1949 Hanover Holiday
10th Annual Session of Alumni College, June 13-16, Deals with the Dartmouth Man and His Community
THERE is an occupational habit, possessed by all who are connected with educational institutions, that is also found frequently in members of the public at large. It is particularly to be noticed among those who are footing the bills of offspring attending such institutions. This habit is that of asking and discussing the question—what is the purpose of a college education anyhow? Since it is asked so often, it is clear that there is no common agreement on the answer. (As one result of this philosophical breakdown, college curricula are revised every few years, and complete a full cycle every generation.) Nevertheless, let's assume a more or less widespread agreement that one purpose of such an expensive gift is to make the recipient a more valuable member of the community in which he will live.
The Hanover Holiday, long proceeding on such an assumption, has tried to do what it can in a week to make good in this direction. By pointing out what is new, what is a problem, what paths might be followed, it has tried to strengthen habits that, at least theoretically, were formed in college. This year it will make the effort openly, and offer a series of talks on the subject of "The Dartmouth Alumnus and His Community." A community may be the world, and probably it has been for at least three years and a half now, but for this week, and with most of us, for most of our time, it is the town or city in which we live and which we want to make a better place for ourselves and our children. This is, frankly, a week in which attention will not focus on the international, but on the immediate and local and daily. Even the Chicago Tribune might say well done. But surely this is the scene, the only scene, on which most of us can make an impression, and we ought to welcome suggestions about what may be wrong, and what we can do.
The problems and needs of local government are certainly a subject to consider. Nobody is ever satisfied with it, yet very few know what they can do to make it fit their ideas better. Prof. Dayton D. McKean is just the man to tell us—chairman of the Department of Government, former member of the New Jersey legislature, former adviser to Governor Edison of New Jersey, and at present chairman of the New Hampshire State Democratic Committee. An able speaker and writer, his book on Boss Hague and his machine is widely known. In this field he is a national authority.
As an old PTA officer, I can testify that even more than our local government, our schools are never what people think they ought to be—or if they are, the teachers are not. Naturally therefore the Holiday includes a talk on the schools—the new trends, the new methods, the ways to make them better. For this Dartmouth has Prof. Arthur O. Davidson, head of the Education Department, who is new here this year but comes with a wealth of experience. A graduate of Luther College and a doctor of education from Harvard, he taught and supervised schools in lowa and Minnesota before running some eighty training schools for the Pacific fleet. On the subject of educating Junior everybody has ideas or so I seem to have observed. Come and match your ideas with Professor Davidson's.
Most of us, I believe, have fewer ideas about making people live more peacefully together. If the United States is to have any success as the leader of the democratic nations, it surely must find ways of at least reducing the problems of the minorities in the various communities. It is a big problem. (Even a tenth generation Yankee, traveling around, finds himself in a minority occasionally, and it is not always easy.) George Theriault '33, now assistant professor of sociology, has been working on this general problem for a long time. He is one of our best speakers, and I am looking forward to this talk with considerable interest.
The public press these days is full of what it calls juvenile delinquency. Chauncey N. Allen '24 says this is all wrong, and that the approach should not be so negative. Assuming he is right, and that the younger generation is not really as bad as all that, I'll leave the exact title of his talk to him. Certainly as Professor of Psychology, as consultant for the New Hampshire Child Welfare Service, and as a successful parent, he is qualified to lead what I am positive will be a warm discussion on the problems of adolescence today. (It that a positive approach, Chinee?)
There are lots of other community topics the Dartmouth faculty could talk about, but one in particular ought to be included. Prof. Artemas Packard, of the Art Department, has long been interested in the place of art, or the arts if you like, in everyday personal or community life. Their place, as an important one, is growing, but it should grow more. Professor Packard wrote a book on this, a few years ago, which was perhaps lost for you in those days of confusion. This is a chance to hear what he has to say—and that is a lot.
This year the Holiday stops with these five members of the faculty and calls for of the Dartmouth family who have distinguished themselves in community and public service. They are coming back to Hanover, as representatives of what Dartmouth would like its sons to do. The church and religion, naturally, are part of community life that this program must consider, and I suppose you had begun to wonder why it wasn't mentioned. That talk is in the capable hands of the Rt. Rev. John T. Dallas, hon. 1922, just retired as Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, and known to hundreds of Dartmouth alumni for his services in that capacity and as rector for years of St. Thomas Church in Hanover. We are honored by his appearance on our program.
Public health is always a vital community problem. The speaker for this topic is not definitely settled but he will be an alumnus well qualified to tell us the real story and what needs to be done.
Is it really worth while to bother about all this? Is it worth while to give up time, and money, to doing things for the public service? Perhaps none of us should have doubts about these things, but I expect most of us do, so that we leave it all for George to do. But there are reasons, and good ones. Back in the spring of 1921 Dartmouth, undergraduate Dartmouth, elected a mayor on the platform of water for the unwashed common people of Hanover (or no water; my memory is not clear). This was, I think, the first elected office held by Dartmouth's distinguished alumnus John L. Sullivan '21, Secretary of the Navy. You will miss a real occasion if you pass up his talk and I don't expect very many willin which he, very ably and eloquently, will explain the reasons that appealed to him, and the satisfactions to be found in trying to make the community, of any size, a better one.
There is the program. It starts Monday morning, June 13, and ends the evening of June 16. I think it is the best the Holiday has ever set up. The talks will come morning and evening, with all afternoon free for recreation. The Inn and one of the newer dormitories will be open for members of the Holiday, and they will find all the college facilities ready for their use. Everybody is invited—alumni, their wives, their children, their friends, and those who would just like to hear the talks and get to know more about Dartmouth. The expense will be just as low as we can get it and it will continue to be the biggest vacation bargain in the United States. Stay after commencement; come back before your reunion; just come for the Holiday. Come for all of it, or if you can't come for part of it. Next month the exact schedule will be printed in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, and folders sent to all by mail.
The Old Farmer's Almanac predicts for June 10-16 a "spell of real nice weather." Make your plans now to come to all of the Hanover Holiday this year.
HANOVER HOLIDAY SPEAKER: Dayton D. McKean, Professor of Government, who will talk about local government at the "alumni college.
