Mendota High School - Atodnem Yearbook (Mendota, IL)

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Continually weighing and determining physical, mental and moral prob- lems, results in the ability to select and cherish the sincere and really beautiful things in life. All that is questionable, superficial and wrong, will naturally fall i11to proper classes. All that is uplifting, all that is noble, all that makes life worth while will come as a natural heritage. The right kind of school spirit will give expression to the best part of a true education. NVhile book knowledge is necessary and important, it is not the real foundation of an education. Every phase of school activity has its place and does its work. Faculty and student body have worked hard this year to inculcate and develop what they feel to be the corner stone of the educated person. While much has been accomplished, there is a great deal more to be donc. Throughout the year our athletic activities have been brightened and en- livened by this cheering and singing that all high :chool students enjoy. How- ever, this is the easiest kind of school spirit to exhibit, and is not, by any means, the truest and deepest method of expressing pride of school. In fact the commonness and abundance of noise makes this lighter phase of school spirit often difficult to guide and control. But we want and need the yells alltl cheering. The students of Mendota High have made rapid progress from the van- dalic spirit which often pervades high schools. Our new and beautiful build- ing is unusually free from the scratching, marring, versifying and name -writing condition so often found in public buildings. Neither are our walks and walls besmirched with different colored paints designating the probable graduation year of some misled student artists. All these and their related barbarisjms have been outgrown and cast aside by our student body. We are thankful their minds have attained this level. . Our boys and girls are not only proud of their building with its grounds to the extent that they guard and care for it, but they take pleasure in leav- ing behind them thotful, useful and decorative expressions of their delight and reverence for its precincts. These gifts to the community 's greatest institution are the material expression of a school spirit that is as commendable and beauti- ful vandalism is execrable and repulsive. The social side of our high school spirit is good and growing better. There is a rising tendency to taboo any form of questionable entertainment. While it is entirely natural that in a group of several hundred students, there are a few who are careless and thoughtless i11 these matters, they are in the minority. These few have felt the displeasure of the student body o11 several occasions this year. And, in most cases these few offenders have benefitted by this form of eensurc. Surely the boys' idea of treating every girl as they would wish other boys to treat their sisters is a standard of gentlemanly conduct to attain and be proud of. Twelve

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'VFW' ' What We Have and Want in Our High School I-IE high school worth while is the one which primarily stands for work. There never has been, is, or will be anything that can be substituted for work. There are no short cuts, no easy roads to discover and sharpen the different talents and abilities. Even the student who makes good grades with little or no effort cannot possibly receive the full benefit he should get unless he utilizes one hundred per cent of his powers. A good teaching force is es- sential, but it is not all that is needed. Certainly the high school has fnderful workshop facilities. Every reci- tation is a means of self-expression. Every lesson preparation is a mould for some kind of habit formation. Every action in recitation room, study hall, corridor, on campus and athletic field, is an indication of the habits and char- acter of each student. While boys and girls are not born with the same amount of mental ability or riches, every boy and every girl can choose for himself as to the amount of work he will do and as to how he will act. Witliin every person is something that tells him what is right and what is wrong. The student who tries to cover up this inner prompting is injuring himself morally far more than he pos- sibly could mentally by not applying himself to his lessons. A sense of fair- ness, justice, uprightness and honesty, is far more important than a perfect mind or body. The simple question of what is right and what is wrong is answered or evaded more times daily than any other question in the world. The most im- portant part of a student's education is the development of a true and keen sense of moral obligation. The American High School abounds in opportuni- ties for the development of this obligation. The close association of teacher with student and student with student, should result in the recognition of the rights of others as well as those of self. It should demonstrate the necessity of the golden mile and the practice of connnendable compromise. Vertainly the daily intermingling of several hundred people under one roof, is a won- derful thing in terms of training for citizenship when these associations are pleasant, instructive and ennobling. Every school day 's work should have in it some opportunity to give the other fellow, as well as one 's self a square deal. It is so easy to find excuses for one's self, or to build up a strong argumentj in favor of something one de- sires. It is so much easier tha11 to uncover and recognize the arguments and viewpoints of those differing in opinion. Being unfair to one's self is far more disastrous than being unfair to another pe1'son. Every student who treats himself squarely in all matters cannot help but treat his instructors and fellow students justly. Eleven

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It is very seldom that the selfish part of school spirit becomes evident. Usually our boys and girls are quick to champion the cause of justice. While often impulsive and sudden in their conclusions, our students are wise and just enough to change their decisions when fairness so dictates. However, one of thc big problems is to get the students to give themselves a square deal. Seine are prone to cheat themselves and thus check their development. They are too ready to accept unnecessary help from their teachers or fellow students. Stu- dents cheat themselves just as much by permitting others to continually lead the way and do all the reciting, as they do by actually copying the work of another. Self-expression is the greatest means of individual growth. Real school spirit is often expressed by the unceasing struggle on the part of the large majority of our students to place their names on the honor rolls. This year's rolls are longer and more regular than ever before. And the re- quirements liave been raised, not lowered! But the greatest cause of rejoicing is the occasional lost sheep that comes to his senses sufficiently to realize where he is drifting. Now and then the faculty rejoice to see a ne 'er-do-well take a stand for better work-and make good. It is true that we still have a few who are wasting the greater part of their time, but they are becoming fewer each year. The increasing demand for good work on the part of the student body, as well as the faculty, is exerting great influence to push even higher the scholar- ship of our institution. But far greater than the zeal for work among our boys and girls is the earliest desire for a wholesome and genuine sense of moral responsibility a11d obligation. In this period of universal moral degeneracy, this particular phase of true school spirit is an inspiring and vital thing. Whenever possible and pi'actical, our boys and girls are given the opportunity of executing various kinds of school activities. Many of these are identical or closely related to later life. For this reason the doing of these things is the best possible kind of training for efficient citizenship. ln concluding, the words of David Starr Jordan 's Appeal 'To Boys' are quite applicable. They pertain to girls as well as boys. He says: 'tYour first duty in life is toward your afterself. So live that your af- terself-the 1na11 you ought to be-may in his time be possible and actual. Far away in the years he is waiting his turn. His body, his brain, his soul are in your boyish hands. He cannot help himself. t'What will you leave for him? t'Will it be a brain unspoiled by lust or disipation, a mind trained to think and act, a nervous system true as a dial in its response to the truth about you? Will you, Boy, let him come a man among men in his time? Or will you throw away his inheritance before he has had the chance to touch it? Will you turn over to him a brain distorted, a mind diseased? A will untrained to Thirteen