PAGE TWO
THE BLACKBIRD. ROCKY MOUNT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 1959
New School-Day Plan
Six Periods-Three Advantages
Jf the proj)osed six-iieriod scliool day pJaii is accepted by
RMSH8, it will provide th ree advantages for next year’s stu
dents.
(1) Stndeuts looking toward college life will readily recog
nize the fact that only the best prepared students are admitted to
today’s overcrowded colleges and universities.
ith the influx of criticism of the modern American scliool
has come a new awareness of the necessity of higher education.
Jobs are scarce and money scarcer; the fittest will survive.
Teenagers must have a college education, and a sixth period in
the day will allow them to take another academic course, there
by improving their chances.
(2) Young people who are not plannhig for future commer
cial competition may use the extra period to round out their
education with art, band or other interest courses that M'ill pro
vide enjoyment and pleasure the rest of their lives. High school
years are the last time many people will have the opportunity to
“learn” formallj'; the delights of later life are based on know
ledge and interests accumulated in earlier years. If this plan is
accepted, these fields will be open to nuiny more students.
(3) What student hasn’t heard his fatliei’ or grandfather say,
“AA hen T was your age, 1 walked 12 miles to school every daj'',
stayed there 10 hours a days for years and never missed an
arithmetic problem.” A sixth period will help a teenager protect
his status as a hard-working slave to books.
Six periods per school day will sei've three purposes: it will
allow boys and girls to take another academic course, it will
allow' them to follow some interest in an elective course and it
will help dam the flow of parental complaints that today’s high-
sehoolers are underworked.
Dare To Be Different
It’s high time Americans, young and old alike, climbed out
of their rut of monotonous sameness and resumed some of the
dignity of their nearly-lost individuality; it’s time John Jones
and Marj^ Smith began setting the pattern and stopped following
it.
Toda.y, the world is too full of i:)eoi3le who are willing to let
someone else lead them around by the nose. Too many puppets
become the victims of their masters’ will. There are many Hit
lers and Stalin’s and ifussolini’s who have the talent of making
monotonous, ignorant slaves of otherwise highly potential
people; there are too few who are willing to break the chain
that binds them to the dull, downtrodden masses.
There is no way to measure the breadth and depth of what a
person might become would he first allow himself to be an in
dividual. Great, important figures are great, not because they are
some superhuman beings who are better than everybody else,
but because they have the initiative and the foresight to take the
lead.
Leading is not necessarily an inborn trait; rathes, it would
be called a cultivated art, nurtured by the power to live life as an
individual, not as a blurred face in the crowd.
On^ the down-to-earth, realistic level a teenager’s first re
sponsibility is to himself. While it is important to be a part of the
crowd and to enjoy the friendship of that group, it is disastrous
to let a friendship, make of an individual a mental weakling who
hasn t the backbone to follow' his conscience, even if it does mean
daring to be different.
THE BUCKBIRD
Rocky Mount Senior Higl^
Member oC the
Columbia Scholastic Press Association
EDITOR SUSIE STREET
Advertising Manager - Carolyn IViclioh
Assistant Advertising: 31aiiager Jane Crunipler
Business Manager Judy Smith
Assistant Business Manager . Margaret Carnuchael
Circulation Manager Eegina Harles
Sports Editors Ray Parker, Alvin Daughtridge
Art Editor Clark Lee Slmfi
Exchange Editors Sandra Wiggins, Allen Casey
Columnists Regina Harles, Ann Adkins
Staff Writers Bobbie Shreve, Judy Sorrell, Bobby Jones,
Herb Allred, Margaret Strickland, Burt White, Pat Reardon
ADYISER MRS. T. D. YOUNG
SPCRO
Wanted! One 'Spero
Wanted! One loyal football, basketball and baseball fan
with an inexhaustible supply of sugar lumps and chewing gum,
one devoted friend who is willing to go far beyond the call of
duty in support of his adopted “boys.”
Wanted! One expert “problem-solver” who has only to be
asked to help and he will help no hiatter what the cost to him
self.
Wanted! One dear, benevolent friend who is content with
making others happj^, one who seeks no fame or glory for him
self and expects no recognition for his tireless devotion. He
literally lives his life for others.
AVanted! One human dynamo of good will, brotherhood and
friendship all rolled into one.
Wanted! One “Spero”!
Finding another to fill “Spej’o’s” shoes would be like hunt
ing for a needle in a haystack. To say in words all that he means
to his adopted Kockj' Mount and more specifically to high school
students, would be next to impossible.
He’s more like a living legend. The name “Spero” is a house
hold -word with the younger set. His last name isn’t important.
“Spero’s” enough for his friends.
There’s an old saj'ing that important things come in small
packages. Small in stature “Spero” has more heart, more love,
and more understanding in his little finger than most people can
muster in a lifetime.
“Spero’s” secret to happiness could be easily expressed in
four short w'ords . . . his love for people! His cheerful smile and
hearty M’elcome give evidence that he lives his philosophy of life
everyday.
If there were such an award as “Best Friend,” Spero Kou-
noukolis, one of the best friends Senior High ever had, would be
sure to get it.
' [New Fads Blossom
As Spring Enters
Spring turns a young man’s fancy
to one thing — girls, and turns a
young lady’s fancy to two thoughts
— boys and faj-hions — and no
'xcept/m ao'c RMSHS tsenagers
who have blossomed out with the
psvennial interest in the opposite
sex and with new fads in fashion.
Dottie L3u Thorpe Is in step with
the modern taste for changing hair
colors, as she sparts her newly
b.'ond hair. Well, Dot, do “gentle
men prefer blondes?”
Colors flash by on every side.
Nannie Hussey appears to have pick
ed stray beams of sunshine when
she wears her yellow, yellow, YEL-
LiOW dress! Janet Wynn, Mary
Carol Cochran and Judi Weller
picked up some sun, too, in an ef
fort to get a sun tan; but they’re
not yellow, they’re red!
Judy Taylor exemplifies the craze
for pale lipsticks when she shows
up in her white lipstick. The girls
seem to like this “pale” look but,
as some boys say, “It looks lik(;
death warmed over!” They’ll get
used to it.
For girls with spring fever who
can’t sleep, Sue Daughtridge sug
gests counting boys instead of sheep.
It sounds like it’d produce results—
the kind isn’^t guai’aii'^sed!
Ben Blackbird Sez
The Day ‘They’ Almost Died
Exaggerated expressions such as “I almost died,” “I wish I
were dead,” or “1 just wish the floor would open up and sw'allow
me” are commonplace.
One usually makes these ridiculous comments when he en
counters an embarrasing incident, or finds himself face to face
with a problem that seems to have no possible answer. These
idle expressions are a part of the average vocabulary, not be
cause of their appropriatness but because of lack of anything
better to say.
This absurd ad libbing is a result, not of an attempt to add
constructivel.v to the conversation but of a feeling of uneasiness.
Oddly enough, throAving in those few- extra words, trite and
hackneyed as they may be, sometimes helps to put the speaker
at ease.
To say that these expressions have a place in life would be
]u error; to say that they will ever cease to exist would be far
from the truth. If one seems to be addicted to triteness of this
nature,_ let him confine it to the areas of life that do not demand
his serious attention. Let him refrain from allowing the art of
hyberbole become such a gripping habit that he finds himself
resorting to its avenues of escape when more serious matters
are abroad.
In the spring
fancy, but a
fancier.
a young man’s
young -wbman’s
Top Tunes Tell
Sr. Prom Tale
Titles of top tunes could be used
to express the feelings of those
involved toward their “Enchanted”
evening at the Junior-Senior Prom,
as has been done in the story that
follows:
“Venus” send me a grl to date
to the Junior-Senior dance, and
please make her a “Dream Lover.”
I’ve already wished upon “Three
Stars” for their lielp in finding
her.
I Must Be Dreaming’” “Because”
when I asked “Donna” for a date.
She Say” yes! Please don’t wake
me now.
Tonight is the big night! “I Ran
All The Way Home” from school
to get dressed and ready for the
dance. “Pink Shoelaces!” i defi
nitely can’t wear them tonight.
“Come To Me,” “Donna,” and
let’s be on our way to the dance
foi- “It’s Late.”
What a dance! Such beautiful
decorations and “Pretty Girls Every
where.” The band plays “So Fine.”
“Just Keep It Up” for I could
dance on “Endlessly.”
Everyone is having so much fun
at this dance thkt “This Should
Go On Forever,” or either have a
Junior-Senior Prom every night,