Medill High School - Medillite Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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94 THE MEDILLITE A Liberal Education By Angelo Aquila s vMr. Johnson, members of the faculty, fellow students, parents, and friends. 2 .. Education is a problem which arose five hundred thousand years ago and which will endure as long as man endures. The first educa- tion was that of one of our Neolithic ancestors, sitting over the fire teaching his boys how to fashion flints, while his mates were teaching the girlshow to prepare skins for clothing. With this idea in mind, let us consider by way of illustration this supposition: that it were perfectly certain that the life and fortune of everyone of us would, one day or another, depend upon his winning or losing a game at chess. Do you not think that we should all con- sider it to be a primary duty to learn at least the names and moves of the pieces, to have a notion of the gambit, and a keen eye for all the means of giving and getting out of check ? Do you not think that we should look with disapprobation amounting to scorn. upon the father who allowed his son, or the state which allowed its members, to grow' up without' knowing a pawn from a knight? b 1 Yet it is a very plain and elementary truth, that the life,.the for- tune and the happiness of every one of us, and more or less, of those who are connected with us, does depend upon our knowing something of the rules of a game infinitely more difficult and complicated than chess. It is a game which has been played for untold ages, everyone of us being one of the two players in a game of his own. The chess- board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call thezlaws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that His play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, that He never overlooks a mistake. 1 To the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid, with thatsortpof overflowing generosity with which the strong show delight in strength.. And one who plays ill is check-mated without haste but withoutaremorse. , Whatfl mean' by education is learning the rules of this mighty game. In other words, education is the instruction of the intellect in the laws of Nature under which name I include not merely things and their forces, but men and their ways, and the fashioning of the affec- tions and-tlie will into an earnest and loving desire to move in har- mony 'with those laws: , i' 1- ' i , That inan, I think, has had a liberal education, who- has 'been so trainediiiif-youth that his body is the ready servant-bf his willy-and does -Withfeasel-and pleasure all the work of which fit is' capable: iwhose intellect is like a steam engine, with all its parts of equal strength, and in smooth-working order, ready, too, like an engine, to be turned to any kind of work,-to spin the gossamers as well as to force the anchors of the mindg whose mind is stored with a knowledge of the great and fundamental truths of Nature and of the laws of her opera- tions,--one who is full of life and vim, but whose passions are trained

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THE MEDILLITE 93 Valedictory By Pauline Brodsky To the friends gathered here, to the teachers who have been our guides, and to our fellow-students and classmates, it is my privilege to give a last farewell. It is one of the many red-letter days in our lives as we sit here before you upon this solemn occasion. We know what is expected of us on leaving this institution and we take great pride in the school which helped us better ourselves for that purpose. . .fThe high school was the first stepping stone in reaching that goal :for which we were striving. To many of us, the education received here will be the only capital in starting life, while the others will complete their education by attending college. We have indeed advanced far since entering the Medill High School only four long, but seemingly short, years ago. Now we are not the mere hidden shadows that we were when first we enteredg no more are we the ignorant set of students that we were-but, on the contrary, we are emerging victors ready to take our places in the world and render our services, for Service is our great ideal in life. We heartily congratulate the parents and friends for their good judgment in giving us this great opportunity whereby we could pre- pare ourselves for that Service. To the teachers we owe our deepest appreciation for making it possible for us to grasp that opportunity, and we sincerely hope and pray that their labors will be repaid by the Services that we shall have to offer. Tonight many of us are assembled together perhaps for the last time. Some may meet in later years, others may not, but whether we meet or nottonight with its trials and triumphs will be regarded as an epoch in the careers of some of us, as a day worth remembering by all of us. s FELLOW-CLASSMATES: I can wish nothing higher or happier for us than that through our lives in joy and sorrow, in brightest sun- shine and deepest shadow, there may remain with us the conscious- ness of duty well performed, of suffering nobly endured, of life faith- fully lived. And as the word of severance parts us, let us go out to our labor resolved each' one to' play the part of the scholar and the man. Farewell! V M I ' 1.

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THE MEDILLITE 95 to come to heel by a vigorous will, the servant of a tender con- science one who has learned to love all beauty, whether of Nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as himself. Such a one, and no other, I conceive, has had a liberal education, for he is, as completely as a man can be, in harmony with Nature. He 'will make the best of life, and Life will make the best of himn' Life and such a one will getqon together rarely, Life as his ever-benei- cent mother g he as her mouthpiece, her conscious self, her inter- preter. , a - May we, the two-year graduates of the Joseph Medill High School, of the mid-yearx class of 1929, realize that this real education is a matterofucontinuoils progress. We appreciate the opportunity of our two years' workrin' Medill. Many, of us will strive later to fin- ish a four-yearicourse and then go on to college, but whether we have that privilege' or not, let us 'never cease to acquire knowledge and convert it into power and real living. Let us keep our minds alert and eager for fresh explorations in these delightful fields of learning which our teachers have but opened to us. , Let us go in and possess their wealth, and then let us use that wealth to bring aid and joy into the life of our world where no man liveth to himself alone. 1-ill- p g Commencement a Memory For the last time we have assembled as one. After tonight each will go his or her own way perhaps never to cross one another's path again. so With what a mixed feeling we sit and watch our classmates perform their number as we look upon each other. What will our future hold for us and the others? Perhaps there will be a gap for years and we will meet again and once more begin our friendships, perhaps not, so we try to leave behind us the most pleasant memories, for what remains of people but memories? , . . ,J .5 X 1 . The memory of tonight and what hag,gb,peQ9n tonightlyvillbe iri the minds of all of us forever. For many'of,,1is .this willibe the last -commencement and the best. To those f0f'w,1gom. it will not be the last one, it will be a memorial one. How1,hard'it is to say the last goodbye but we try and smile. What lies b'ehi'n'd the smile and what behind the question? f ' . iT1.f'l.lsi ' r b Commencement, graduation, anotheridspetech, another song, our diplomas, then goodbye, and all is a memory, ,Q .,,,. ' , ' REBECCA' -SHERMAN