North Andover High School - Knight Yearbook (North Andover, MA)

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JOHNSON HIGH SCHOOL After six years of service at Antioch, he came to the end of his career— a career which laid the foundation for the survival of democracy through making education and culture available to all and not just the luxury of the few. He rejuvenated the Massachusetts public schools and through them the schools of the nation. We have hardly begun to appreciate his place in history and our debt to him. His whole life was devoted to a cause— that of education. Let us go forward with Horace Mann to the end thal we may more fully realize his ideals. “All men are created equal and should, therefore, have equal educational opportunities.” This was his principle; let it be ours. LOUISE H. DETORA VALEDICTORY AR! A leering smirk on its ugly lips, this cruel, bloodthirsty monster sits on its haunches watching greedily as little figures scurry here and there on the earth ; its great tongue suddenly flicking out and catching up these tiny figures, the fathers, sons, brothers of this generation ; leaving behind grieving and suffering mothers and sisters. Why has this heartless, insane monster returned to us, why? Let us look back to the Versailles Treaty, marking the end of the first World War. With it came into existence thirty-five new governments, struggling to establish themselves; with it came a League of Nations which forty-two nations joined. The political organizations, the German, the Rus¬ sian, and the Austro-Hungarian Empires, were dissolved and with them went all their officials. Along with the new States, came governments introducing new methods and ideas to realize new social theories. Germany, in panic, with revolutionary outbreaks, and with a sudden break¬ up of finance, with her government in chaos,, was defeated, exhausted! Her army disarmed, her colonies annexed, her merchant marine lost to the Allies, Germany had sixty-two million hungry, desperate people to house, feed, clothe, and organize! With all this, France, through the Versailles Treaty, tried to force Germany to meet the cost of the reconstruction of the land laid waste by the war. About Germany, the nations created by the Versailles Treaty and by other treaties, such as Poland, Belgium and Czechoslovakia, allied themselves with France to form a ring about Germany. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Ru¬ mania formed another ring about Hungary. Now France, through economic supremacy, superior military strength, and diplomacy, felt certain of her mastery over German ambitions. Now let us see why France was so harsh in meting out this justice. First of all. there was the desire to insure the security of her boundaries, of her possessions, of her people against possible invaders. Then again France, the scene of the bloody conflict, had to reconstruct the war-torn land, reorganize the government from war to peace-time basis. Her badly damaged trans¬ portation system had to be extended and repaired, her lands reconstructed, her cripples and veterans given a livelihood, her huge debt repaid. This had to be done in a disorganized country, a country whose young, healthy men , farmers, engineers, scientists, factory workers, and her older executives were gone, slaughtered. 20

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1 9 4 0 YEAR BOOK achievement and progress. He was born in a humble farmhouse at Franklin, Massachusetts. Here he was reared under the most poverty-stricken condi¬ tions. His youth was devoted to work and hardship, with little time for school. But with his ambition he worked his way through Brown University, where he was graduated at the head of the class in 1819. After leaving school he practiced law and later became a member of the Senate. It was here that he introduced the act creating the Massachusetts State Board of Education. On the day of its establishment Horace Mann abandoned a profitable law ’practice to become secretary of this board. Let us feel that when he accepted the secretaryship that a path of useful¬ ness was opened for American Education, for his struggles in this period re¬ sulted in the elevation of this institution. To fully understand the greatness of Mann’s work and accomplishments, let me draw a mental picture of the conditions that existed at that time. Education was of minor importance in the minds of the people. It long had been neglected as something which was trivial. Little did they realize the immensity of the relationship between a learned and cultured people and a strong and healthy democracy. Massachusetts public schools, although two centuries old, were sunk in physical disrepair. One third of the Common¬ wealth’s children had no educational opportunities whatever. Schools were not part of a unified central system, but were just a mass of district schools which were totally inadequate and often controlled by petty-minded and unscrupulous politicians. Jut-jawed Lawyer Mann, however, was a man of individual spirit and de¬ termination. In the eleven years of his secretaryship he crusaded tirelessly for better schoolhouses, more intelligent teachers, school libraries, adequate textbooks, and instruction free from sectarianism. This last item was a sore spot, for at that time women and negroes were denied the privilege of educa¬ tional opportunities. Mann strongly disapproved of this state of affairs. In his own words: “I would give to every human being the best opportunity I could to develop and cultivate the faculties which God has bestowed upon him, and which, therefore, he holds under a divine charter.” Although he had to work against poor health, selfish interests, religious intolerance, and lack of funds, he battled with wisdom and courage to raise education from its low ebb. Tirelessly he set about raising money, and de¬ livering speeches in order to spread universal education. So forcibly did he preach his ideals before the public that education has moved steadily forward to the goal which he designated. At the termination of twelve years he resigned as secretary of the board, but not without some measure of success. He had laid the foundation for education on which the people could build. The small district schools were replaced with a well-organized township unit. Newly created school libraries were used to good advantage. Sectarianism was losing ground. And lastly, through his influence, the first normal school was established at Lexington in 1839. Upon his resignation, Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Ohio, made him its president and there he set out to establish higher education on a non¬ sectarian basis. This college was at an experimental stage and Mann’s tasks were not easy. At Antioch his chief contribution sprang from his belief that education concerns, not the mind alone, but the body and moral nature as well. This conviction has been retained and has served as a spur for the ath¬ letic activities of our schools today. 19

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1940 YEAR BOOK Outside the ring about Germany, hostility against Germany was fast dying. Then in 1922, the fear of a Russo-German alliance because of Germany’s recognition of Soviet Russia, caused hostility to ebb faster. A noticeable shift in sympathies was brought about by the French occupation of the Ruhr. The main object of this occupation was to exact reparation from Germany. Instead, it aggravated unemployment problems and the industrial depression. great many German citizens and officials were put out of the Ruhr; manu¬ facturing offices and newspapers were seized. In the meantime in Germany, Hitler and the Nazi regime were struggling for possession of the government. Paper currency was being printed fast. Germany’s economic system, collapsing swiftly, threatened to do away with the ring about her. The value of the mark fell rapidly. By 1924, with France’s own currency slipping fast, France made ready to back down. Germany now, threatening to fall apart, was doing away with old treaties, old economies, and old customs and moralities. Outside Germany, stabiliza¬ tion was fast growing. Poland and Russia made peace, Czechoslovakia thrived, Mussolini had grasped control of Italy; but within Germany there was still chaos, still sixty-two million Germans to feed, clothe, to organize. With the Locarno Pact came hope of disarmament, arbitration and peace. Prosperity came to the post-war world— a world at peace! These were years of reconstruction, of German loans, of building! Production had reached new heights. These were years of international cooperation in Eur¬ ope as trade grew. France had stabilized her currency, Germany was rebuild¬ ing her merchant marine, England was struggling with labor problems. Then in 1929 the market crashed in New York; then came the depression! With the depression, Germany, helpless without a strong leader, received Adolf Hitler as the Chancellor of Germany and with him, his Nazi regime! From Germany soon came rumors of bloody purges, of Jewish persecution, of cruel and violent leaders. Hitler had begun to carry out his program for bringing all groups and forces within Germany under his absolute control. First in Europe, then overseas, Hitler planned for the expansion of Germany’s military power, political influence, and territorial possessions. Soon after, crises came thick and fast; war in Ethiopia, war in Spain, war in the Far East, seizure of Austria, seizure of Czechoslovakia. War, this blooly monster has come once more to scourge the earth, brutal, barbarous, his crimson jaws hanging open, his tongue ever flicking out! Mr. Hayes, to you who have guided our paths and have been a sincere friend to each of us during our four years at Johnson High School, we wish to express a little of our deep gratitude. Teachers, who have worked patiently and faithfully with us in the class¬ room and whom we shall ever esteem, we can never express our great appre¬ ciation for your help and cooperation. Parents and friends, who have been always sympathetic anl helpful, we shall never forget your kindly interest in us. Schoolmates, to you we leave Johnson High, its future, its traditions, its spirit. Keep it ever the Johnson it is today! Classmates, we have at last come to the parting of the ways. This it the last time we shall come together as the class of nineteen hundred and forty, and after tonight our school life at Johnson High will be but memories; mem¬ ories to help each of us to attain that goal for which we are striving. Goodbye and God bless you! DOROTHY V. DAINOWSKI 21