St Johnsbury Academy - Lamp Yearbook (St Johnsbury, VT)

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S THE ACADEMY STUDENT STUDENT BOARD 1939-40 Editor-in-Chief Philip Brown Associate Editor Howard Hawley Make-up-Editor Margaret Gillander Boys' Sports Editor Bob Simpson Assistants Raymond Fox. Reginald Counsell News Editor Mary Frances Lindsley Assistants - Barbara Perry, Eleanor Murphy, Celia McGuire. George Cuna- velis Feature Editor Nvllllillll Lanctot Assistant VVillia1n Paradis Art Editor Virginia Wilcox Assistant Richard Cook Circulation Manager Business Manager Sales Manager Assistants Alumni Editor Headline Writer Jabber Editor Assistant Books Drama - Movies Brainstorms Literary Editor Inquiring Reporter Ad Writer Assistant Exchange Editor Nicholas Economou, joan Eugene Ellingwood Norman Chase Jack Cox VVhite. Bishop McGill Mary W'oods Thelma Davis Barbara Witters Margaret Hooker Earla Lang' 'lean Scott Randall Boyce Glendeen Samuelson l.eo Bnrrington Jean Campbell George Bushey Malva Macliarlin

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THE ACADEMY STUDENT 9 VALEDICTORY ESSAY SCIENCE: BLESSING OR CURSE? Prevalent attacks on science as a universal menace Which, through its material products, promotes and encourages crime and Warfare and is the fundamental cause of unemployment can be and should be answered. Science is Charged with causing unemployment because of the scientifically-produced advance of the machine, which replaces men. It is blamed for crime increases since it has given criminals speedy cars, machine guns, and many other things which make crime less difficult to accomplish. It is accused of promoting wars beause of such features of modern warfare as poison gas. All these Contributions are produced by science through the use of the scientific method, which may be outlined in four steps. First, the scientist makes experiments and discovers new facts, seCond,.he judges the value of the facts and arranges related ones in order of importance, third, he considers the facts and draws some conclusion, fourth, he tests his conclusion by fur- ther experiment. This method is applicable not only to physics and chemistry, but to almost any field of research. By this type of Work machines were in- vented and perfected. and likewise by this method it is more than probable that the unemployment problem will be solved. Even at the present time our government is using something very like the scientific method in trying to relieve the distress of the unemployed. It may be seen, therefore, that the same science which created the problem of unemployment is being used to solve the problem. The scientiiic method may also be employed to advantage in approach- ing the crime problem. This method has made great advances in recent years not only in crime detection, but also in crime psychology, which classifies criminal types. studies criminal backgrounds, etc. These contributions to the abolition of crime must obviously more than overbalance the scientific aids to crime. The charges against science for promoting horrible warfare are, it must be admitted, more weighty than any others, but the rebuttal to these carries more than equal weight. Science has invented machine guns, air raids, poison gases and high explosives which make war supremely hideous and atrociousg it has also provided newly-developed surgical work, faster transportation from the battlefield to the hospital, and various forms of protection against poison gases. Another reply to these charges lies in the comparative ineffectiveness of the super-weapons in war. Their cost is, in general, prohibitive, therefore they cannot be used very extensively. Their effectiveness, due to wasted materials and adequate protections, is rendered fairly slight, except for the psychological effects on those attacked. War then reduces itself for the most