Holderness School - Dial Yearbook (Holderness, NH)

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' 1 T ' fatsl1.1nf 45 . Z , f Back Row Emmons Nlchols Creeley Warner Lewls Rxley Second Row R Vxckerman Kuehner Mr Weld Sweeney Front Row Copeland Sherwood Jacoby TI-IE STUDENT COUNCIL Tlns year has been one of great HCIIVIIV for the Student Councll It has moreover been one of great Slgl'llflC3I'lC9 for Holderness for more vltal reforms have been accompllshed than the School has ever before seen It can be sald too that the majorxty of these reforms and nnno vat1ons have been enacted by the Student Body ltself Last year the staff of the YEARBOOK publxshed a small Supplement tn whlch they cam patgned for a reform of the Student Councxl They felt that the Student Counctl was too much of a figurehead and not an actlve representatlve body constantly worklng to rmprove School llfe Thus xt was not wholly a surprlse when Mr Weld mvlted thxs year s Sxxth Form to return to School a day early ln the fall to drscuss plans for the commg year Thxs group wxth the help of the Faculty revlsed the form of the Student Councll Its membershlp was to be mcreased to mne boys elected twtce a year meetmgs were to be held at regular mtervals the mmutes were to he read at mornmg Assembly and then posted glvmg the Student Body a bet ter rdea of what thexr elected representatxves were doxng and the Counctl was to correspond ln nts functxons to the lower house of a blcameral leglslature But thls was not all The Slxth Formers were handed a proposal drawn up by a Faculty commxttee provxdmg for a complete change tn the School s dtsctplrnary system For many years boys had been recexvmg hours of work for offenses agamst the socxal order The number of hours for a gxven crlme was at the dlscretxon of the 1nd1v1dual master and much 1ll feellng often arose between the masters and boys The system moreover often bred a contempt for work Now all was changed Offenses were to be pumshed by demerlts assessed by Student Faculty Commxttees The students were ap pomted by the Student COUHC1l and there were three committees a Tardmess Commrttee for -Q . 1 1 1 1 1 - . . , , . , . . , , . , f 1 1 11 1 - 1 1 ' 1 1 ' 1 1 . . . . . . , . - 1 , . 1 1 Y - 1 1 v . , . . . . . 1 ' - , , . . 1

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'in VI TI E5

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latenesses a General Infractxons Commlttee and also a Serxous Infracttons Commlttee to handle only the most serxous cases The boys gxve therr excuses or arguments to the Faculty Advxser of the particular commnttee The Adviser takes the boys srde at the commxttee meetmg where the slxps are voted on If guxlty the offender xs glven the approprxate demerxt or a Sernous In fractnon penalty The Student Councll further assxsted m settlng up the rule whereby a student wlth 30M demerxts Ends himself m Study Hall for two Saturday evemngs there he whlles the hours away wrltmg to hxs parents explammg the sltuatlon At 35M dements four more Study Hall evemngs are awarded wxth four more letters home After 40M demernts the student IS on Bounds for a month and Study Hall for the semester When and rf he gets as many as 502 he has earned for hxmself a permanent vacatxon from the stress and stram of lxfe at Hold erness Exght months havmg passed smce last fall xt ns now possnble to judge the relatnve success of these mnovatnons The Student Councxl IS no longer merely a figurehead but rs now an ac txve umt m the admmnstratxve system of the School It can and has disagreed wxth measures passed by the Faculty and xt has mtroduced many new rmprovements mto the lxfe of the School In addltnon to those already mentxoned the Councxl has worked out plans for the present club system lf passed a plan orngmated by a commrttee of Stxth Formers whxch gave boys from the two upper forms permlssnon to VISII and date gxrls from the Normal School rn Plymouth Thxs measure has shown nts worth nn many ways but lf IS especxally to be noted for one of 1ts results the recent xmprovement of relations between the School and the town Fmally lt now controls part of the Smokmg Off Bounds problem and the admrmstratlon of movle per mxssxon on Wednesdays The fact that the Student Councxl has absolute control of pumshment and supervtslon rs a vast and better change from the trme when nt was somethmg smart for a boy to slxp mto a Wednesday movxe The Student Body feels that nts Councll rs more repre sentatnve and that xt rs a real force nn School affanrs In the same way the majorrty of the boys reallze the worth of the new dxscnplmary system The masters now only report an nn fractnon and do not hand out any purely arbrtrary pumshment Frlctxon between boys and masters has been greatly dxmmxshed and the masters no longer fear to treat the boys as fnends for accusations of drag have greatly lessened We are gettmg away also from the feelrng that work IS always a pumshment Let us hope that the Student Council and the Sixth Form wnll always meet wxth comparable results and as good a spmt those dutxes that new years shall brlng 1 1 . . . , . . . - 1 . , ' 1 1 1 , 1 1 ' - 1 . , ' - 1 1 , . 1 1 1 1 1 1 . 1 1 - - - . . - 14 11 1 . 1 , 1 - 11 11 - ' , . 1 1 1