Central High School - Signal Yearbook (Columbia, TN)

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parents are content to haxe thelr chlldren contlnue ln the 9tatl0II ln llfe ln VVhlCh they were born The Amerlcan democracy IS practlcally the only great state ln WhlCh there exlsts an educatlonal ladder reachlng from klndergarten to the l.1l'llX9l'Sll.y ln whlch all parts elementary secondary and hlgher are so jolned that an lndlvldual may freely pass from one to the other In the European systems of educatlon only elementary educatlon ls free and It does not artlculate wlth secondary educatlon The elementary school carrles the chlld to twelxe or fourteen years of age glvlng hlm a rounded elementary educatlon The secondary school commences to teach subjects not consldered ln elementary schools such as mathematlcs and forelgn languages A chlld of the masses IS expected to enter one of the xocatlonal schools for tralnlng ln some trade or lndustry The Amerlcan democracy IS by no means perfect ln all lts aspects but as far as educatlon can accompllsh It It lntends to glxe every lndlxldual the opportunlty to make the most of hls natlxe abllltles and to assume the place ln soclety vxhlch hls abllltles Justlfy Thls xxas not always so and to undelstand the Amerlcan system of educatlon as lt 8AlStS today It IS necessary to make a brlef sulxey of lts dex elopment SIDCC colonlal tlmes The reformatlon prlnclple that the lndlxldual should be gulded ln llfe by the Blble had as an educatlonal corollary that he should at least be taught to read It Where the reformatlon was chlefly a rellglous mox ement and was carrled to l0glCa1 conclu slons the effect upon the dex elopment of unlversal educatlon was qulte dlrect but where the reformatlon was polltlcal and eccleslastlcal rather than rellglous and haltlng rather than thorough the attltude toward educatlon was one of lndlfference and neglect The Unlted States was settled ID the sex enteenth century when rellglous antagonlsms were most bltter It was settled largely by groups of people who fled from Europe because of rellglous persecutlons and because of thelr deslre to worshlp ln thelr own pecullar way The klnd of educatlonal system that would be establlshed ln any part of the new land would be determlned chlefly by the klnd of rellglous oplnlons held by the people settllng there We find three falrly dlstlnct types of educatlon developlng ln the colonles C17 The Selcctwe Type prevalled ln the southern colonles where dlstlnctlons of classes developed and the Anglican Church was establlshed The gentry employed tutors for thelr chlldren or sent them to England 129 The Parochtal Type prevalled ln the mlddle colonles These COIODICS wele settled chlefly by xarlous Calxlnlstlc sects They all belleved ln the need of everyone to read the Blble and all favored elementary educatlon But as each sect denled the efflclency of any others way to salxatlon thlS elementary educatlon took the form of parlsh schools attached to the church In all the mlddle colonles there eXlStCd grammar schools for secondary educatlon C39 The Town School Type prevalled ln New England The people who settled here were more homogeneous than ln any other part of the country There was llttle dlstlnctlon of classes among them They were mostly of the mlddle cllss soclally were falrly well educated and had unlverslty graduates for leaders Holdlng firmly to the necesslty of everyone belng able to read the Blble the leglslature of Massachusetts passed the famous law of 1647 whlch provlded that every town that contalned fifty famllles should malntaln an elementary school and every town that contalned one hundred famllles should malntaln ID addltlon a grammar school to fit the youth for the UNIX erslty In all the colonles the colleges that had been founded supplled the hlghel educatlon needed by the members of the learned professlons The revolutlon had both a bad and a good effect upon educatlon The xvar bank lupted not only the central govelnment but many of the state governments M019 ox er other obstacles to the development of a natlonal system of free schools exlsted One was the practlce of grantlng publlc money to prlvate schools A second obstacle xvas the exlstence of sectarlan rellglous Jealousy A thlrd was the prevalence of the ldea of publlc educatlon as pauper educatlon Another was the clalm that the publlc school was based on an undemocratlc prlnclple On the other hand there also exlsted mox ements stlmulltlng the dexelopment of publlc schools Wlth the openlng up of the west there dexeloped a condltlon of soclety ln whlch soclal lnfluence counted for much less than ln the east The terrltoly, xx hlch xxas organlzed under the oldlnance of 1787 was dlX1d6d lnto townshlps palt of xxhlch xxas reselxed for the support of publlc schools The lntroductlon whereby one teacher xxlth the 3SSlStaHCe of oldel puplls could lnstl uct hundreds of chlldlen xx as one of the greatest dex elopments The lnfant school mox ement and the Sunday school lnox ement xx ele also steps ln the dlIECtlOH of accustomlng the people to thlnk of educatlon for all As a lesult of these IYIHUCDCCS educatlon became less allsto clatlc and more democlatlc The constructlon of nexx schools xxlll sloxx dovxn as the numbel of chlldlen ot school age decreases Less money xx lll be spent on bulldlng but more money xxlll be needed to expand adult educatlon People xxho left school txxenty years ago find themselxes ln a rapldly changlng xx orld We may haxe fexvel schools ln the future but they must be better Exery person must haxe an oppoltunlty to dexelop hls talents to thell full capaclty On the dlffuslon of educatlon among the people rests the preserx atlon of our flee lnstltutlon DOROTHY SPARKMAN Page Nzneteen . . . v ' ' ' ' 4- ' -v - ' - - v v 1 v . c . ' ' .' . 1 , . . ' . I . . . . .Y . . Y. , . , . , I ' . 1 . ' y '. ' . ' ' ' '. ,. . . . . . 1 . , , - -r ' V ' . '. ' . 7 . . . . v l ' v v 7 . c . 1 . v . Y. . . . . , . . , V . . . v at sv - 1 . C ' . . ' Z..' . , z c c - .. 1 . . . . . . . . N ,, Q , c . ' ' - v - ' Y . , c . , . ' 1 ' . - - y . . . C 1 . ' V . v . Q . I . V. . . v , I I, , - , . , ,' ' . ' ' . ' . vc C r ' r v 7 Q . .Q . . . 4 c . c , c .' 1 ' .' - ..c D ' . .' . , , . . , ' , - V. . . v. v ' ' ' 7 r - ' .A , - . ' . ' '. . K . . . . c c . c . 'c , - - - vu

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OUR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY Democlacy m ly be defined as a goxernment by the people O1 goxelnment lll xxhlch the supleme DOWGI IQ letallled by the people and exelclsed by them Ol then leplesentltlx es Thus defined democracy IS reduced to lts lowest TCIITIS But most 136180115 lll ex ely xl alk of llfe mean somethlng more than thlS when they use the tel m One of these assumptlons ls that a democlacy cannot 9X1St vxlthout fleedom of speech Another IS that the malorlty ln a democracy must respect the rlghts of the mmollty It IS not ll1Og1C3l to attach assumptlons to the term democlacy fol no pelson Ol natlon has a monopoly upon 1tS deflnltlon Democracy ln AH16l1Cd may be dlffelent fl om that ln Flance and ln England When vle are ln Amerlca vue ale IH a classlc land of democracy vt hele the mode ol thought and the type of SOCIBI St1L1Ctl1I'e WhlCh are chalacterlzed by thls name ale essentlally at home and a unlx els'llly lngralned com lctlon where ID sholt democlacy lb an all plex alllng mattel ol coulse upon Wh1Ch the Amellcan needs no lnstructlon Amerlc ln democlacy lncludes lepresentatlve government flee enterprlse and llbel ty of ODIDIOD and wolshlp Replesentatlxe democlacy IS govelnment by the people thlough the leplesentatlx es they elect If thls form of govelnment lb to succeed xoters must elect competent offlclals and have confidence ln them MOd6ln gox elnments tax thelr people heavlly but 101 purposes Wh1Ch most IDDXOXQ In 'l democracy lt IS essentlal th It the people should vote thelr govelnment the llght to mlse and spend money The peoples elected lepresentatlves should contlol the pulse strlngs of got ernment and proxlde needed SCIVICBS wlth reasonable economy We ln Amellca are proud of our herltage Llfe llberty and the pursult of h lpplness to secure and gual lntee thlS great trlnlty of human rlghts our goxeln ment was establlshed derlxlng lts lust powers flom the consent of the goxerned We have the supreme prlxlleges of human exlstence freedom of thought and fl eedom of expresslon We 'lre allowed to llve ln accordance Wlth the d1Ctat6S of oul own consclence We are free to asplre to protest to crltlclze and to follow any XISIOD ID oul heart or mlnd VNhlCh leaves our nelghbor equally free We ale assured thls free Splflt by the Blll of R1ghtS Our democratlc way of llfe takes lnto conslderatlon the rlghts and OPINIONS of the mlnorltles the underprlxlleged and the least favored It places restrlctlons upon the selfishness of the mass and class so that they do not trample on the prlxl leges of others As meanlngful to AITIEFICHHS as the freedom of thought and GXDISSSIOH IS the fl eedom of rellglon To worshlp God as we please to ablde by our own convlctlons these pl IX lleges are cherlshed ln the hearts and IIVCS of Amerlcans Today ln a democracy a man on trlal has llttle cause to fear that the law W111 not protect hlm untll hls lnnocence or gullt 1S proved A free man cannot be deprlved of llfe llberty or property except by the lawful ludgment of h1S equals The Amerlcan press has long been the freest D1 ess ln the world Throughout the hlstory of modern prlntlng free news and a peoples government have gone hand ln hand These blesslngs of Amerlcan democracy are not ours Just to enjoy The helltage of Amerlcan democracy IS ours elther to preserve wlth every care or to lose thlough neglect If Amerlcan democracy 1S worth what It cost then It IS worth pleserwlng The resources of rellglon QCICDCE 3115 and letters are at oul dlsposal and command Let us then glxe Amerlcan democracy not only our appreclatlon but oul consecra tlon oul dex oted endeax Ol to brlng the real 1HtO closer conformlty to the ldeal JUANITA BREWER EDUCATION OUR CONSTITUTIONAL HERITAGE Ex ely natlon has ltS ldeals and belleves ln the malntenance of those ldeals Edu catlon IS the lnstrument by means of whlch a natlon hopes to reallze ltS ldea1S Be cause dlfferent natlons haxe dlfferent ldeals there 8X1St dliferent systems of educatlon As an lndlxldual IS born IHTO a class of soclety hls educatlon IS organlzed chlefly to fit hlm fol the XHFIOUS xocatlons of that class Thls conceptlon of educatlon has been successfully malntalned not only because of the organlzatlon of soclety IDTO castes but because of the relatlxe stablllty of the populatlon Most people llxe IH the communlty ln whlch thelr parents llxed and It IS natulal fOI thelr chlldren to take up the xocatlon of thelr parents These two factors explaln to a great extent the lemarkable success of the lndustllal educatlon moxement IH Germany Nelther dlfference ln p0lltlC31 ldeals H01 ln the age of a natlonal system of educatlon seems to affect thls attltude toward educatlon Prussla Wlth lts autocratlc conceptlon of goxernment and 1tS century old system of educatlon w'ls but llttle more represent ltlxe of thls type of educatlon than IS England whlch IQ 0lg3nIZ6d polltlcally as a democlacy and xxhlch dex eloped 'l n'ltlonal system of educatlon but a genelatlon ago The theoly upon whlch 6dUC8tlOll IS organlzed ln the Unlted States IQ the xery ODDOQIIG of that whlch holds m EUIODS Thele are as yet no castes hele and few Page Ewhteen c f y l . , V . . 2 V ' V , t , B . B V. . ' , . V ' V ' V ' s 1 1 ' . . ' ' .. .. ' 1' . y . . Y ' A . . 7 . 1 1 V. ' 'V .. ' ' V' ' . ' V . -- C w V I '. - . V . ' . . . A I ' . ,Z . . . . V V f v 1 . V . 'V .. ', . . V . L. . 'V D, . ' - '. .. r - - . . , . , . . . K Z . , . c ' ' V c . . 'V 4 1 V . ' . , 4 . . . l U U 4 . y ., V. V . . h . 1. . U . . . . f 1 v V ' ,JY .. ' ' ' ' . 1 1. -1 1 . ' . . . V. . . 1 Y . . , , . . V . V . . ' . c ' ' - 1 v v ' S ' I ' . 1 ' . . . . . Y. . . N , , , . . , , - - 1 Q. Y. . . . . v 1 1 . - . . . , . 1 . V - 1 - 1 y ' . V ' ' . V V . ' H ' ' ' 1' 4 . , - l , , . V V I . . V . . . Y . . . 1 . . ' Y . . '. 1 4 1 . Q. . V . . . , . r - ' - , c Q V V - . K - . . . V V I C M .. V V. . V 7 . . . . . . . V

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DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION Today xxe aae becommg anoae and mole conscaous of the necessaty ot bamgmg., dcmocxacy lnto out educataonal system The eaalaest schools had as then paoga am only a xeay lamlted couase of study undea the stalctest superx 1s1on It xx as lndeed 1e'admg and xatmg and aathmetac taught to the tune of a hackoay stack Noxx catazenshap education as paoxlded not only thaough the course of study but also thaough the teachmg methods the student llfe communlty actax 1t1es school admln astaataon and ex aluataon of aesults You may ask Just vxhat does democvacy an educatlon mean? Fnst ot all the democratlc educataon h'as as 1's central purpose the xvelfare of all the people I seeks to proxlde equal opportunaty for all legardless of antelllgence lace relagxon socaal status economlc condltaon Ol xocatlonal plans The democlatac educ ataon 1 concerned wath the mamtenance of those economic polltacal and SOCIHI condataons xx h1ch are necessary for the enjoyment of laberty Then of course the democaatlc edu cataon uses democa atac methods ln classroom admmastratlon and an all student HCIIVI taes In thas soat of educataon the student leaans by experaence that exery prlvalege entaals a correspondmg duty ex ery authoaaty a responslbalaty eveay responslblllty an accountmg to the group whlch granted the p11v1lege Such an educataon llberates and uses the mtellagence of all It equips cltazens wath the materlal and knowledge needed fox d6I'UOCl3I1L efllcaency One gleat SQFVICG of a democratlc educataon as that at promotes loyalty to democracy by stressmg DOSIIIVC understandlng and by callang youth to serx ace ID a great cause Certamly the course of study IS an lmpoatant phase of educatlon The majox 1ty of students haxe a mastaken adea of democracy They belaeve that rlghts and praxaleges are more sagnaflcant than responslbllltles therefore many schools are seek ang to proxlde curracular experaences to correct thas false ldea Courses and unlts ln the Amerlcan dream the story of CIXII labeatles human relatlonshaps and xalues baslc economlc trends and problems socaal welfare and DOIIIICHI 1nst1tut1ons con taabute to an understandmg of democracy Valuable as they are the courses of study must become stall more comprehensave and must be dlrected by teachers who them selx es practlce democracy ln school and out Dramatac teachmg methods should not be made the property of any one subyect but rather should be exerc1sed an all subjects Materlal on democracy may lose ats effectax eness when taught an an autocratac fashaon Democracy an educatlon may be brought to the students through the classroom teacher as well as homeroom teachexs and SDECIHIISIS In a democratlc educatlon the student should learn to rely upon I1lITISeIf and to accept aesponslbllltaes The student should partlclpate an planning executlng and ex aluatlng class paoaects The experamental method of free lnqulfy IS practiced ln mathematlcs and scaence as xvell as 1n socaal studaes classes Dlscussaon of contao xerslal questaons may center around school problems as well as the conflacts 'and tensaons of the 'adult xvorld In all these methods knowledge of the needs and potentaalataes of young people IS essentlal Much of the finest cavlc education occurs IU out of class actxxataes Students serxe thelr schools by managmg equlpment runnlng cafeteraas and assummg nespoa s1b1l1ty fox safety soclal l1fe health and general conduct Students seave othea students by prepaamg handbooks guldlng newcomers and mterpretmg the school to the publlc In a democratac educatlon there as need for student organlzatlons and clubs Heae students learn good leadershlp and mature followmg In a democratlc educatlon the student learns to be the good cltlzen of tomorrow He learns the fundamentals of democratlc goxernment and becomes prepared to take HCIIVC part IH such a government The publac school prepares boys and glrls for makmg the best of thear opportunataes and for rasmg an the wolld to posltaons of wealth and xnduence In order to encourage democracy 1n our publac schools many schools have set up a foam of student goxernment Thls gaxes the student a chance to experlment ln democracy and see 1t at xfxork on a small scale A prlmary obllgatlon of the Ameracan educatlonal system as to prox 1de the most effectual condatlons for the young to attaln the equapment an knowledge and attatude aequlred to cal ry on our democratlc way of llfe American education should make no pretense of neutaalaty about thas great socaal obgectlve Our schools should be dellbeaately desagned to paowlde an educataon n and for democaacy MARY RUTH BURCHAM EARLY FOUNDERS OF EDUCATION IN A DEMOCRACY It as out of the hastoxacal dexelopment of Amerlcan socaety that haxe come the ldeas aspnataons knoxxledge and xx orkang aules whlch prex all today and set the task of educataon Aftea Independence xxas gamed many of the best mands an Ameaaca began to daaft compxehensaxc plans for systems ol umx ea sal education clowned by a nataonal Page Tuenty Z . Z . , . c . S . . . . i, . - .. B B ' . A. K, L. . . L. . . .Q . . . . .. -Y . 8 . . t. L. v L l ,is ts. ' . '.' ' . v.' ' , ' . . . '. y c c , c . . . t 2 B. . . . L v 2 L, Q . . ' . , Y. . V I . - ., , , . , c , . , 44 , ,. , ' ' t' '.. ' , , , . 1 . . c 1, , ., , . 1 A - v - v 1 1 A. . . Y . . . y . V .Q z L' .. 2 S . , , - , ' . .. . ' ' ' .-. ' - - - - 1 v a 4 , . , D . ' .. I .' ' Z ' ' .' . . . ' , .' . 0 ' ' . . .' ' . . , f , . . 2 , . l . . L. Z . . .. ' . y. . . . . . . . - - v . . . Y. . Q . . . V 1 4 -1 v . .i . . . . . . - v - C 1 . , , y - v v . 7 . . . , . , T I . 1 . , , , ' ' I c 1 . , . 1 y ' ' ' ' . ' . ' . .- . 1 , .. . I , . , , c . , , . , ., . 1 . v y ' ' r - . ' . v' ' Q . ' . '. ' . . , ' . , ' , ' 4 f v - -- . . . . . . v. h C ' . L B. . ,. 2