Trinity Pawling School - Scroll Yearbook (Pawling, NY)

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% Retrospect During the last eight months of school life the Class of 1914 has held the position of Sixth Form. In many respects the office and the duties of a Sixtli Form have undergone a change in that time, and to-day that position has a different meaning than it had previously. In all the recent endeavors, work, and accomplish- ments, the best traditions of the school have been carefully observed; the change has been fundamentally one of viewpoint. Tbe opportunities and the limitations differ but little from year to year, the material to work with—boys—remain always the same, and the types of individuals that compose a Sixth Form are always very much alike; but the inspirations, the energy, the ideas, and the hopes of every Class are very different. We have tried to lead the thought of the school as well as the school’s actions; we have tried to lead the school by an appeal to reason rather than by an exercise of force. In these respects we have differed from other Sixth Forms and the difference has been one of underlying principles. The success of an idea depends upon its aim and a class that has a goal has made a long step toward being a really great Sixth Form. The danger of drifting has been the greatest menace that has continually beset the Senior Class at Pawling. To answer every question only as it arises, to meet every issue only as it is actually faced, is the easiest and the simplest method of using the Sixth Form power. To plan a direct course of action, to lay down certain solid principles upon which to build the structure of later work requires deep and careful thought. To be fired with the ambition to better the school in every possible way that you are able is much harder than to be simply filled with a selfish pride in your own position and a secret desire to assert power whenever a chance is given. The former is the path of few, the latter the road of many. The Class of 1914 has tried to use the Sixth Form power as it should be used, not as a weapon to assert useless authority, but as a force for the school’s betterment. Our whole aim has been to lead the school’s thoughts by appealing to their reason, instead of leading their actions by appealing to their sense of fear. A class should, of course, have certain policies that should form the back- bone of its work. The principle of unity is absolutely essential. The cause of the weakness of some Sixth Forms can be blamed entirely to petty differences, internal jealousies, and a lack of “spirit” that has eventually crushed any noble desire that a part of the class may have entertained for the school’s betterment. The spirit that makes a class “get together” is the right kind of spirit to have. During the past year we have never enunciated a policy, never decided upon a course of action, nor ever taken a decisive stand upon any matter, without being unanimous in senti- 36

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VOTES FOR SIXTH FORM PERSONALITIES DONE MOST FOR PAWLING—Depew 19, Parker, Schmid, 1. MOST POPULAR—Quaintance, Depew 7, Parker 3, Grout, Bridge 2. BEST ATHLETE—Parker 5, Quaintance 3, Goff 2. Van Schaack 1. FINEST GENTLEMAN—Depew 13, Saportas 3, Bridge 2, Schmid, Grout, Quaintance 1. MOST ENTERTAINING—Depew 7, Bridge 5, Saportas, Swan, Grout, Bell, Leeming, Beekman, Sanderson, Van Schaack 1. MOST VERSATILE—Sanderson 8, Van Schaack 4, Depew 2, Schmid, White, Goff, Parker, Bridge. Snyder, Quaintance 1. BEST DRESSED—Bridge 15, Saportas 4, Schmid, Derby 1. HANDSOMEST—Quaintance 6. White 3, Saportas, Schmid, Depew, Grout 2, Leeming, Snyder, Sanderson, Bell, 1. BRIGHTEST—Goff 11. Schmid 8, White 2. MOST ENERGETIC—Depew 7. Martin 3, Parker, Goff 3, Sanderson 2, Griffen, Saportas, Bridge. Schmid 1. MOST ORIGINAL—Van Schaack 6, Bridge 5, Saportas, Depew, Schmid 2, Beekman, Griffen, Grout 1. MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED—Depew . Leeming, Martin 4. Goff. Schmid, 2, Saportas, Van Schaack, Bridge 1. WITTIEST—Van Schaack 13, Saportas 5, Depew, Bell, Bridge 1. HARDEST WORKER—Grout 9, Goff 5, Griffen 3, Martin 2, Sander- son 1. 35

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ment, but at the same time our desire for unity has never held us from doing what we knew to he right. Our principle of harmony has never interfered with our attempt for betterment. Down deep in the heart of every Sixth Former there should be a real love for the school. Without that feeling all his duties become merely routine, and all the work of his last year is worthless because of its in- sincerity. The spirit of enthusiasm perhaps permeated the thoughts of every member of the Class of 1914 to such an extent that he was carried along through the year, as it were, upon the crest of a wave. If we have had any power this past year it can be attributed to the fact that we worked as a unit with a definite aim in view. In our Fifth Form year we began to think. And it was the first time that we had ever really done such a thing. We suddenly began to realize that we were going to be a “Sixth Form in a few months, and the responsibilities of our coming office prodded us into a consideration of what we were going to do with it. Before our time it was simply a part of the natural course of events that some day you would be a “Sixth Former,” and that you would be able to enjoy certain hazy privileges, “have boys up,” run the school in some sort of way, and be a member of a mysterious organization whose motives and principles were of course never to be known. All we did in our Fifth Form year was to ask ourselves if there was not some better way of leading the school: we came to conclusion that there was, and the past year has been our attempt to prove that our new method was better than the old. The Class of 1914. however, did nothing radical or revolutionary. It used the same tools that have always been used, but in a different way. It maintained the Sixth Form traditional prestige and tried to add to it. But perhaps it inter- preted the meaning of “prestige” differently'. We have striven for a prestige that would be a moral influence because of ourselves and not because of our position. Of course we gave up the practice of “beating up” a fellow because he did not meet with the Sixth I-'orm’s approval. As a class we did not believe that it did the boy, the Sixth Form, or the school any good. Our aim was to lead by reason instead of by force. In fact it would have been a direct contradiction of our fundamental idea in regard to individuals. We believe that when a Sixth Form considers a boy, it should decide what it can do that will help him, instead of thinking how the power of the class can be best demonstrated in his case. We instituted the Underform Representative System. The meetings, on the first of every month, that the class has had with the representativ from the Fourth and Fifth Forms, have established in school a feeling that has never before been equalled. During the past year there has existed perfect harmony between the Sixth Form and the lower school; never has there arisen any bitterness because 37