Port Allegany Union High School - Tiger Lily Yearbook (Port Allegany, PA)

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(Tlic (iiyer iCihj Voices front tfjc Slumnt I am sure it -willpay well to read these.” To the Editor of The Tiger Lily: A matter which has always interested me, both as a university student and as a college teacher, and which should be a quite pertinent one to those members of the Class of ’33 who plan to continue their education at university or college is that of the value of the college education to the individual. I want especially to consider this with respect to the Port Allegany High School graduate for in this my readers and I have a common interest. Limited space necessitates a briefer treatment than this subject deserves; the most I can hope to do is to submit a few impressions acquired thru my own experiences and thru those of others with whom I have talked. I believe that there are four main values to be derived from the years spent at the college or university: the development of resourcefulness and independence, the broadening intellectually thru contacts with other persons, the information obtained from studying courses, and training in thinking. The degree to which these effects manifest varies with the institution and even more with the individual. Probably one of the first intimations of the different life he is setting out upon which makes itself felt is the realization of the young college fresh- man that he is on his own, so to speak. This is especially true of the student who goes to the large city university. Matters with which he has previously concerned himself but little come to require his thought and care. From the first he must make decisions: where to room, where to eat, how to get about the city, how to shop, what courses to take, and under what teachers to take them. These are only a few of the great number of decisions he must learn to make, and upon his capacity to cope with such problems satisfactorily will depend to a large extent his ability to get along in the university and in the world. For thru-out life one must be able to meet and solve successfully unexpected situations which are constantly arising. Contacts made at school are often rated very highly by the one who would evaluate the college education. Acquaintances are made in classrooms, in living quarters, and at society meetings, and many of these develop into real friendships. With few exceptions contacts with teachers are limited to the classroom. It is certainly true that the friendships developed at college are among the finest and most enjoyable results of the years away at school, not only as an end in themselves but also as a means of education. There is nothing which broadens one intellectually more than the exchange of ideas and points of

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Lumbering Scene A common scene in this section, when the dense forests were cleared off by the lumbermen. Ucst IDc forget We have set aside these following few pages in order to bring to you messages from a few members of the Alumni. How nice it would be if the friendships acquired in school could go on forever, but soon we drift apart, each going his own separate way, remembering the other's perhaps only as he glances back through “The Tiger Lily.” Let us try to keep these friendships alive by letters and many remembrances of one another. 1 hope this corner in “The Tiger Lily” will always be kept open for messages from the graduates of P. A. H. S. Here’s success to every one of the class of ’33.

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(Eljc (Eiger iCily view with other persons, especially with those who have interests different from our own or who have had different upbringings. To be tolerant, to realize that there are two sides to every question, and that there may be as much to be said in favor of the other fellow’s views as our own, is one mark of the well-educated man or woman. The importance to the individual of the actual facts and information acquired during his studying will depend largely upon the extent to which his university work is to be a preparation for his work after graduation. Professional men and women—lawyers, doctors, teachers, and others— will have need thruout life of all the information they can collect which has a bearing upon their respective fields. On the other hand there are many whose college study is not a direct preparation for their future work. For these it will serve as a background for their business and social lives, even tho many facts and details will have been forgotten in the years following graduation. The tendency to furnish this so-called cultural background to the professional person as well is evidenced in recent years in the advanced preparation in less specialized subjects which is required for admittance to many professional schools. 1 can never feel that education is justified solely as an end in itself. Rather it should be the means to a more enlightened aspect of life and the problems of life. The actual knowledge obtained from a certain course is not the essential thing; it is surprising how few of the facts one learns in a course remain with one more than a few weeks or months. This is especially true of college work, where the inevitable “cramming’’ for examinations puts into one’s head a collection of facts which will leave almost as quickly as they entered. But there is something of every course studied which should remain for years, and that is the methods, the manner of approach, or the type of thought which characterizes a subject. For instance, a history should give to us the historian’s viewpoint, a chemistry course the chemist’s viewpoint, a philosophy course the philosopher’s viewpoint. To be sure we cannot all become historians, chemists, and philosophers. What we should have acquired, however, is the appreciation of the points of view of these persons, and the ability to think and reason by their methods. The World War should suggest something more than the victory of the Allies; an acid should convey some impressions to us other than the idea of that which has had an acid taste or of a solution which will burn; the term, idealist, should bring to our minds some thought other than that of a person with ideals. In other words, college should have trained us to think and at the same time supplied the foundation for our thoughts. If it has failed in this, then I think we have missed the most valuable thing which advanced study has to offer. Very sincerely yours, J. Gordon Carlson, ’25