CARDIGAN CHRONICLE VOL. 18, NO. 1
CARDIGAN MOUNTAIN SCHOOL, CANAAN, N. H .
NOVEMBER, 1968
Former Peace Corps Member On Faculty Mr. Richard Perry is a new member of the Cardigan family and teaches in t:he science department. He received his A.B. degree from ,Dartmouth College in June of 19'66. Mr. Perry is one of three new members of the faculty that have recently served in the .P eace Corp. Mr. Peter Austin and Mr. Richard Weeks both returned from Peace Corps duty and the Chronicle will feature their stories in future editions. Mr. Perry was married during his senior year at Dartmouth. His lovely wi!fe is Heather Perry; she too was in the Peace Corps with him. Mr. and Mrs. iPerry served their duty on Namoria Island, one of the thirty-three inhabited islands of the Marshall chain. The Perrys taught English to the islanders and found them much more receptive to education than some students might be in areas of this country. Mr. Perry taught seventh and eighth graders, their average age being 17½. The students ranged in age from 13 to 23 . Mrs. Perry did point out, however, that the lower grade children were much nearer normal grade age. She said that the recent development of Peace Corps schools account for the older age of the students. The Perrys estimated that their seventh and eighth grade students were about at a fifth grade level , but they feel that the level of education is slowly improving on the islands. When asked about the general attitude of the people, ~'Ir. Perry said that they were friendly, in fact jovial. The poor conditions of their life did not seem to phase them at all. The islanders smiled and laughed and were extremely friendly toward them. Equipment at the island school , where the Perrys taught, was not the best. In fact, it wasn 't until their second year of duty that desks arrived for the school. The children found the new desks to be uncomfortable and ended up sitting on the floor of the schoolhouse and using the chairs as desks. According to Mr. Perry the students found this to be most comfortable. One of the most interesting facts about the people on Namoria Island was the fact that none of them were rich. In fact, in our country, these people would be considered to be poverty stricken to the utmost degree. Mr. Perry stated that it was unbelievable when he first saw how they lived. Even though they were poor, they never complained about their living -standards and were ha,ppy and friendly and showed no signs of discontent. He did mention,, though, that on some of the islands there were millionaires, due to the fact that the islanders had sold some land to the United ,States Government during World War II and reaped high profits. The humorous aspect of this is that these people lived just as poorly as all other islanders in most .cases, for whenever someone became rich, all their relatives came and lived off them. On this same topic, -M r. Perry informed us that the family was a very close group . In fact :families were made up of mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, aunts and uncles. Aunts and uncles were referred to as mother and father in the Marshallize language. There were no words for au-nt and uncle in their language. Mr. and Mrs. Perry had to learn this language so they could communicate with adults. This took about a year to do, but because they lived with ,t he people and had close friendships with them, this was not as difficult as one might expect. (Continued on page 5)
Typical after school scene on the Island of Namoria. Schoolgirl washes clothes outdoors.
Typing Course At Cardigan A ty,ping course is now offered at C. M. S. This year only seniors may take typing, but there is a poss•LbHity that typing may be offered to underclassmen in future years. Ten new Royal typewriters have been rented and placed in the old art room in Clark,Mor.gan Ha:ll. Mrs. Hazen le.aches this course, and many boys have commented that they have learned a great deal from her. There are three 45 minute periods per week and there are eight in a c1as,s. The time is spent ty,p ing v~rious !es-sons designed to develop speed and accuracy. It is felt that boys in ninth grade will need this skill \\_'.'he,n they ente,r prep school next y.e.ar. Many p,rep schools require all term repor,t s or impor,ta,n t pa·p ers to be typed ,oil.,t. Of course, this is also tr_u e of college, but even more so.