Old Lyme High School - Lymen Yearbook (Old Lyme, CT)

Page 8 text:

From left to right, Mr. Phil- ip Rumsdell, Miss Mildred Did you hear this one about . . . Dixie Dreams? Sanford, Mrs. Hazel Rettig, Mrs. Herbert Miller. From left to right, Mrs. Herbert Miller, Mrs. Roger Grover, From left to right, Miss Jeannette Roberts, Joe Barstis, John Mrs. Carl Kotzcm, and Miss Ruth Prest. Seckla, Martha Dean. Ladies' Choice Sound Off - one, two. From left to right, Dr. Neely Ross, Mrs. Neely Ross, Mrs. John Small, 4 Where were you on the night of the i958 Junior Prom? Dr. Henry Schoettner, and Mr. John Small.

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-M. .c,.fm,...A..A ,, ,.-fe. MWA- W ry A Q Ng4,gg!2,- W. IN , . ,n-L.,,.WM K - -nu-gin--. H s T f i.t.c,.M X e,1'C1QTiff'it:r.,.f'f'-w,'11u.-.i..s,a, fr . W., , . M ...cc ,V 'R t 'ai I L J ilu To Miss Ruth Prest, Mrs. Ruth Swan, and Mr. Philip Ramsdell, our homeroom teachers, we dedi- cate this book in appreciation of their helpful service and patience. 3 i

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Authority on industrial diseases Books written: Industrial Poisons in the United States Industrial Toxology Exploring the Dangerous Trades President of the National Consumers' League Professor emeritus of Medical School of Hartford University. Honorary Degrees: Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Michigan University, Rochester University, Tulane j ALICE HAMILTON Ever since the Russians launched their Sputnik we have been scanning our own educa- tional system with very critical eyes and many authoritative experts have told us that we are way behind other countries, European especial- ly. Our young people do not work hard enough, nor as many hours, they waste time on extra- curricular activities, they are far less intellectual. I have no first-hand experience that would en- able me to judge how this is true, but I have talked to Europeans and heard them describe their recollections of school life in Germany, Austria, France, and what they said made me wonder whether our way does not fit us better for life in a modern, democratic country, even if it does not, perhaps, produce as many in- tellectuals as those countries do. For instance, an Austrian refugee described his school in Vienna. We sat in rows on back- less benches. When the teacher entered we rose and bowed, then sat down and took notes of what he said. When he finished, we rose again and stood until he had left the room. We never asked him a question, we never spoke to him. At the end of the course we passed an examina- tion, giving him back what he had given us. Another European, a German, told me of an extraordinary happening in an American school. The teacher, who was talking about pre- historic animals, suddenly said, l can't remem- ber the name of that creature. Does anyone know what it is? And one of his pupils spoke up and gave it to him. lmagine that in Ger- many, my friend said. A teacher admitting there was something he did not know and turning to the class for information. Our system does seem to prepare our young people for life in common more than for ambition and for fierce competition, as the French system does. The French are the most extreme individualists and it seems to start in their schools. One of our exchange teachers from a Connecticut school, who went to a school in Avignon, told me about her experience there. Those French teenagers work far harder and for longer hours than ours do, and they care passionately about their marks which are al- ways posted up. It seemed to me that success meant not so much learning something inter- esting, solving a hard problem, as getting ahead of the others, reaching the top of the list. Nothing in their school life made for joint effort, for working together, it was all competi- tion. I wondered whether this was not the start of the French individualism which has brought about so many warring political parties in France and has ended in their welcoming an authorita- tive ruler. Another result of our not encouraging competition, rivalry, in our schools is the way we take for granted the ideal of good sports- manship, of ability to be good losers after a defeat. I took my Austrian friend to our Town Meeting, where, as usual, we fought quite energetically over the question of roads. When one side came out victorious, the meeting was adjourned and I said we could go home. But aren't you going to wait to see the fight? he said. What fight, I asked. Why outside, he said. Surely after all that dispute they will not be just friendly and peaceful. They certain- ly wiIl, I said. Just come and see. This some man was again amazed at the American way of taking a defeat. It was when Chester Bowles had lost nomination for political office and the very next day had announced that he would work hard for the candidates of the party that had just rejected him. Such a speech by an Austrian or a Frenchman is inconceivable, my friend said. So perhaps when our schools are criticized as neglecting the scholarly possibilities of our teenagers and paying too much attention to training them in the ways of life in a com- munity, training for common effort for the common good, for mutual tolerance and ability to compromise, for good sportsmanship and generous acceptance of defeat, we may point with pride to our results. We do owe a lot to England, whose ideals we adopted, but we have added some of our own to make a government and a society which certainly works out pretty well in practice. And even in the matter of scholarly achievement we are not far behind. ALICE HAMILTON