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

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They are now in third place, proving that given the proper instruction, teen-agers equal and excel in ability many of the middle-aged automobile drivers. The teens are a period of physical and emotional adjustment. Even young people who are clearly headed for a very mature and stable adulthood sometimes pass through periods of wild, irresponsible, distressing activity. Although the storm and stress period may cause an awful uproar at the time, it apparently has little effect on the final result. The adult should play an important role in channeling youthful energy so that young people can let off steam in a manner that will do no harm to themselves or others. Youth is not “getting worse and worse” with each succeeding generation. Teen-agers do not live in a world of their own but in the world which everyone shares with them. Juvenile delinquency very clearly goes up and down with the changing ther¬ mometer of group and international tensions, with public calm and turmoil. Teen-agers are willing and anxious to work on their own problems, to clear their record. Society has never been better equipped to help them. Youth’s performance falls short of its ideals, but teen-agers know right from wrong and they do not have cynical, selfish moral standards. A generation ago young people were w orried almost exclusively about getting a job and getting ahead. Now they are much more concerned about international amity and the application of democratic principles to practical living. They are more interested in the square deal than the big deal. Hence, youth’s prospects are encouraging and this country has reason to feel optimistic about its rising generation. Joyce Hamilton Class Essay THE OPEN DOORS It was a lovely summer day with tiny, white puffs of clouds floating lazily across the blue sky when I closed the book I had just finished reading. Having enjoyed the book, I considered how T much I might have missed if, swayed by the general prejudice against a classic author, I had passed by this book. Then, as in a dream, I seemed to be surrounded by a multitude of open doors bearing such labels as art, literature, music, science and many others which I realized I had overlooked many times. I wondered, almost simultaneously, how ' many others were also missing the countless opportunities offered by these open doors. First, I considered literature and its numerous rewards. Most obvious, of course, is the deep, abiding pleasure one experiences as the imagination soars to un¬ dreamed of heights. However, beneath the surface lie such hidden treasures as a fuller understanding of human nature and a real sympathy for one’s fellow: men. Then a few strains of a lovely melody drifted into my reverie and I felt the immediate release from my everyday world into a completely new land of incredible beauty. Suddenly, the knowdedge of something beyond the material sent hope surging throught my heart. Then, as the last measures faded in the distance, I seemed to discover an exhibition of pictures, all the masterpieces of the ages. Somehow I knew ' that with better understanding would come the key which unlocks the doors of the past and may well fit those of the future. Finally, through the last door, I noticed a microscope and, peering into it, veils of mystery suddenly slipped away and knowledge stood out in all its glory, emitting a glow which brightened even the darkest corners. Later, considering this imaginative journey, I sincerely hoped that others might follow in my footsteps, to discover the endless vistas and opportunities for service to mankind which lie just beyond these open doors. Diana Reach

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Salutatory THE TRUTH ABOUT TEEN-AGERS Are teen-agers going to the everlasting bow-wows? Every generation entering middle age has trumpeted this fact over a shivering world. Yet when the middle-aged group of today was itself the teen-agers, were not they too the subject of the jeremiads pronounced by their middle-aged groups? And so it goes. But the teen-agers of twenty years ago are now the «olid, respectable, respected and beloved parents of the teen-age group here on ' he stage before you tonight. We think those teen-agers of long ago are about the best people we’ll ever know. Dare we hope the same will be said twenty years hence about us? Here are reasons for believing so. Teen-agers are painfully aware of their bad reputation. In a survey in a large midwestern city, teen-agers listed the charges most frequently made against them. The three most often mentioned were crime, narcotics and reckless diiving. Juvenile delinquency, today, is a catch phrase used to cover a multitude of acts never before classified as sins. Even the word delinquency depends on where you live. In some cities, young people caught smoking on the public streets can be arrested as delinquents. In a western town, police were sent to round up all teen-age bootblacks and book them as delinquents. At the same time, in a town fifty miles away, the mayor was honoring teen-age bootblacks for their independence and industry. He gave a turkey dinner for tliese youngsters and referred to them as “today’s Horatio Algers.” As far as actual arrests are concerned, people call for the police a lot quicker than they used to. Consider some recent “crimes” for which teen-agers were arrested. In Fresno, California, four boys removed the caps from pop bottles still in the vending machine and drank the contents through long straws. In Seattle, Washington, three boys tossed paper bags of water from a second-story window. In Atlantic City, New Jersey, two teen-age school girls daubed a poodle belonging to a cranky next-door neighbor with red paint. A generation ago such problems would have been solved in a woodshed. But even after the misleading case is discounted, the fact remains that real juvenile delinquency is on the rise. Inadequate schools, insufficient government facilities and apatl etic communities must share the blame. The most important cause of delinquency is what should be called parental delinquency. The American home has frequently ceased to exert its influence for the good. Some recent statistics on teen-ag rs reveal that only twelve out of a thousand get in trouble with the law and that means that there are 988 who are doing well. What is the real story on youthful drug addiction? The American parent has been deceived into believing that there are millions of teen-age drug addicts walking the streets. Actually there are only 10,000 teen-age addicts in the whole country; horrible enough, but not as hopelessly a black picture as has been generally painted. Dope is not an insidious, seductive temptation liable to engulf anybody. The parents of the reasonably happy, normal, adjusted child can relax. Teen-age accidents behind the wheel have been cruelly publicized by news¬ papers and magazines. Teen-agers do not have mbre accidents than more experienced drivers but, when they do have a mishap, it is usually fatal. Because this ugly condition occurs, reporters swarm to cover the story, thereby pointing a treacherous and accusing finger of guilt at teen-agers. The teen-agers have responded wholeheartedly to the move for Driver edu¬ cation offered by their elders. Today only highly trained paraplegic drivers and equally well-trained commercial truck drivers surpass the teen-agers’ safety record. It was not long ago that drivers under the age of twenty were at the very foot of the safety record.

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Class Essay UNFATHOMABLE SCIENCE How far are the creative and imaginative powers of man going to extend? Is there ever going to be an end to his discoveries and inventions? Man has been en¬ dowed with intellectual powers that have made him the master of nature and its incredible storehouse of energy. He is surrounded by facilities which encourage him to exercise his intellect. The earth is his well-equipped research laboratory. Every nook and cranny of it is overflowing with unknowns, teasing and luring him in to exploration. Daily, these dimly perceived, half-sensed areas are yielding their powers and secrets to the probing scientists, those modern magicians who are discovering the miraculous powers in nature and who are unearthing the mysteries that this old world has contained for so long. Will they someday exhaust nature’s reservoir of wonders? Already man has advanced scientifically to unbelievable heights. There appears to be no limit to the peaks he can reach. In the vast sea of science time is just a gentle ripple, composing an ever- changing tide, which washes ceaselessly on every shore. The Victorians felt the measured impact of the shifting tides as their shores were littered with accumulated knowledge. The Victorians, by use of this knowledge in their smug, small, secure, universe, imagined themselves to have reached the ultimate in modern existence and inventions. They proudly boasted gas lighting in the homes and streets. Their newly improved roads in¬ sured fast communication, their elaborate horse-drawn vehicles provided transportation, and the many plushly elegant theatres offered entertainment. The tide did not cease to ebb as they anticipated, but continued its endless journey. We, as others before us, are feeling the force of this mounting turbulent sea. Our speed is dominated by jet propulsion, atomic and hydrogen energy are setting the pace for our power, rapid communication is via the wireless, our entertainment is brought to us through the mediums of moving pictures and television, and newly proposed space bases are to be placed outside the earth’s atmosphere to enable man by the use of tele¬ scopes and other powerful lenses to inspect the daily actions of all the peoples in the world, thus erasing the iron curtain and every material barrier. These bases may be the in¬ strument to promote world peace. The pace of recent scientific advancements is frightening. Man has surged forward materialistically and allowed social and spiritual fields to remain inert. He is like a child receiving a new toy, not knowing exactly what to do with it — a toy, which in his inexperienced hands can be both creative and destructive. This well may be the time for mankind to make a change of emphasis. From the Renaissance until now, man has concentrated on material development. From now on, in the face of our present frightening evolutions, perhaps man had best de-emphasize the physical and material in order to use his almost fabulous creative and imaginative powers to explore and develop other than his material resources. Just as the physical horizons receded before his ingenious attacks, so can the moral, political, and spiritual horizons lift and broaden. Who knows what new Edison, Einstein, Steinmetz, Whitehead, or Roentgen the immediate future is preparing to usher onto the stage of the world? The battle for man’s physical control has been largely won through the brilliance of such men. Now the world, in breathless hope and anxiety, waits for the social, moral, and spiritual geniuses who will come one day to teach mankind how to use the great powers he now has for the common good of humanity. Elizabeth Duncan