Wellesley High School - Wellesleyan Yearbook (Wellesley, MA)

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WELLESLEY HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL Page 4

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WELLESLEY HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL sa a vm?, n n vm?, n msgass FOREWORD During our twelve years or more of education, we have been trained for a life of competition—competition with our fellow men—competition among nations. It seems we live in a world in which it has become entirely ethical to consign to the depths below our fellow-climbers on the ladder to success. Our whole social system seems to have degenerated into a mad and vulgar scramble for gold. Under cover of fine phrases, speakers on vocational guid¬ ance have prepared us for this competition which they have ennobled. They have prepared us for the bitter struggle for jobs. They have recommended that we continue our education that we might gain success at the expense of our less literate and less fortunate but none the less deserving friends. This competition has entered into international rela¬ tions. The imperialist nations of the world are ever wrangling for foreign markets, ever disputing over colonies, ever suppressing and vulgarizing once happy natives in the search for raw materials. This trade rivalry has led to the construction of armies and navies for the protection of merchant marine and interests abroad. Witness the United States in Central America, Japan in Manchuoko, Belgium in Africa, France in the East Indies, England in India, etc., etc., etc. It is a horrid picture—this eternal strife, personal and international. It has brought us all to the brink of the pit. No one will deny that it is this blind and stupidly cruel competitive system that has brought us to this ravine in business charts, or, to speak more to the point, this crack in a system that has had its day and has become as oppres¬ sive as the feudal system. It is awful to think of this inane want among plenty and to compare the super-filled figures of “successful men” with the shuffling figure and the gaunt shadowy face of the real “forgotten man ' It is this condition that we must face. It is evidently a wrong condition. Many elements of the student life of the world have sought remedies and have formulated plans for a saner world. Militant pacifism has appeared. More and more young men and young women have turned to the left (radical) in their search for a sensible economic system. And who will say they are wrong? You may not realize it but most of the members of our graduating class will have the right to vote in the next presidential election. There is no compromise; there are but two paths, one to distinction, the other to a true co-operative and brotherly future. It will be ours to choose and may God help us! ALVIN von AUW. Page 3

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WELLESLEY HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL Page 5