Mabel Dean Bacon Vocational High School - Torch Yearbook (New York, NY)

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me mxf jing eam By GERDA GRUBE, Iune '49 The time is drawing nearer when we will graduate. Have you ever wondered what our school will loolc lilce, let's say fifty years from now? Let us pretend it's the year 1999, and we've come haclc to visit dear old Mahel Dean Bacon. lt's a hright sunny day, and as we turn the corner we see a startling sight. There before us is a huge glass huilding, three hy four hloclcs long and Fifty stories high, with an enormous entrance which slides open when you come within three feet of the electric eye. Ahove is a big, hright sign with the name Nlahel Dean Bacon Vocational High School flashing on it. Come, let us go in. No, don't use the escalator: it's too slow. Weill talce the jet propelled tuhe elevator. As we wallc clown the long halls. we notice glass lioors and walls. Let us go into this room. The class has just entered.,On the walls is a continuous row of huttons. As the girls push the huttons, we see chairs and some- thing that loolcs lilce a recording machine come out of the wall. Overhead is a loud spealcer from which the teacher conducts her class. There is no tallcing or jolcing. A television screen holds everyone's attention. A recording is made when each student recites, so the teacher may refer to any of her worlc. Motion pictures and television are used for many lessons. Where is our lunchroom? Why, there isn't any, because now all our meals con- sist ol pills which give us a well-balanced diet. On the top lioor of the school we find a large room equipped with an automatic soda fountain, a hand. and a floor ol smooth plastic. Here the girls enjoy themselves during free periods. Oh yes, there have been quite a few changes made. in the gym we find a glorious swimming pool, Hooded with sunlight. On the roof is a large parlcing field. All the girls have their own helicopters. There are never any late students in school now. Have you noticed the way the girls dress? Their clothes are different from ours, aren't they? What would you say to wearing plastic tights, vests, and plastic hoots in all those colors? The girls wear their hair much shorter than the new loolc prescribed. The reason for this is to permit them to slip on their liying helmets. Loolcl There goes a senior. You can tell them hy the neon lights on their senior hats. Yes the next fifty years are really going to he something to marvel at. What did you say? Oh. lim sorry, Mrs. Cassileth, I didn't hear the question. Yes, I guess l was day dreaming. What ahout? Oh just the changes that the next fifty years may hring to our school. 30

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je Well! OZJOOL By DOMNA VOUCAS, lune '49 Niki, get up, called my mother one hright morning. But l was too husy dream- ing to pay attention to her. l was dreaming of my high school and how it would loolc fifty years from now. Don,t say I won't live to see it because I'lI he only sixty-seven then. One day l'll talce my grandchildren hy the hand and show them just what l am about to predict. l predict that fifty years from now Mabel Dean Bacon's building will he white- washed, and it will sparlcle lilce a white calce of Swan Soap. The rooms will he enlarged and painted in beautiful colors soothing to the eyes. Ceilings will he twenty feet high. Walls will he all windows, crystal clear. The halls will he wide, their walls decorated with fine murals, executed hy the students. Streamlined escalators and large elevators will he waiting to talce the girls up or down. There will he one flight of stairs in the huilding to he used only in emergencies. An air- conditioning system will he in every room so that on the hottest days in the summer and the coldest days in the winter teachers and students will feel com- fortable. Youll find tasteful curtains on every window. There will he good lights in all the rooms for cloudy days. Each student will have a little cabinet or loclcer for herself so that she may hang her coat and lceep her hoolcs where they will he safe. Lunch periods in the school ofthe future will he relaxing and pleasant. Food will he appetizing and plentiful. and the dining room will he quiet, clean, and pretty. What is the most important part of a school? Why, the people in it, of course. This school will have hoys as well as girls and men as well as women teachers. The students will he more intelligent than we were. because we. who are their parents and grandparents, will have taught our children. who in turn will teach theirs. that education is a umustu in life and they should get everything out of it while they can. Teachers will also he a lot of fun: they will he friendly and under- standing. The students will he so intelligent that they won't ever he failed. Most important of all, there will he no racial discrimination among students or teachers. Geel to he ahle to go to school again in fifty yearsl Mabel Dean Bacon will always hold a warm place in our hearts, and fifty years from now it will still he playing an important part in the lives of future generations. 58

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0 0 , .1411 ,xgmerccan Qrfzi Imam By MARION MARRONE, June '49 The American girl l am referring to was loorn of immigrant parents. She is the girl who not only has the problem of speaking a foreign language at home and trying to improve her own spoken English, hut also has to present her own ideas of life to her parents who cannot understand her language or her thoughts and dreams. She would like to he ahle to have her parents meet her friends, especially hoys, without her motherys saying, Hes a hoy. You shouldn't speak to him. She would like to have a gathering of friends in her home, to hold a ujam session or a party, without having her mother worry, There will he so many boys in the house. Vvhat will the neighbors say? These are just two of the problems an attractive and lively girl has to face if her parents are from the small towns of Europe, where, having led sheltered lives them- selves, they cannot allow themselves to give their daughters the freedom which other American girls seem to enjoy. What can an American girl of foreign parentage do to win her parents over to the American view of wholesome hoy-and-girl friendships? In the first place she should convince her mother of the desirability of her hoy friends: that is, she should make it clear to her parents that these boys are the type she would he proud to have as her own sons. If permission is granted once for a party to he held in the home, all the guests should act like well-mannerecl young ladies and gentlemen. The good behavior of the young people will convince the parents that the hoys and girls with whom her daughter wishes to associate are trustworthy and likable, They will certainly then he disposed to grant permission for future gatherings in the home. VGQEW 40