Spencerville High School - Echoes Yearbook (Spencerville, OH)

Page 17 text:

Why Education It is a great honor and privilege to address, on behalf of the sixty members of the graduating class, you, our parents, teachers, and friends. Many times students are heard to remark, Why go to school? People such as these do not realize what a priceless gift their formal education is. Education is a necessity, not a luxury. It was not invented by the modern world. Civilization has survived and progressed because of it. The reasons for attending school are numerous. The most important of these is to help avoid the mistakes of the past. It would wreck the world if we could Hnd out only through our own actual experience all of the knowledge that man has gathered through the centuries that he has spent in building his civilization. We want a short cut to this knowledge so that we need not repeat all of the past mistakes and waste our valuable time. The school is the desired short cut. The school also gives us training in the tool subjects. These studies are com- monly understood to be those branches that everyone must have to get along in the modern, fast-moving world. These subjects prepare us for some useful service. I do not mean that the public school can fit us with the exact and detailed training which will make it possible for us to step directly from the school into a job. There are so many kinds of work in the world that no school could hope to have training courses leading to all types of jobs. Nevertheless, it can given general training upon which we can later build our more detailed preparation for the work which we will undertake. Every young person is likely, some day, to have a home of his own. Another reason, then, for attending school is to develop those qualities that make the individual a worthy member of a femily. Families are the foundation of a nation. If a nation is composed of families in which there is peace and harmony, then this nation will inevitably use as its means of living with other nations just, honorable, and decent principles. It is the duty of our educational system to make of us good citizens. This is the chief reason for having a school maintained at public expense. We must learn to do our part as a member of a city, state, or nation. Edward Everett remarked that education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. Good citizenship is founded upon a strong loyalty to our government. The United States belongs to you and to me. You have doubtless seen an old orchard that has fallen into a state of neglect. The whole effect is one of ruin and decay. Yet there was a day when that ofrchard was full of beautiful trees. If its later owners had felt the enthusiasm which the original planters had for this orchard, they would have cared for it diligently. Our nation could easily become like that old orchard. It could become bent and misshapen because no one gave it any thought or care. It is our job to keep our country and government flourishing. The school give us a better understanding of the defects of our government and makes clear to us ways of cor- recting these defects. The last reason for going to school is the most difficult to set forth properly. It has to do with the growth in a child of a sound character. Schools have no specific courses in character building, but in all courses and in all activities qualities of character are stressed. Perhaps the best instructions given to us are the examples set for us by our parents and teachers. We are given the opportunity to take on re- sponsibility and assume initiative as an aid to character development. These are the truest purposes of an education. Why go to school? In view of what I have just said, wouldn't the question be better stated, Why not go to schoo1 ? For education is: A fragile plant that gathered strength, We guess at where, and how, and when. The public school became at length, The flower of life, the hope of men. Rita Mueller

Page 16 text:

Cooks Studio 12 fcafeteriaj is quite busy until after the noon hour because it takes a heap of cookin' to serve on the average of three hundred twenty-four lunches each day. Mrs. Bigelow is new this year, but Mrs. Sakemiller has been cooking in the studio cafeteria for seven years. Appreciation goes to both of them for dishing up the chow to a group of hungry actresses and actors. Chauffeurs Under compulsory education, transportation is furnished by the Board of Education. The Board owns nine buses at present, but only eight of these are used for daily transportation while another is kept in case of an emergency. It is important that these buses are operated by reliable men for they are responsible for each student's life until he reaches the Main Studio in the morning and is returned to his home in the evening. The drivers must be able to concentrate on their job in spite of the noise and be patient when someone is trying to catch a bus at the last minute. Thanks and appreciation go to all the drivers for the part they have contributed in making it possible for everyone to attend school the past vear. Janitors A clean building is an enjoyable one in which to live. Not only do the students enjoy the comforts which the janitor provides, but a neat appearance impresses visitors when they enter and leave the Main Studio. Each department of the Main Studio gets cleaned at least once a day and sometimes more often, otherwise, we would be wading through piles of paper. Appreciation goes to the janitors, who have made our studio a more pleasant place in which to spend our working hours. CHAUFFEURS 1-Don Monfortg 2-Ralph Jarvis, 3-Vaughn Shaffer 4-Bryan Hamby, 5-Fred Place, 6-John Point 7 Loren Evansg 8-Ralph Cook, 9-Harold Placeg 10-Bob Mullen hour. COOKS J ANITORS Mrs Sakemiller Mrs. Bigelow Charles Shobe Loren Ex ans

Page 18 text:

Recreation for Youth Parents, Teachers, and Friends, it is my privilege on behalf of the class to welcome you to this, our graduation. We appreciate your presence and are happy to have you share this great occasion with us. You probably realize the significance of this event more than we do, but we are thrilled and happy that you are here. During our vacation in the South last summer we bought a newspaper in a small town in North Carolina. A certain article and picture caught my attention. The picture was that of the renovation of a small building to be used as the new recreation center of a nearby village. It seemed that the Hfteen families who make up the town had accepted the responsibility of taking an old, abandoned church which was in need of repair, and creating this center for their young people. The building needed among other things a new roof and interior and exterior decorating. The women sponsored bake sales and socials until they had raised the estimated amount for this work. Then the young people and the adults worked side by side to accomplish the desired results. Besides completing the project they bene- fited greatly their fellowship of working together for a common cause. This project in itself is rather insignificant but the important thing is that the community 'realized the importance of wholesome recreation for their young people and did something about. Many communities realize the need but do not act upon it for one reason or another. In nearly every community where a teen center has been developed the problems of juvenile delinquency and low morals have greatly improved. I think we could expect the same results in our own community with improved recreational facilities. Some may challenge the issue of the need for a town-provided center by enumer- ating the wide range of activities for children provided by the school for practically nine months of each year, without considering what they are to do during the other three. If we were to enumerate the organized activities that are provided for our youth during the summer, I believe we would have to agree that not too much has been accomplished. In many neighboring towns, some of which are similar to Spencerville in size and wealth, there are rather elaborate facilities for the recreation of the young people. However, it is not necessary to create anything elaborate or costly. What is actually needed is some organized recreation in the summer. This very field on which we are congregated, when planned, had space set aside for tennis, horseshoe and outdoor basketball. But no steps have been taken to develop these things. The cost and most of the work have already been completed, if the adults of the community would supervise and help the young people to complete it. Many of the youth would also be willing to give their time and effort to help provide for a place of supervised indoor recreation. A place where the gang would be able to get together and enjoy the wholesomeness of a well-planned program of indoor activities. Included in these might be table tennis, shuffle board, and volley- ball. Another phase of this program might include an occasional, well-chaperoned dance. A refreshment stand would also be convenient. Here in Spencerville we have one of the best educational systems in the state, but it would be possible to give the students an even better education, one of social betterment as well as a formal training, if more recreational facilities were provided. Don't we owe it to our children to see that their education is expanded in this direction also? The provisions for a wider range of organized recreation during the summer which I have mentioned before surely should not be too costly or elaborate. This is a major problem and with the young men of our community soon to be in uniform a greater need for this recreation is immediately apparent for the young men who will be left behind. It should not be passed off without the most earnest consideration. We must remember that today's children are tomorrow's citizens and the form of recreation to which they now accustom themselves will greatly influence their type of pleasure in later life. The problem of whether this recreation is the right kind rests mainly with the adult citizens of the community. It is the earnest plea of the moral and social standards of tomorrow that we take an active interest in this real problem.