Shelburne High School - Buccaneer Yearbook (Shelburne, TX)

Page 29 text:

THE SENIQRS' MESSAGE Oftenlwe hear, 'The youth of today is the future America, and the future of of America restslupon our youth. Let's wake up 'Youth' and accept our heri- tage and make this the Beginning, not the End. By each generation the torch of liberty and freedom must be kept burningg the responsibilities of citizenship must be discharged, and the opportunities of citizenship must be appreciated. lt is our responsibility to build a successful democratic society at home and to make America a leader for international ius- tice and peace. May we have a clear conception of our task and a greater cour- age and inspiration for its successful completion. Courage is not enough. We need the ability to see the facts and to see them in the perspective of their total relationship. We know that it is upon education that we depend for the development of good citizenship and social effectiveness. Education must give us citizens who can and will measure up to the responsibilities placed upon them by free institutions. Our institutions will live only as long as we make them work. Education with courage and insight to reach toward that goal can well serve to guarantee the future progress of our citizens. We as future citizens must be thoughtful about the problems that face it, be firm in our convictions, and courageous in our act- ions. lt is fundamental in our system that unless most of us do fulfill our duties, our obligations, our rights, and our freedoms as citizens, our way of lving will not long survive our failure. As we think of the rights, and the privileges of citi- zenship in our country, let us not forget the oblizations and duties which go with those same rights and privileges. ln this Atomic Age there is not any time to lose. The lowiest individual may have an influence and the extent of the contribution will be measured by how each one assumes responsibility for the establishment and maintenance of peace, It is not the statesmen to whom we must look for the desired peace, and miracle, but the education of our country. The heart and mind ofmind must be educated or else out of some subterranean cellar will come a far greater monster than the 'Atomic Bomb. lt is the duty of the educator to train the heart and mind. May it be sound and lasting! Education in America has fallen on evil days, not evil in the wicked sense, but evil in the sense of lost prestige and impotence, to do the right job it is sup- pose to do. The plight of our schools is not the fault of any particular group of either with- in or without the teaching profession. It is the fault of every American citizen. As people we are not really concerned about education at the moment. Why aren't we?