Verhovayak Lapja, 1941. január-június (24. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)

1941-06-26 / 26. szám

ll_____________________________Verhovay ak Lapja The Value of a College Education Address to Graduating Students of Hungarian Descent in the Duquesne High School (June 5, 1941) By Dr. John J. S. Sebastian June 26, 1941 ADVERTISEMENT FOR APPLICATIONS The Board of Directors of the Verhovay Frater­nal Insurance Association is advertising for appli­cations for the position of Supreme Treasurer of the Association. THE TIME LIMIT FOR THE SUBMITTING OF THE APPLICATIONS IS TWELVE NOON ON AUGUST 30, 1941. Any member can submit an application for the position who — 1. is in good standing; 2. has attained the age of 21 years; 3. is an American citizen and is descended from Hungarian parents; 4. has been a member of the death benefit and sick benefit departments for at least two years. It is desired further that the individual possess the necessary experience in bookkeeping and office routine. Only those Verhovay members should apply for the position who have the necessary qualifications and who are able to secure $100,000.00 bond from the bonding company with which the Association has a contract. The yearly salary of the Supreme Treasurer is $4,000.00. The election is for the period ending December 31, 1943. Those applying should give their personal data, their family circumstances, present occupation, and detail for a period of at least ten years back what kinds of positions they filled and where. Applications received after the expiration of the time limit, that is, August 30, 1941, at noon, shall not be taken into consideration. Applications should be written in longhand, and the word “APPLICATION” should be written in large lettel^ on the envelope and mailed to the following address: VERHOVAY F. I. ASSOCIATION 345 FOURTH AVENUE PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA School Authorities, Distinguished Guests and Parents, dear Students: A year has passed since last time we celebrated here the graduation of forty-five Duquesne High School students of Hungarian ancestry. A fine record to keep up, and it should be further encouraged! Most, of your parents lived part of their lives in war-torn Europe, but you ■were born citizens of a free country that gave you educational advantages unequaled anywhere in the world! This is one of the many reasons why you must love and admire this “land of the free and home of the brave,” why your allegiance belongs to this— and only this—land, why you must protect it, yea, even at the cost of your lives, against any attack, should that come from without or within. Your parents have guided you lip to this time, pointing out to you the advantages offered by this country in the field of edu­cation to all her citizens, with­out discrimination as to race, cieed or class. I want you, dear students, to appreciate that, as the world today is gradually de­parting from this basic principle of .freedom and equality in educa­tion. In most countries of war­­torn Europe today, education is the privilege of the wealthy, or of a preferred race or a ruling party. It is like an epidemic. It spreads, and we, too, have to be on our guard so that we may not be engulfed by such false doc­trines and theories. To your parents, who guided you and gave you some idea of these advan­tages, you owe gratitude, deep sympathy and appreciation; to your teachers, you should be grateful for their direction so that you may find the right path in the great labyrinth of ideas, notions and doctrines, some con­tradictory, some hazy and little understandable. In high school you were taught to think, to use sound judgment in the problems of life. Your education was built upon the family background, and now you have a structure which is well founded though it needs further enlargement, further re­finement, further improvement! This is the point where I wish to give you a few words of ad­vice from my experience and the experience of others with whom I have been in contact in the field of still higher education. Seme of the men invited me to point out to you the fact that you are descendants of a race of splendid cultural background, behind whom is a history of 1000 years of struggles against Asiatics who so often tried to invade the European continent, that your forefathers were protectors of European civilization for 1000 years, that they were second in Europe to adopt a constitution, called the “Golden Bull,” in 1222, seven years after the adoption of the Magna Charta in England. All that is very true, but no racial background, no family back ground, no foundation obtained in the school you are just finished will avail you any, or will be of advantage to you, if you do not build above it the final structure which must withstand the trials and adversities of life. In high school you were given the foundation, or let’s say they built up the raw structure upon the foundation obtained in the home of your parents and in the primary school. Well, the raw structure is there! The walls are erected, the roof is on! What next? It needs the painting, the woodwork, the refinements, it must be furnished for one pur­pose or another! Will it be a Weil furnished home for literary en­deavor or for the pursuit of arts? Or will it be a factory with its thousands of various kinds of specialized equipment for the pro­duction of a needed object? That is what you are up to! Thus we come to specialization, for this is an age of specializa­tion in one narrow field which one must master if one is to be a useful member of modern so­ciety. Immediate employment as an apprentice in a shop or factory, or as a clerk in a commercial establishment, is the most direct and, so it seems, the easiest way to begin the necessary specializa­tion. True enough, a way is thus offered to the high school gradu­ate to become an expert in many particular fields, especially if he is ambitious enough to utilize his spare time and gain theoretical knowledge in his field from books, library, popular lectures, etc. Or, he may attend' short courses in a trade school after his working hours. Thus he may become ex­pert at a trade in a few years while at the same time he earns his living. But, I emphasize that via this road to specialization he will most likely become a production expert or expert at his trade, but seldom more than that! In order to become a creative talent, a man who is not merely able to produce by following set schemes or methods put before him, but who can plan new pro­cesses, or even be able to im­prove an existing methods of pro­duction needs: a so called “col­lege education.” In colleges and universities you obtain the com­prehensive knowledge, both the­oretical and practical, existing up to date in any particular field: engineering, medicine, law, etc. That is where you get the highest training in any narrow field, so that you may become a creative talent or a professional man. It would take too long to ex­plain further the enormous value of a college education in a man or a woman’s life. But I want to urge strongly all of you-, whose record now enables you to gain admission to college, not to resort to the above mentioned easier or direct road to specialization, but enter the road leading to the highest education in a college or university! By not doing it you may lose an opportunity which you will regret throughout your life! You may not realize it now, but you will later! True enough, the road is not easy. It means hard work and plenty of it! You may have to support yourself by part time employment in case you do not have the necessary funds! But what of it? Do not let hardships discourage you! Tens of thousands of ambitious young men went through college by supporting themselves and became great leaders, executives in this country! What others could do so can you! Hardships will forge your character and you will become better men than those who fail in life because they always reach out for the easy, and thus be­come softies! But, I do not want you to have false illusions about a college education! Do not imagine that you will fall into a soft job as soon as you graduate! Oh, this is a paradoxical world, full ot contradictions and where justice does not always prevail! Do you know what paradoxes are? For those of you who do not know I shall give no definitions. I shall simply mention a few examples. You hear so much talk about permanent peace which should be achieved, so it is said, by going to war! Countries are fighting for the survival of democracy by giving up their own democracy and bowing before the dictatorial powers of their leaders. Some churches of God, based and founded upon love for one’s neighbor and Christian patience, show only too often the most intolerant attitude toward other denominations. Yes, some even openly advocate war as means for settling international disputes I could tell you many more ex­amples, for life is full of them, and our society is not founded upon abstract justice. Justice is the aim of organized society, but how far are we yet from its achievement! Many leaders of our public life, for example, en­thusiastically approve the spend­ing of untold billions of dollars for war preparations, yet the same men in the past ten years shut their eyes to the sufferings of millions of their unemployed fellow citizens. Did these same men advocate an honest spending of millions to clear up the slum districts in our cities? Wealthy industrial magnates gave large sums of money for philanthropic pui’poses, for libraries, hospitals, etc., yet the same men denied an annual living wage to their employed labor. In their drive for more efficiency and lower cost of production, they made the industrial corporations con­trolled by them “soulless” indeed. They call it “rugged individu­alism,” a system in which the weak perishes and the strong not only survives but reaps the«profit. So you see we live in a world in which justice is merely an ideal for which to strive! Do not be surprised that with your col­lege diploma in your hand you may have to start from the bot­tom and be satisfied with wages not much higher than that of an apprentice in a trade. True, chances are that you will advance much faster than those who lack higher education, but not always. Too often some superiors who have no higher education will try to keep you down, not permitting you to advance. Even later, after five or ten years of experience, only a small fraction of college graduates (about 3-4%) will be trusted with executive duties, and then not always the most capable are advanced. Too often chemists and engineers with 10-15 years experience earn about half as much as their neighbor, an ex­perienced operator in a factory, who never went to college or even to high school! for he be­longs to unions, can strike for higher wages, but a professional man can not. Yet, in spite of all I have said, in spite of these often gloomy aspects, I can not urge you too strongly to go to college, all of you whose record in high school is acceptable to college authori­ties, for education is a treasure which no one can take away from you! Our social system may undergo tremendous changes. Wealth and property may be lost in depressions and social upheav­als, but your education is yours! Then again, if there are injus­tices they may be corrected in the future! We hope that they will, and it is up to you, the youth of America, to insist upon those peaceful changes, to make America a democracy not only in name but in spirit as well! Your mistake in accepting full time employment now may be regretted by you throughout your whole life. Some of you may reason that by working for a few years you may collect suf­ficient funds to enable you to go back to college, but you will find that you only deceive yourselves. Yes, it is possible, it happened before, but chances are one in a thousand that you will be one of those. Once you are employed and established with chances for limited advancement, it takes great will power to go back to school. Your mind will be in a different track altogether, and even if you decide to continue your studies it will seem an extraordinary burden on you. Therefore, do not belittle your opportunity open before you now. Renounce the temporary mate­rial advantages you may gain by accepting employment. What of it if you will not be able to afford driving your own car for a few more years? The years go by quickly, and after four or five years you will be able to step out into life with a more mature mind, with sounder judgment of values! Take up the flag of edu­cation and carry it forward, study to become a better and more use­ful member of your community so that your parents and friends will look with pride up to you! That is what makes America great—the educational advantages offered to all! It is yours for the taking! Let me begin to finish my, address with the words of W. J, Cameron of the Ford Motor Com­pany: “Far more challenging and thrilling than new territorial frontiers possibly could be are the new frontiers of the sciences and technologies, the frontiers of knowledge that we ceaselessly push ahead of us into the un­known.” Be a soldier in this struggle toward the unknown! Higher education furnishes you with equipment for that noble fight! * * * Editorial Note: We are proud to state that Dr. Sebastian is * member of the Verhovay, be­ing of Branch 495, Wilkins­­burg, Pennsylvania.--------------O--------------­More than 30 per cent of all Que­bec farms have the use of electric­ity for light and power.

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