Plymouth High School - Mayflower Yearbook (Plymouth, IN)

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3Jt ” o. e. mcdowell Superintendent THERE are some things in life worth more to us than mere knowledge. One of these is the ability to do. We are coming more and more to believe that the real test of our value to the world lies in what we can do rather than in what we know. To the members of the present Senior class I would like to say that if your work has been well done in school and you have met the requirements of the school in the best possible way for four years, you have gained by it a priceless possession. In case you should not go into active educational work but should take your places in the business affairs of the world, you could not at the end of two years pass a creditable examination in Latin or Algebra. Does this mean that your time in High School has been wasted? No indeed. The Latin and Algebra arc not ends in them- selves but means to an end. They arc the materials used in developing mental strength and ability during the period of training in the High School and are no more an absolute necessity to you after the period of training than are the saw and hammer a prime necessity to the house after it is built. Why does it so often happen that the boy who learns slowly and with great effort in school finds a more responsible place in the affairs of the world than the brighter boy who passes better examinations in Latin or Algebra? The boy who plods slowly along through the High School course, doing his work in the best pos- sible way, is forming habits of industry and application which never leave him and which sustain him through times of adversity and struggle, while his keener, more alert brothers fail, through lack of those sterling habits of application which require years in the forming. Other things being equal the boy who has had four years’ good training in High School will be a better workman in any line than he would otherwise have been even though he forget all the subject matter of his school course. If you should compute the average salary of the men who have gone out into the world without High School training and likewise the salary of the men who have had four years’ High School training, you would find that the difference in salary would, in an average lifetime, amount to a small fortune. A prominent educator who collected facts on the question found that the amount was equivalent to more than ten dollars for each day of the four years spent in High School. None of us believe that the extra earning capacity is due to mere knowledge of the subjects studied in High School, for this knowledge may be largely forgotten; at any rate the line of work entered after school is in most cases of a nature quite remote from the subjects studied in High School. It is evident to all, I think, that a good course in High School does develop within the pupil a certain amount of mental strength and ability which is of immense value in any line of work. If, however, the subjects of study are of such a practical nature that not only the mental development but the facts of the subject matter can be put to practical use in after life, the student has gained an added point of strength. This is the excuse educators have for introduc- ing commercial and industrial studies into the Public Schools along with the classical. Let me close by saying that if in your High School course you have formed proper habits of study and work, and have learned to conform gracefully to a set of regulations and have developed a fair amount of the ability to do, you should now be able to do some one piece of the world’s work and do it well. If you do this the world owes you a living. Otherwise you are the debtor. I am thoroughly of the opinion that a course in the High School does pay. 9

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