Commencement Address, The Fifth Freedom

THE FIFTH FREEDOM Address of Richard B. Scandrett, Jr. at Commencement of Kiskiminetas Springs School, Sunday, June 5, 1949 I Men of Kiski. I assume this is a proper way to address you, for I understand the school admits no boys under fourteen and that the Kindergarten has been abolished, in fact, if not in name. However, the adoption of a routine rule of admission, involving a minimum age limit, is a simple procedure. It is far more difficult to reduce intellectual adolescence among the middle-aged. There are far too many individuals in the general, and the academic world, who never progress beyond subjective thinking, which is normal in adolescents, to attain the objective intellectual attitude of maturity. Too many so-called adults continue through life to regard the world as their particular oyster; an error we hope you have learned this early to avoid. It requires a certain amount of fortitude to return to this nostalgic environment, and face the memory of misdeeds committed here as a boy more than forty years ago. "For a boy's will is the wind's will and the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts. And never forget too: "The boy is father to the man. " 11 Actually, when your president invited me to speak to you today, I welcomed the opportunity. I have a deep feeling of gratitude to Kiski, and to the wise men I learned to know here, led by that great teacher who stimulated the minds and understood the hearts of boys so well, the late Andy Wilson. Also, I was glad to have the opportunity to pass on a suggestion or two to you. I come to suggest, not to admonish. All Kiski alumni have watched with increasing satisfaction the progress of the school under Dr. Clark's leadership. The French statesman, Aristide Briand, remarked on his seventieth birthday: "At times I have been unfairly criticized without being too disturbed; at other times I've been unduly praised, and it hasn't gone to my head; but, oh, how I writhe when I am interpreted." So, lest he writhe, I will try not to interpret Dr. Clark. But I will quote his profound conviction that the real educator is the student himself rather than the teacher%3B that the most a teacher can hope to do is to help his pupils to help themselves--to help stimulate interest, to give a boy the urge to accomplish, to whet his aggressive curi- osity in things worthwhile%3B to help him find and realize his best capacities. Despite the hazards of interpretation, I venture to generalize my impression of your president's objective for Kiski as being to do everything possible that Kiski graduates may make a