
This Week in NMH History 2017-2018 #08
55 Years Ago
The more things change, the more they stay the same, as this
letter to the editor of The Echo ably
demonstrates. Questions about the current “lights out” and dorm closing
policies seem to have slipped to the back burner lately, and while the “powers
that be” may wish that I hadn’t reminded the student body that this has been an
issue, your editor is really trying to gauge whether students are reading this
column, anyway. Perhaps we’ll find out later this week…
from The Echo,
vol. III, no. 1, p. 2;
October 22, 1962.
Dear Echo:
Should there be unlimited lights at
Northfield? Such a question raises pros and cons in the minds of almost
everyone, for both sides of the issue have been discussed. Since this issue
will be brought before Council in the near future, we should try to form
intelligent opinions about it.
The reason for a definite lights
out and rising bell is that commonly accepted rules of health show that the
average sleep requirement for an adult is about eight hours a night; and for a
busy teenager one half hour more would not be wasted. Bells are a part of the
daily routine within which punctuality is stressed as being part of dorm
cooperation, campus-wide cooperation, even simple obedience to the rules.
No two people work at identical
rates of speed. To achieve a smooth-running system is to determine an average
and build from there. The question now lies in this average. The present
schedule is successful in that the average upper-classman can complete the minimum
requirement for every subject in the time allotted and meet essential
requirements. I quote a member of the faculty, “Doing what is asked for means
earning a C+. Anything above that is achieved by working on your own initiative
to produce more than what is demanded of you.” Not everyone can do more than
what is asked for and participate in extra-curriculars as well. Where, then,
can she find time except after taps?
Can a student act sensibly if left
to her own judgment? Would she work steadily and go to bed when her studying
was finished, rather than waste time and stay up all night? Could she accept at
Northfield the responsibility she normally has at home and use it to her best
advantage without abusing it? I think so. It should be possible to trust any
Northfield girl with her own health.
Would this freedom be school wide
or restricted to seniors only? Certainly the seniors need late lights, and
could be trusted to respect the privilege with the highest degree of maturity.
Would seniors staying up late
bother the rest of the dorm? Late pers [permissions –ed.] don’t disturb anyone,
and obviously seniors would be obliged to behave after ten p.m. as on a late
per, using the extra time for studying only.
Whether the right to have unlimited
lights is ever granted, either to seniors or to the entire student body, as an
open privilege or as a more lenient form of late per, is yet to be decided. I
hope everyone can think the issue over, form her own opinion, and care enough
to express it in Council.