Lawrence High School - Lawrencian Yearbook (Falmouth, MA)

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15 Lawrence High School with the far-reaching vision cf Hor- ace Mann, who was the first edu- cator to fully foresee the importance of a business education. Irene M. Silva CONTRIBUTIONS OF HORACE MANN In the early days of our country schools were few and far between. Massachusetts was the only state which had taken any steps what- soever toward a public education. By 1800 this state required every township of more than one hundred families to maintain grammar schools in which boys could be pre- pared for college. It was in one of those schools in Franklin that Hor- ace Mann obtained, as a student, his first taste of the deficiency of the system. During the depression which fol- lowed the War of 1812 Mann was attending Brown University. At the same time a great number of public schools were obliged to close, and Mann, who was filled with the love of education, determined to al- ter the institution, if he were able, so that it would be more useful in creating better citizens. When he became Secretary to the newly-created Massachusetts Board of Education, he was in a position to carry out his ideas. He estab- lished a normal school but got no further because people were too skeptical about his forward-looking principles. It was not until after his death that they began to em- ploy them. The foundation laid by Mann, plus relief from the tension produced ' by the Civil War, caused schools to develop very rapidly. Courses broadened and took on a new as- pect. History was extended so that it not only included the ancient stories of Greece and Rome but world history and sociology as well. English became the art of better speaking and writing, as well as more interesting and yet more con- structive reading. The languages were made more attractive by the addition of the romance languages. Mathematics was revised so that it was taught progressively instead of disjointedly. The sciences, which at this time were taking gigantic steps forward, were added to curriculums. Commercial courses offering actual experience were added also. Other principles were introduced, such as, allowing the student to choose his course, making him re- sponsible for his conduct and hon- or, and allowing him to cooperate rather than compete. As a result of this reformation in public education, we have today in this country one of the finest edu- cational systems in the world, an example of which is our own Lawrence High School. Thus have the dreams of the first Secretary to the Massachusetts Board of Edu- cation come true. Horace Mann has won a “victory for humanity”. Lee Clark CLASS PROPHECY Class of 1937 Ladies and Gentlemen of the radio audience, the “Knock Knock” Gasoline Co. is featuring tonight on their anniversary program those two eavesdropping reporters, “Wal- ter Snitchel” and “The Voice of Inexperience”. In the days of 1937 they were Joseph Boulanger and Thomas Noland. Since tonight is the twentieth anniversary of the graduation of the Class of 1937, we thought it appropriate to give an