Springfield College - Massasoit Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

Page 33 text:

Through the wonder of his teaching, the pages we had merely skimmed the previous night took on meaning and we could see this drama in our lives And thus he spoke, and thus we learned. The first words l)r. Brooks taught his grandson .... were: I’m going to Dartmouth His wonder of knowledge, he it diagramming sentences. analyzing Churchill's speeches, or interpreting Don Quixote, and his ability to convey that knowledge to us: His insistence that we give of ourselves to meet his giving of self: His constant demand that we develop our ability to their fullest possible potential is living proof attesting to the fact that the word “teacher did not die with Socrates. Men such as Dr. Brooks, professors whose lives were devoted to the art of teaching, were an integral part of Springfield College, but there were other men who devoted time and energy to the school. They were people often overlooked in the mainstream of credit-given. Such were the men whose days were spent in work unseen: such were the men who passed unnoticed in the complex workings of the college: such were the men of the ...

Page 32 text:

. . . DEDICATION One of these men. remember very clearly. 1 can recall Dr. Brooks’ classes so vividly. I re- member one incident which, to me, evidenced his true ability as a professor. It was a bright spring day when he stood before the class in room 101. He looked about the room at the chipped plaster walls, at the pipes laced overhead, at the window propped open by a board, and confessed that this was not a room in which to be teaching Cyrano de Bergerac, but then he told us this was unimportant, for true education is a meeting of minds. He smiled know- ingly at our cynical smirks, and proceeded to speak to us of Rostand's play. I still am uncertain as to precisely when or how it happened, but when next glanced about the room minutes later, I saw that all were as enthralled as I was by his words — Displuming lus sense of humor. Dr. Brooks smiled as he remembered an entertaining speeeh given in Fnglish 18. Dr. Brooks revealed to us the play as he saw it: when he spoke of the characters, they became real and alive: when he described the setting, it became a vivid picture; when he explained the poignancy and depth of the theme, it became a part of us. Dr. Brooks stopped for an “after class lecture—perhaps on Annabel Lee.

Page 34 text:

You are young, my son, and. as the years go by, time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions. Refrain, there- fore awhile from setting yourself up as a judge of the highest matters. Plato ...ADMINISTRATION 30 J