Memorial High School - Humanist Yearbook (West New York, NJ)

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Ifiarfi ll airriuivi rsrra Carelessness vs. Perseverance OULD that carelessness were less predominant as a trait of human nature and less imbedded in the depths of character! There would be fewer failures in everyday life and a brighter aspect would result. I call upon you seekers of education to defy this ominous creature who has wrought great disappointment in the course of many scholars. It is the student's fault that these failures occur. Isn't. it? You must acknowledge that fact. Carelessness will not grow unless it is fed, well kept, fostered, and encouraged to exist. This infernal creature has been developed into a habit and tends to demoralize the possessor. We also must consider that per- severance and thoroughness can prevail as habit. Why does not a person choose these last mentioned characteristics rather than carelessness? The only evident reason is, that that person is too careless to recognize perseverance. The devel- opment of Will Power would never attract a careless person for there is that hidden resistance which overcomes a rising spirit if there be any. We note what a destructive being is this creature who makes a slave of whomever he grasps. He rages inwardly, never too careless to destroy himself and his objective, but rather bent upon the task of subduing his weaklings. The development of Thoroughness through perseverance would shatter and rend carelessness to tatters. A desperate resolution would assail and destroy the demon and oppressor of human intelligence. Failures are due to carelessness, disappointments and defeats are the achievements of this creature. Not until we institute, cultivate, inspire, and engender will power and perseverance can this enemy of Education be destroyed. Careless citizens are detrimental to a community and to the democracy. This country is in quest of capable and responsible citizens who tend to strengthen this government nat-ionalistically. Will-power cultivates an active and creative community which surpasses a stagnant populace. When it is your duty, under-classmen, to uphold your school and become accountable citizens and active members of this modern civilization you must bear the standard and uphold it, you must develop a habit which will constitute Perseverance and Thoroughness. -ANGELO L. GIOGGIA. Page Thirty-two

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.WG H3 t IU-s.m.2z4H11tLJM HSfr4 I The Hzlglzer Education T IS not the least of the glories of our period that a liberal education has ' become popular, and the university the ambition of all the people. For nearly one thousand years the university was for only the select few. The plain people had no lot or part or interest or opportunity in its advantages. The medieval foundation which is the ancestor of the modern college was for the benefit of only a fraction of the population. Originally it was only for the church. The university in Europe has about it- the medieval flavor. It is not a school of the people. It is still an institution for the classes, and not for the masses. There are nearly four hundred colleges in the United States today, and their number evidences the aspirations of the farm and the workshop for a higher education for their boys and girls. This rapid evolution of the university toward popular ideas and popular bases in our country has made acute the question whether our education should be specifically for the pursuit which the student has selected as his vocation, or whether upon ancient and tried lines it should develop him first by discipline, by training and by teaching to the full growth and command of all his faculties, and then let him select his pursuit. The high school in its four years of discipline, training, teaching and devel- opment makes the boy the man. His Latin and his French, his science, his history, and his mathematics have little or nothing to do with law or medicine, and still less to do with manufacturing, or mining, or storekeeping. But they have given to the youth when he has graduated a slight command of that superb intelligence with which God has endowed him, by which for the purpose of a living or a fortune he grasps his profession or his business and speedily overtakes the boy who, abandoning high school opportunities, gave his narrow life to the narrowing pursuit of the one thing by which he expected to earn a living. Within the home, a high school or college graduate, however humble it may be and how- ever limited his income to support it, has enjoyment among his books and in the grasp and discussions of the questions of the hour, which are denied to the man who has not drunk at or refused to go to the fountain of knowledge and the well- spring of inspiration which flows only in the college and high school. -JOSEPH STANZIALE. Page Thirty-one

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ll-Maaracar rsra I W herejbre Music ? HROUGHOUT the entire country, in all our schools, there is a certain por- tion of the day's program devoted to music. I, personally, think that the students in the primary and secondary schools of the country do not fully appreciate the opportunities that are being given to them in this branch of education-. It Would' be well if the objective in musical education was fully realized by many who have within their curriculum the study of music. All ought to know that one means by which many people of the-world obtain the greatest amount of pleasure is listening to music or furnishing others with it. So, since this is one of the principal means of procuring our pleasures and in spending our hours of leisure, it would be to our advantage to have a thorough knowledge of the technique of music, so that we may enjoy in a greater degree, the musical classics of the past and of the present day and also the lighter productions of former and recent days. There is no better recreation or pastime than the listening to or playing of music, for it is very soothing to our nerves. This rapidly moving world demands from its people a great amount of energy. This generation fears that its nerves will not be able to endure the strain. So, we might in this way aid the nerves in being prepared to encounter or meet the demands that are almost continuously being made of them. Many times pupils have asked, Why do we have musical clubs in our higik school? Surely, these clubs are not organized for a waste of time nor to make Carusos or Galli-Curcis of the members, but, to teach them a proper appreciation of this great art, music. It is consoling to think that America especially sees the need for teaching its younger generation music, for it is taught not only in the high schools but also in elementary schools, universities, and colleges. It may be worth while to know that the practice of music has never been so universal as at the present day and within recent years the standard of amateur ability has reached a high degree of excellence. -RENO LAVINO. Page Thirty-three . tl V X