December 1, 1969
Students look ahead to college and alternatives
“The change is so total. Nobody tells you what to do in college. Nobody stands over you with a club,” said graduate John Rukavina. He believed Ramsey students would be better prepared if given more freedom and responsibility in high school.
The theme of freedom and responsibility also echoed in the school paper’s call for an end to mandatory lyceums at Ramsey. Lyceums were those events that all students were required to attend. It could be a presentation by an outside speaker, or more likely, a school sports award ceremony the pulled students out of their schedule classes and into the gymnasium.
A Blueprint poll found that 89 percent of Ramsey students opposed mandatory lyceums and would rather go to study hall — or anywhere else. But Principal Curtis Johnson, who had ended Ramsey’s mandatory dress code, was not convinced, arguing that students need to be exposed to “a variety of things.”
A Ramsey student learns to operate a switchboard in a business education class
The changing but still dominant influence of traditional gender roles limiting opportunities for girls is apparent in several articles in this issue. In an interview Ramsey teacher Harold Padelford, Minnesota’s Industrial Arts Teacher of the Year, wishes Ramsey’s industry arts program provided more opportunity for girls. “Women have a large part in industry today,” he observes.
The school paper’s coverage of possibilities for non-college bound students after high school is also informed by gender. “Girls generally have more job opportunities that do not require extensive education. Clerical jobs are available with the business education available at Ramsey,” one article notes. If a female student did not aspire to a place in the steno pool, the story goes on to suggest an alternative: “one glamorous job is being a stewardess.”
In this issue
Ramsey students joined in a antiwar demonstration in Washington D.C.
America looked at the war skeptically that day
| Village refuses Weihe: S.C. picks three to councils | 1 |
| On your marks, get set, go! | 1 |
| Voluntary lyceums? Students, faculty study questions | 1 |
| Lyceums and student choice (editorial) | 2 |
| Holman's Heroes: The testing trauma | 2 |
| TV reviews: Cosby fine but 'Room 222' 'zzz' | 3 |
| mcj: elroy's magic chicken | 3 |
| Office fiddles as school smokes | 3 |
| The meaning of the march (photography) | 4 |
| Wash.D.C: staff writer tear gassed (headline only) | 5 |
| Financial help available: Scholarships, loans fill money gap | 6 |
| Blueprint poll: Majority aim towards college | 6 |
| If college is out what then? | 6 |
| Last year's grads tell: How college is different | 7 |
| Battle of notecards: Debaters match wits | 8 |
| Teacher of the Year: Harold Padelford | 8 |
| Students learn to mime | 8 |
| People Seminar includes parents, teachers, students | 9 |
| Author gives Ramsey to Germans | 9 |
| Graziger on Board | 9 |
| It's curtains for Dracula | 9 |
| Solution to a problem: Blueprint breakthrough | 10 |
| Cagers get ready for Kellogg rivals | 10 |
| Tankmen psyched up for meet | 10 |
| Ramsey - Mounds View: Who will win out this year? | 11 |
| P.J. sports column: True Confessions | 11 |
| Take a six minute trip to hell: or, what is a wrestling match? | 12 |
That week in December
- As the Vietnam War escalates, the U.S. holds the first draft lottery since World War II (Dec. 1).
- The Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes its first passenger flight (Dec. 2).
- Two members of the Black Panthers are shot dead during a raid by Chicago police (Dec. 4).
- The Altamont Free Concert in northern California erupts in violence and death (Dec. 6).
- The Jackson 5 release their debut album (Dec. 6).
Quoteable Quote
Lyceums give an ideal opportunity to have students exposed to new ideas. You can't expect others to respect your ideas if you don't learn to respect theirs.
—Ramsey principal Curtis Johnson
