I read in the Tribune that my old high school, Lindblom Technical High School, will be closed (Chicagoland, May 10). It will be abandoned as an exceptional educational facility only to become another boarded-up, graffiti-covered, gang-infested eyesore.
As with the loss of an old friend, I felt a sadness about this decision, because this move by the Board of Education marks and verifies the end of a golden age filled with many personal and vivid memories of a time when this school embodied a glorious spirit–a spirit that seems to be neglected and less attainable with each passing year with actions such as this closing.
I will miss my old school, not because of any success that I achieved there. Any classmate (June 1949) may recall that I may have been one of the least distinguished graduates. But I loved, respected and was immensely proud of my school.
In spite of the current protest by the students and the parents of students, who have a vested interest in saving Lindblom, they will fail in their fight against a wasteful and inefficient administration pointed out by the Tribune editorial on May 29.
Lindblom will no longer be a magnet for those young men and women who still hold academic achievement as a worthy goal; the school attained one of the highest graduating rates in the city and sent more of its graduates to higher education than most other high schools.
Within a short time Lindblom will be gone–the building, the bricks and the mortar. However, the spirit that once was housed in a proud and glorious school will still abide with those who were once its lifeblood.
