The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-10-11

not in any case that know OF met with
unqualified success"
Arthur l.. James, Boys High School:
Il am opposed to the presence of these
societies. whether supervised or other
wise. This position Is the result of con-
siderable experience. going back over
twenty-five years in this school, when
we had fraternities which were COM
pletely supervised and even cont oileld
by members of the faculty. In
spite of this close relationship the fra
ternity spirit divided the school into
cliques, tended to get control OF school
politics, and to a considerable extent
interfered with the freedom of athletics
"Mode of Social ButterfIies."
I'm this school, so far as have been
able to learn, there are no fraternities
in which the entire membership is to be
found within this school. There are
eight or ten such societies, however.
whose membership is made up OF few
boys of this school and few from each
of several other high schools. These
fraternities meet at the homes of, the
students parents, and to all intents and
purposes are doing no harm except that
they are undemocratic. and for that
reason have no place in public high
school. Some of our best boys are MEM
bers of such fraterntles."
William l.. Felter, Girls High School:
The secret society selects It's members
on a basis of exclusively so-called social
possessions-in a girls school because
girl dresses we'll or has a brother who
can dance well. Such societies have al
ways governed their actions with regard
TO the interest of the society and not OF
the school. AS a rule. the members Of
these societies are snobs. and so far as
the girls schools are concerned in the
past they have been made up of social
butterflies.
IF 1t be said that such societies do
exist and that they would be better
under school control. my answer is that
they do not exist In schools where the
principals have strong backbones and
rigid knees I am bitterly op.
posed to sucn organizations. and l have
fought them, and / shall continue to
fight them to the death. I know just
what they do to a school. and / speak
not out of bitterness but out of expe-
Renee"
II. A. Potter, New Utrecht High
School. argued that just as men will.
under all conditions, form groups. so
will boys and girls. He saw no par
tiSuidI HdrlH III secret sOClelleS IL CoH-
Quoted with the approval Of parents and
school authorities. and said it was use
less and childish" to. prohibit the wear
ing of society emblems. He added I'm
fortunately, however, such societies sell
dom work for the best interests of the
institution as a whole. They endeavor
to obtain for themselves a preferment
and privilege at the expense of their
fellows. and where the common well
fare and fraternity welfare clash they
will surely line up on the side of the
fraternity welfare in opposition to COM
munity welfare His conclusion was ::
I'VE cannot prevent groups being
formed even among pupils, but we must
prevent predominance of these groups
in the conduct of school activities. The
principal Is the best judge of how this
result can be obtained in his own
school,"
Admit Violating Law.
Gilbert j. Raynor, Commercial High
School, said that years ago the school
had fraternities with faculty advisers,
but that the fact Is, however, that al
most universally the pupils who belonged
to them sooner or later went to pieces
in their studies" He commented fur
Their: Boys of high school age cannot
devote their time and thoughts to fra
ternity activities and succeed In their
studies. There were other objections
that were evident, but this alone is. In
my judgment sufficient reason for their
exclusion"
Kate f. Turner, Bay Ridge High