln Stow and an other towns and cxt1es able to be educated and to have good teachers and var1ed courses at such httle cost to themselves and others? We have been able to prepare for col leges, or other places of higher learnmg wzthout havmg to pay for our knowledge Let s thmk back about a hundred years and see what the schools were lxke then A ty plcal school of the 1820 s was cold and draughty There were no blackboards Just hard wooden benches On these benches a very few students huddled together and fearfully lxsten ed to thexr teacher who occasionally eyed hrs whxp standing ln the corner of the room The chxldren could not understand eas1ly what the teacher was trymg to tell them because the materxal was dull and very often useless to them Even schools of thzs type were very scarce and most of them cost so much money that very few boys could attend Gxrls almost never went to school mn those days Improvements started soon after th1s when Horace Mann the Father of the Amerzcan Pubhc School, started hls great task to better cond1t1ons ln the schools Mann of course was not the only one workmg for pubhc education but hrs ceaseless labors mark hzm as our greatest leader m educatzonal reforms He gave h1s hfe for th1s cause Horace Mann was born on May 4, 1796 1n Franklm Massachusetts and hxs famlly was very poor Wxth the death of hzs father when Horace was thxrteen came fxve years of very hard work on the farm Whenever he could, however he attended school He read the d1ff1 cult adult hzstory books xn the Frankhn Pubhc Llbrary, and from these gamed a wxde knowl edge Those f1ve years of hard work affected Horace s health and consequently he never felt completely well ln all hrs hfe and hxs career was very probably shortened because of It A teacher who was lnterested m Horace tutored hzm for college and 1n 1816 he entered Brown Un1vers1ty In only three years he graduated wxth hxghest honors The next two years were spent xn teachmg at Brown Umverslty Durmg thzs tlme he fell m love wxan the daugh ter of the presxdent, but they delayed thelr marnage untxl 1830 whxle he studxed law and started h1s promlsmg career Mrs Mann dxed very soon after the1r marrxage Th1s was a terr1f1c blow to hlm and hxs frxends were afraxd for h1s health Out of th1s despazr came a des1re to do somethmg for oth ers He was elected to the Massachusetts State Leg1s1ature and then to the State Senate, of whxch he was president This however, was not just what he wanted to do Mann began to reahze that the pubhc school system of Massachusetts was very made quate and that there he mxght be able to be of serv1ce Because the pubhc schools were given l1tt1e support by thexr towns, very lxttle 1nstruct1on was offered A real educatlon could be re vewed only by gomg to a prwate school whxch was very costly In 1837 Mann succeeded 1n havmg a State Board of Education set up He restgned from the Senate to become Secretary to the Board 12 . .. . o n . -. . Q . .. . - . 0 0 . o g - - p n . , . o a . . . . . - 0 Q . . . . 0 I . o . n v so ' I . ,, . -. . 0 I I . . . . . I . . . . . n o . . Q - I I I . . . . o .. e g Q . . . . . . . 0 ' I . . . . . p 1 . . . . I . . . - o Q . . . . . . . - . U I . . . . . . - .- n . . . . .. - . I 9 I - . - . . - . - e s . . . . o p o Q . . . . I 0 . . . . . u . .- . . . . o . Q . . p o a

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we have accomplxshed has been done not only by our own effort but by the patlence, encour agement, and kmd mterest of those same teachers under whose guidance we have come this far For all the1r help, we are very grateful We want to thank our parents for standmg behmd us m our trlals and for glvmg us the mcentlve to go forward We appreczate the mterest the townspeople have shown 1n our school and 1ts affalrs And now my classmates, here we are at the end of our high school course We have studred together, worked together, danced together, and, on the whole, we ve loved xt We shall be sorry not to return for further hlgh school days, but we are proud to graduate from Hale Hxgh School These four years have been happy ones and through It all we ve been rowlng toward cer tam goals not dnftzng almlessly but rowmg' So, as we say Farewell let us row wxth our hearts From comprormse and thmgs half done, Keep me wlth stern and stubborn prlde And when, at last, the fxght as won, God keep me stxll unsatxsfled Wllle na Peck OFFICERS OF TI-IE CLASS OF 1949 Presldent Ralph Smxth Vlce Presldent I-Iexdx Peck Secretary Marjorze Gray Treasurer Eleanor McColl Student Counc1l Representatwe Bruce Maclver Advxsor Mrs Kathleen Platt CLASS MOTTO Rowmg not Drxftmg CLASS FLOWER Yellow Carnation CLASS COLORS Blue and Gold CLASS MARSHALL Wxlllam Hzbbard 14 . ' . - . U . . . , . . ,, ,,, . earnest purpose toward those ever-receding shores and keep the intense words of the poet in