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Page 21 text:
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Valedictor ATHERTQN MQNRQE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- mo-dern high schools are equipping young people with all the knowledge that books contain, still they are not equipping enough with that important ab- straction which books also contain, culture. There is, therefore, an evident lack of refine- ment in the deportment of many high school pupils. This deficiency has two chief sources, one, inside, the other outside of the school. The damming of these springs is not, of course, wholly within the power of the school, but it is in its power to lay a firm foundation upon which the pupil may construct his retaining walls. The causes of the lack of culture which issue from the internal source are these: the strong tendency of the pupil to master merely the text of his assignments, the practical courses, and lastly, the too great scarcity of teachers who are innately polished 'and who are interested in teaching gentility as well as X plus Y equals 3. The difficulty on the part of the pupil lies here: he does not see the interesting or the educational points. He goes about his work with the sole idea of satisfying the teacher, rather than with the design of instructing himself. He does not realize that the school is for his good, not for the teacher's, and that if he does not make the best use of it, he is doing himself an injury. This is a fundamental principle, which, when thoroughly understood, will make school life much pleasanter. In the practical courses, culture is present, although more deeply hidden, just enough so that the average student fails to get it, and, therefore, has only bones when he should have meat. Because of this fact, the pupil is likely to go through life but poorly nourished, unless he helps himself to the best. The most efficient rem- edy is, then, to mix the practical and the cul- tural evenly, that the pupil may be furnished with both meat and bone in their most beneficial combination. Now let us consider the teacher's part. It is easy to imagine the time when the teaching forces of our schools will be recruited largely from the first generation of the educated, unless something is done to make the profession worth while to the second generation. If we cease to have families of teachers, if the sons and daughters of professional men, the cultured, the refined, no longer find teaching to their liking, it would be well to look into the causes, remedy them, and so save much inherited and acquired culture for the schoo-l. If this 1'Cl:111C1'1'161'llI could be thus saved, the evident need of it, as men- tioned above, would be partly obviated. The external causes of the lack of culture are the street, and extreme athleticism. By the street, we mean its associations. For instance, when a person spends his spare time on the street, lounging up and down,
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Page 22 text:
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VALEDICTORY loitering in the doorways, or dawdling on the corner, we know that such a person is not receiving much culture, simply because the street is not a center of rehnement. The school, of course, has no control over one except in school hours, as a result, the little polish acquired daily in the school- room is tarnished by the vulgar atmosphere of the street. In the same way, home cul- ture is destroyed. It is very evident that when the street has a warm room in the heart, culture has an icy corner in the mind. An attack of extreme athleticism is not so diflicult to treat, it is simply an over- indulgence in sport. lt is a lesser evil than loahng, yet will do much harm if left un- watched. It is a well-known fact that the language of the athletic world is not ele- gant, that the manners are not polished, that the conduct there is not refined. Then, on the part of some athletes, there is a striving for newspaper fame that is very apt to drive cultivation away. Oftentimes a per- son in such a case will throw everything else, culture included, aside, for the sake of newspaper notoriety. It is surely a great price to pay for such a returns The worst effect of both these evils is obvious: they shut out the taste for relined companions and instructive reading, and lead clearly to a loss of gentility, which, to- gether with knowledge, sho-uld be an aid to I ' Q progress. A rough path may be shaped by blindly smashing through life with the pon- derous, blunt sledge-hammer of practicality, but a smooth highway may be constructed with that same hammer, augmented by the keen edge of culture. Reiinement always aids its possessor. Culture may be acquired in various ways, one of the best of which is by direct contact with the best minds among men, a means not so universal as reading, but more broad- ening in its effect. In our dealings with such men, we hear the best language, find the best manners, receive the best ideas, brieiiy, we see culture pictured before us on canvas of the same general weave as our own, but painted much more delicately and harmonically: the impression received, too, is far clearer than that of any book, deeper than that of a printed page, far more edu- cational than that of mere words. Conse- quently, in our contact with these master- pieces, the paint, the culture, rubs off, as it were, without harming the original, and contributes toward the betterment of our own portrayal of refinement. Culture, knowledge, knowledge, culture, they work best side by side, let us remem- ber then, as we pass on, that knowledge and culture are also truth, and that truth con- quers! lx! 1 X Q36 wht!-fqagoo ? Yfkfgopg, 'Vow K-J L. Q Q is J Q' i it 342' I ' . v A . ' ' 5 1 ,J x 1 x,,P 1' 'N 4 w
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