Medina High School - Medinian Yearbook (Medina, OH)

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THE ft M p pv | | | M t lJ i IN I ment and in a job well done. Step by step we are learning to be dependable workers. In school our work with our lessons and our sports has taught us patience, perseverence, courage, and unselfishness. We have experienced the joy of a subject that has been mastered and felt the satisfaction of a game played fairly and sportingly, whatever the outcome. It is these qualities which we need to develop for the future if we are to have an appreciation of work. Only through this appreciation can we hope to make a success of the task we have in hand. Through this appreciation of our work we reach that joy in accomplishment which is the climax of our labor. With it comes a sense of well-being and the feeling that we are doing something worth-while in the world. Perhaps we lack appreciation of all that goes to make up our lives, because we do not sufficiently appreciate that which gives us all the rest, our minds. When we think how much our minds can enrich our lives we ought to perfect them in every way we can. The more we develop our ability to reason and to think and to understand, the more happiness we will be able to give in life and to get out of life. Let us learn to appreciate our minds and to make them more perfect instruments. May we realize the importance of appreciation, so that we may go forth echoing Walt Whitman’s mood when he wrote, “Praised be the fathomless universe For life and joy, and for objects and knowledge curious.’’ Class Presidents’ Address By Howard Higgins As president of the class of 1934, it is my privilege to extend to you the cordial welcome of each and every member of the class to these, our commencement exercises. I would like to go into the subject of education, new and old. In this I will at- tempt to show that the high school graduate of today, has much better chances than those of the old “reading, writing and arithmetic” days. Let us review the facts and see the difference in the chances of the two. In the past, up to the last fifteen years, the life was mostly rural The children in their pre-school age had little parental attention. The parents worked from sun-up till late at night on the farm trying to reek out an existence from the soil. The child had to help with whatever he possibly could do. When the night came the parents were usually too tired to spend much time with the youngsters. In the modern day, in most homes, the situation is different. The father works shorter hours, and usually the mother is with the child all day. In this way the youngster’s early education is watched closer than ever before. A child of this age learns largely by seeing others do things. He then mimics them. When the parents have more time at home they naturally watch the child more. In this way the modern child immediately gets a start as his home environment will make or break him all through life. When the child becomes of school age the difference is still greater. In the day of the slate, there was little variety of subjects. The pupil was taught few subjects. His main education was composed of reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling. The season was invariably shortened to six or seven months so the boys could help their folks at home, while in the modern grade school the term is never less than eight and usually nine months. The training is more varied, taking in a broader field. Especially in the first few years is the difference noticeable. The pupils have the chances to play together and thus learn the first rudiments of sportsmanship. As they advance into the sixth grade the departmental system is used in many schools. This system calls for the students to change from one teacher to another. In this way every one receives a 7 [inetecn

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Valedictory By Arlene Huffman Now that we have come to our graduation, we realize that we have reached a milestone in our lives We have come to a time that compels us to take stock of our selves and our past four years, in preparation for what lies ahead. As we come to the commencement of our careers, we are confronted with the question of whether we are really prepared for an indpendent life, of our own. What do we have to fall hack on that will enable us to cope with what lies ahead? Can we face the future with confidence? Will our lives be rich and full of meaning for us, or will they be merely barren struggles for money and existence? The answer lies in one word, “Appreciation” In the last four years how much have we learned to appreciate the people about us the commonplace things that make up our daily life, books, work, the joy of accorm plishment, and not least, our own minds? The value of the time we have spent in high school probably lies more in these subjects than in those listed in the curriculum. It is from these things that we feel we have developed strength and understanding. In the first place, our associations in the class room and in our high school activities have taught us to appreciate people. We have learned to see, not only good in every ' body, but also something of interest in everybody. While we have developed our minds of others, to understand another point of view than our own and to appreciate and allow for opinions that we may hold ourselves. In doing this we have learned an iim portant lesson; that is, to adapt ourselves to others and to get along with those with whom we come into contact. Everytime we have restrained our anger with others, or made some allowance for their difference from ourselves, we have added to our ability to appreciate and understand people. Then, too, we are beginning to realize the value of the little commonplace things of life. Viewed in the whole we can see the value of all the little tasks and problems which made up our four years of high school. In the same way we are learning to view all our daily tasks more philosophically and to keep in mind the final result so that each small task, no matter how dull or routine it may be, takes on a new significance and meaning when we think of it as a part of some larger end. Just as it is the little tasks that make up an important job, whether a high school or college degree, a road, or a bridge; so it is the little joys that make up happiness. We hope we have learned, at least in part, to appreciate the small joys that we meet everyday a smile, a friendly greeting, or a duty successfully done. And, important too, is the appreciation we have acquired in high school, of the joy of successfully solving a difficult problem, whether in mathematics or in life. If we think each evening of all the small things that have made up our day which have given us satisfaction, we will see how much joy is to be found in the appreciation of the commonplace things of every day life. Another field of appreciation which we have developed in high school is the field of books. Through books we can shake off our cares and troubles and forget whatever seems humdrum in our daily lives. Our adventures in the field of literature have introduced us to many new and entertaining friends, and taken us into strange lands amid circumstances totally different from our own. We grow in knowledge and understanding from these experiences and are inspired by the lives and ideals of which we read. We find ourselves agreeing with Robert Louis Stevenson that: — “That the world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” Since work occupies the greater part of our time we should learn to appreciate it. Though most of us will have to work to earn a living we ought to get more out of it than that. We should get an appreciation of leisure, and above all, a joy in accomplish ' iiirTww Eighteen

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105 THE MEDINIAN MM taste of rsponsibility, as the teacher assigns the work and does not stand over the student to see that he does it. The greatest difference appears in the high school. Here is continued youth’s character development. In bygone days, the high school graduate was a very well educated man. Excessive “book learning’’ was not needed for farming, the occupation most followed in olden days. There was no attempt to develope the character, to educate the body, or to develope the social side of the student. In other words the high school graduate of former days could not compare with the present high school grad ' uate. The present high school education consists of developing four sides of the stU ' dents character. They are the social, the moral, the physical, and the intellectual side. In the modern school there is much social work. There are parties, and the important thing is the contact with the people. There is a high moral standard set up and the teachers help the pupils to develope high ideals. The physical stand point is one of the most important. Even the geniuses must have health and body fitness. There are many great men who have overcome this handicap but it is a great asset to have health. Such men as Steinmetz, the great electrician, have accomplished great things despite physical handicaps, but these men are few and far between. High schools of the modern day offer athletics for nearly every student. These athletics develop many things in the student. They give them the fundamentals of sportmanship and teach them how to give and take. They develop a certain amount of self-confidence that is necessary in every undertaking. In short, high school athletics more than repay the participants ' for the knocks and bumps which they receive. A person with good health has removed a large obstacle on the road to success. Now that we have hit upon the moral, the social, and the physical part of high school; we will go to what is by far the most important; the intellectual development of the student. The differenc e between the mind of a child and the mind of the adult is the greatest fact in human behavior. It requires more time for a human to develop than for any other animal. This time requires a long plastic period for learning before you get set in your ways. A chick picks its own way out of the shell and starts to walk, a child takes years to walk. Joseph Jastrin, a noted psychologist says, “The mind of a child is the raw material for the adult mind. Growing up is far more than acquiring knowledge. The deeper change is in your feelings, how you take things, what interests and satisfies you, what makes you sad or happy, what you work for and hope to be. That determines how childish or grown up you are.’’ In high school the grades a student makes does not mean much. Because a certain student has an “I. Q.’’ higher than the next does not mean he or she will be more successful. The “I. Q.” stands for Intelligence Quotient and that stands for the place in the scale of intelligence. The greatest value of an “I. Q.” is in measuring the grow- ing intelligence of children. But this does not measure all intelligence, nor does it deter- mine ones total value as a worker. The practical application of knowledge is what counts. Youth of today must be aggressive. In order to be aggressive he must have a combination of energy and ambition, a strong appetite for doing things, of reaching up and striking out boldly — in other words a “go getter. ' It is necessary to improve your mind along with the physical development. The build of your mind determines what you are best fitted to do with it, no less than the build of your muscles affect what you can best do with them. It is worth while to look at your job and see how you can improve the mind work and the muscle work that you put into it. If you want to keep mentally fit, keep physically fit. One must be able to distinguish between conceit and confidence because there is tendency to be- come over confident. What are we fitted for? What may we hope for? The problem is to adjust hope fitness; for that is the key to contentment. Twenty