Much of this issue of The Westerner is devoted to the fine arts. This is due not only to the paper's policy of advocating fine arts, but also to its duty as a newspaper to report the news; and, to Maine West's credit, fine arts is the news. Such things as a book fair, the Westwords, and an all‑school Fine Arts festival are only examples of the activities in which West students participate.

Participation is the most valuable facet of these activities. Only by putting oneself into something, can one get anything in return. Only then does one gain knowledge of what the fine arts are and begin to appreciate them.

West has an outstanding extra‑curricular fine arts program. Unfortunately, this program does not include all of the students who might be interested in it. Some schools solve this problem by having a compulsory fine arts course; our school no longer has such a program. If we had such a course, even the students who might not care for the fine arts would be introduced to them, and thereby, at least understand what they do not like

To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice .... Confucius