Page 84 - 1923 VES Meteor

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tr:be ll:>rison at Beusens
:Many of yon htwe d01tl,tless llCnrd of that clc,·er theme on "How to get to V. E. ~. from Heusen~." You pruhahly rc- memher how the newcomer puz1.lcd about in the mrtt·opolis and finally, altho it seemed unreasonable, climbed a precipice of sheer rock, and there in front of him at the top was the prison. As a piece of humorous writing this skit has its ,·ir- tues. To propagate it as a real fact is dishonest; actually to believe it is at least silly, prohnhly stnpid.
For, whateYer else V. E. S. is, it is most emphatically not a prison, and anyone who really considers the situation for the merest sort of a minute dismisses tl1e whole suggestion as ir- revelant and foolish.
In the first place no rule or regulation in this institution exists to satisfy the whim of tyrannical pedagogs,'but simply and fundamentally to make yon, first, better and worthiet· boys, and then men. N'o rule or regulatiou is e,·er created without seriously viewing it from the students' point of view, and it will be formed as fnr as po:;sible to meet that Yiewpoint. Morco,·er, the ideas of the boys arc frequently sought, and es- pecially as expressed by the counselors, are they often fol- lowed. Indeed, rules haYe been modified and changed to meet the desires of the school when they could be altcmd or abo1ished consistently with the welfare of the school. For example, this year has marked the elimination of the Sunday
afternoon roll call, and has made it possible for any boy to go to Lynchburg on :Monday when ho is eligible to do so. It has entirely removed counselors from thc·opcration of the demerit rule. In other words, far from trying to entangle the boys in a mesh of arbitrary and petty rules it is tho persistent policy of the school to eliminate rules whenever possible and to con- duct the institution on a basis of sanity and reason.
Indeed, in the very highest and essential clements of school boy life, such as the honor and the spirit of the institution the
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