Park School of Baltimore - Brownie Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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MR. ROBERT A. THOMASON It is sinful from a pedagogical point of view to say that the Class of 1960 has a special hold on my feelings. But say it l must! For you will recall that we freshmanned it together in 1956-57. You were new then at the business of being a high school student, l at the business of being a headmaster. Some among you provided me with my first close-up of a Park Schooler. What a surprise was in store for mel Had l misread the statements of the school's philoso- phy? Had the trustees misrepresented the institution to me? After six years of teaching in a boys' school, what did I find facing me in 8 my first Park School English class? Nothing but boys! Mr. Schweitzer in the wisdom of his experience with new teachers had decided I needed a decompression year. To Mr. Ganter went the girls, to me the boys. This was my introduction to coeducation. Now off you go, freshmen no more-as I am a freshman no more -all of us older and, let us hope, wiser. Together we have seen many changes take place in Park. Your parents and others with a belief in our kind of education have given us a campus and facilities of which we can all be immensely proud. The curriculum has been revised. The upper school has grown larger. Old friends among the faculty have left and new ones have joined us. Yet in spite of Park's new buildings, the new courses, the new schedule, the new students, the new teachers, Park remains un- changed. Those values you and l found here as freshmen still flourish. Our obiective is still not to prepare automatons for college, our objective is to graduate thinking, knowledgeable, sensitive young men and women of generous spirit. Beating the game-the college game or any other-is not a skill we cultivate. Meaningful learning is the only variety of that flower which we prize. Books we love, but we want our book-lovers to love music, art, and drama as well. Spectators we appreciate, but participants we appreciate more. Teamwork we encourage, but individuality we deem essential. We are disturbed not if youth rebels but rather if it does not rebel. We are interested in people, not parrots giving back either irregular verbs or regular idealogies. And we still cherish most deeply the close and mutually respectful relationship between the student and the teacher. Where it exists we have succeeded, where it is lacking, we have failed. Best wishes, Headmaster

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we have renewed our spirit in cn new surrounding

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this is the foundation . . . fertile and solid is the ground on which we build . here we lay the first bricks of a structured memory