Woodward High School - Treasures Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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Woodward Spirit Promotive of Best Citizenship 1. HE inquiry is often made by persons referring . to one school or another: iiDoes it really pre- pare young men and women for the more serious aifairs of after life, or does it merely afford a superficial polish that may easily be rubbed away in the rush and strain of living? In other words, the questioner wishes to find out how the school endeavors to fit its students for the most use.- ful citizenship in community or nation. In applying the question to our institution, let us try to show that the various carefully selected courses will be productive of a firm, industrial and cultural foundation for work in the sundry occupations of the complex business world. Woodward wishes the public to understand that she essays a cultivating as well as a polishing process through which those taking her training must pass. We all know that her moral interests and purposes are of the highest and we feel that words concerning him, whose purposes she was given to promote, can not here come amiss. Not that it is necessary to substantiate our l'Grand Old Man in any way, but that we may for a moment recall to our hearts and minds the ideals and practical good accomplished by the generous gift of the founder. How near to his heart must have been the happiness and progress of those poor, untutored children for whom the school was originally established! We all under- stand in some degree the attitude of pure brotherly love which prompted such an action. Never robust in body, Mr. Woodward might have refused public trusts of any kind and no one could have rightly censured him; with him there was no shrinking from duty, no cowering before hardship, no hesitation in the doing of a generous deed. Coming to Cincinnati in 1791, when it was a small but already thriving village founded by hardy men from across the Appalachian Mountains, he set up his tannery and went to work. At the same time he entered into the real estate business, making money enough in this way to warrant his consummating plans for publicly aiding the poor children of Cincine nati. In the year 1826 he entrusted a tract of seven acres of land to his staunch and sound-minded friend, Samuel Lewis, and a nephew, Osmond Cegswell, who were to act as trustees of a fund for the support of a free grammar school to be erected thereon. Childless himself, he loved children and gave to their cause with all his generous heart. As one studies his life two principles stand forth quite distinctly-his faultless honesty and his thrift. They seem the main springs of all his actions, and make of an otherwise quiet and uneventful life an example worthy of imitation. Knowing these facts it is but logical and correct to conclude that the principles of such a man consistently illustrated by his life, would neces- sarily impress themselves upon our institution and through it upon all life given to it for development. Indeed, it is a recognized fact that our benefactorls ideals are the ideals of the great school he founded, and that training towards them will always be one of the leading forces in the work of the institution. There surely is great reason for rejoicing that the machinery of our institution e the instructors and the

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pupilseare square. How could they help being so With such a founder? The students uniformly agree that their instructors d0 deal With them honestly and fairly. This honesty and the attitude of sincerity and trust adopted in all their work react potently upon the students themselves. Very rarely do we iind them using unfair means to any end, such actions being scorned as unworthy. We should not wonder, then, at finding in boys and girls passing from the healthful atmosphere of our school, a strong sense of fairness; a strong belief that the honest course is immeasurably the better and a firm determination to cling to our sig- nificant and well-known motto, HEsse quam Videri. The method used in Woodward in assisting one to meet in the best manner and to solve satisfactorily the mighty problem of making a livelihood is both logical and highly practicable. The plan provides for natur- ally and gradually developing in the students the fun- damental qualities Which a successful worker must possess. Next in importance, perhaps, comes the per- sistent efforts on the part Of the school to demonstrate the material value of work. This the pupil is taught by personal example and precept daily during four strenu- ous years. So, generally speaking, long before he is ready to graduate he has forgotten any distaste for work Which may have been in his heart at the beginning of his career in Woodward. He has reached the point of recognizing it as a saving factor in his life. It is true that a few may consider this habit of working of some- what trifling importance, yet we sincerely believe that any one of them would find it somewhat difficult to satisfactorily demonstrate the virtue of a contrary course. Almost anyone With experience can easily prove the inestimable merit of plodding industry in 10 promoting success. Of course, at first some are not so thoroughly nor so well impressed with the idea of hard work, but given the right conditions, such as Woodward supplies, there could, in the student body, rarely de- velop a desire for complete inactivity. Our school offers yet another quality of tremendous consequence in any undertaking. I refer to the ability to gain the best results through labor, together With the least possible expenditure of energy. If a Wood- ward pupil but recognizes his advantages he may be- come quite skilled in the paying practice of giving spe- cial attention to essentials and their relations to each other. Students of high-school age can not always readily recognize essentials When they appear mixed With a great mass of detail and comment; so the teach- ers take great care to emphasize the constituent prin- ciples of their several subjects. By this means the stu- dents develop a properly critical attitude and their minds are keen to find out the essentials of the subjects in which they are interested. The ability to separate the grain from the chaff, Which in its own time serves a Wise purpose, weighs mightily in the balance of pros- perity, because of its utility in grasping a problem and arriving at a sane and logical conclusion. Facts, today, point out very forcibly the supreme need in the indus- trial province of logical, practical men and women who have learned by the proper use of energy the conserva- tion of their own lives and their own happiness. In the race for a livelihood in this straining age, a man needs every ounce of strength put to the right place and he needs it all the time. The school, equipped with the besteboth of in- structors and 0f the conveniences needed to eliminate all material obstruction to educational progresseis