Central High School - Signal Yearbook (Columbia, TN)

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English they also parnt pictures grxe pl rys care tor lrxe anrmrls and take trrp of rnterest Under the leadership ot such great teachers as Doctor Krlpatrrck the schools have become what they are He wanted to make the school a workshop where chrldren hate freedom to plan and carry out proJects by themselves The school rs berng taken more and more outsrde the classroom Pupils can learn more by actually seeing things than by reading of them This rs done by permitting the pupils to take trips The outside world must also be brought into the classroom This rs done by allowing home economics students to actually make and bake r chocolate pre rnstead ot memorizing a recrpe The turnrture rn our schools rs morc comfortable attractrxe and lrrendly looking Now many classrooms hare flowers pictures curtarns and other such thrngs to m rke the rooms more homelike Let us consrder the attitude and cooperation ol parents puprls and teachers The school rs trying to become better acquainted with the puprls and therr parents Now many schools have mothers clubs to improve relatronshrp between teachers and mothers Some have a school page rn the local paper and almost all have a school paper or magazrne Probably much of the success of the modern schools rs due to the tact that parents take an interest rn the educatron of therr chrldren They md the teachers want better educatron for the youths of thrs country Once the teacher was looked upon as the symbol of unkrnd power Now he rs consrdered r com panron leader and guide to students Drscrplrne rs won with understanding Just what rs the arm of modern hrgh schools' It rs to help young people to lrxe better and to prepare them for Jobs when they h rve completed therr hrgh school days Students are now free to choose therr own subjects When they are not attending regular classes they may take part rn extracurricular actrvrtres such as clubs and sports Now nearly all hrgh schools offer some kind of vocational trarnrng to therr students The school rs a much more active and a much happier place than formerly Chrldren and youths are learning to think more for themselves and to cooperate for the common good of all The schools are attemptrng to equip every rndrvrdu rl tor some useful work or xocatron and at the same trme raise rn all a deep apprecrr tron of work Who goes to school now' Well there rs not just one class there are pupils of rll classes Rrch and poor farm chrldren and crty chrldren srck and well whrte rnd black all now have a chance to become educated We have establrshed specral schools for the blrnd and deaf pupils We have outdoor schools for chrldren with tuberculosrs Negro schools have been improved and now many offer the same opportunrtres as do schools for the whrte Country schools hate been consolrdated rn has grown to a number over 30 000 000 chrldren and young people rn public schools today One reason for such sr large number rs that the schools are rnterestrng Most of them have well equrpped lrbrrrres and playgrounds so that when work rs done one nray read or play 'rs he chooses ln the last ten years rll rnfor med groups have tried with grrm determination to cut school expendrtures but the majority of the people have stood by the school The fight for sufficient financral funds wrll continue as more money rs needed The average salary for Amerrcan teachers rs a little more than a hundred dollars 'r month Some teachers recerxed only forty dollfrrs a month' What are some of the things that a person learns rn hrgh school Naturally rt depends upon the puprl and the course he rs takrng Spanrsh French and Latrn are taught rn most schools Spanrsh rnd French newspapers and magazines are proxrded for the interest of the students The band rs an rrnportant prrt of many schools It not only trams musrcrms but rlso grxes concerts rnd plays swrng musrc for school dances High schools trarn pupils to become machrnrsts crrperrters electrrcrrns salesmen desrgners stenographers and be rutrcr rns These xocatronal courses are pard for rn part by the Federal Government Three fourths of all hrgh school graduates go to work and only one fourth go on to college Yes our schools have come a long way srnce the first crude schools rn the colonies Step by step they hate worked therr way up The school rs not yet at the top ot the lrdder of perfectron Our schools haxe many faults but when we consrder how far we haxe come rn such a short trme we wonder how far we crn go Who knows how far the schools m ry tr nel or how grert they may become wrthrn the rrercl few decades LILLY MAE Torvrcrrssov AN AMERICAN DREAM It rs generally agreed that we are lrxrng rn an age of complexity and confusion Any per rod of change calls for reconstructron rn educatron The prrncrples for w hrch men hare fought and dred are berng xrolated rn many parts of the world The socrety rn whrch we lrxe contains problems that are far reaching and solutrons ot which are not so easy The purpose of schools rn a broad sense rs to serxe the socrety whrch supports them and rt that socrety rs changrng rt rs obxrous that the school rnust also change Hardly rnyone w rll deny that thrs rs a per rod rn w hrch great changes are occurrrng rn the socral scene To the extent that our school program rs one shaped by a consideration ol socral condrtrons that no longer evrrst rs rt rn effectual rn helping rndrxrduals meet therr present problemso The fact that our Page Twenty Three I. : 'Q I I' '11 ex ' '. s V ' u I 7 I 1 ' I' Iv' I 1 I rf l A1 1 1 1 1 1 l I l ' . , J I . '., . 1 l. ' . . Y - . 1 . V1 1- - 1 . 1 1 ' 1 - '-' ' 1.1 . . , , .. . ' , ' . I . I' . 1 1 1 11 ' 1 .Y . 1 . 11. ' 1 1 7 n I I I I 1 1 '1 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 ' ' ' ' ' 2 1, 1 1 ' ' 1. 'S ' 2 . - 1 V 1' 1 1 ' 1 1 It- ' 1 1 ' . 1 ' Z ' 1 ' 1 51' ' - 1 ' . 1 1 1 1 ' ' . ' ' ' i . , 5, , . , .L . . .L- . 'I Y ' . . Z . ' T. i . . .. ,l , , .Y . . . . . Y . . t y 1. order to give city and country children the same privileges. Our school population . . y , . ' I ' A. g , K I C s - I . I . - ' z ' ' : ' ' , , C I ' 1 C .S . ' 1 1 1 IK1 I ' ' ' 1 , 1 ' . 1 ' . '51 E 1 1 1 1 1 . ' 1 1 1' 1 ' ' '1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 . H. ' ' 'V , . . . . . 1 . , . , . k . y.Z, A my ..Z .V . ' 1 ' 4 1 - , - 1 - . 1 - c I I ' - Q ' ' Q ' I . f .'. c ' ' ' I c . ' Q I 2 . ' ' B1 I 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 N1 1 1 1 y v ' Y ' 7 'Z -I I ' 'B' ' ' 5 5 a 'z ' ' ' ' 1 . ' 'L 'D tvs A 1 I., 7 I ,I I C 1 I I . , , . 7 . V . Q V . ' .I . , ' l 1 1 Q ' 1 . v ' 1

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The colonres of Arnerrca had no publrc school system A few well to do land owners hired tutors to rnstruct therr chrldren And a lrttle later there were a fevs church schools but these taught only the begrnmngs of the three R s Massachusetts was the first colony to thrnk serrously about the educatron of rts chrldren In 1642 rt passed a lavs sayrng that the select men of each tovsn should be tramed rn learnrng Thrs law was made stronger by the law of 1647 which ordered that every town of fifty or more households had to set up readrng and wrrtrng schools There were few textbooks and these were filled wrth relrgrous and moral storres Among the most popular of these books was the New England Prrmer Each page of thrs prrmer had prctures of the thrngs told about rn the readrng Whrch was Wrrtterr rn rhyme Most all of the first schools dealt wrth relrgrous rnstructrons After attendrng these reading and wrrtrng schools a puprl was ready for grammar school and then for college One of the first hrgher schools rn Amerrca was the Boston Latrn Grammar School burlt rn 1635 The first college was started rn Massachusetts rn 1636 to trarn young men to become mrnrsters and scholars of the classrcs Thrs college was Harvard Unrversrty The Amerrcan Rexolutron put an end to the Latm schools and made necessary a broader and rrcher educatronal program Thus the Amerrcan Academy Franklrn s Academy the first one establrshed rn 1751 became very popular Thrs academy dealt wrth a more practrcal currrculurn whrle the Latm schools had taught Latrn Latrn and more Latm Its arm was to prepare for lrfe as well as college It was open to both boys and grrls and drd much to encourage the develop ment of educatron for women rn Amerrca Though the Academy was democratrc rn respect to the currrculum socrally rt was open only to those who were able to pay the turtron fees Srnce the taxpayers were the men who sent therr chrldren to school the academy was an obstacle rn the way of unrversal democratrc hrgh school educatron rn the Unrted States wrth 200000 puprls and 12000 teachers Debatrng and lrterary socretres were organrzed and a wholesome atmosphere of culture developed In the late 1700s the dame schools were adopted from England These were prrmary schools to get puprls ready for the readrng and wrrtrng schools Whrle the dame schools were cared for by unmarrred women and housewives the Latm schools were taught by schoolmasters They were hard stern men who belreved rn the rule Spare the rod and sporl the chrld They made certarn that the chrldren were not sporled by the use of brrch lrmbs whrps and paddles None of these schools were free however leavrng the poor uneducated In the early 1800 s the battle for tax support of schools for state control rnstead of church control for free grammar schools hrgh schools and colleges was on Intellrgent workrngmen made up the army fightrng for these thrngs The wealthy conservatrve busrnessmen and arrstocratrc southerners fought agarnst them sayrng Why should I pay for the educatron of chrldren not my own? Because sard Horace Mann all the chrldren should have the rrght to free schoolrng at publrc expense rn order that these chrldren shall become rntellrgent crtrzens voters and workers Horace Mann was the leader of those for publrc schools As a boy he was very poor and knew what rt was to struggle for an educatron After many publrc addresses he won the support of thousands of people and the first free hrgh school Englrsh Hrgh School was founded rn Boston rn 1821 In 1837 Massachusetts set up the first state board of educatron and made Mann secretary The rmportant characterrstrcs of the hrgh school were the demotron of the classrcs emphasrs on the study of Englrsh preparatron for entrance to some vocatron the three year course of study exclusron of girls and admrssron of boys at the age of twelve rnstead of nrne After 1850 the publrc hrgh school grew raprdly and by 1880 had almost wholly taken the place of the academy Publrc hrgh schools were rmmedrately establrshed rn the west and south as well as all over the east and north By 1900 there were a half mrllron hrgh school students enrolled rn the Unrted States Thus we see how the Amerrcan hrgh school has become the most rmportant socral rnstrtutron rn American lrfe WINONA Rrxscor: OUR MODERN SCHOOLS The schools of today are a great rmproxement over the old one teacher schools that our grandparents attended The schools now have larger and nrcer burldrngs they have better equrpment and more efiicrent teachers but best of all there rs a greater cooperatron and fr rendshrp between puprls and teachers Let us consrder some of these rmprox ements We shall first look at the modern school burldrng and equrpment Now rn addr tron to the usual classrooms many schools have vocatronal shop burldrngs home economrcs cottages and farm bureaus The elementary school rs full of a number of thrngs for chrldren Today not only do the chrldren read and study hrstory and Page Twenty Tuo .. . .Q . . ' ' Y' I f , . ' . ' 1 ' 1 ,L . . . ,, .i ' . . B , -Y 1 ' 1 .' . 1 A I Y 1 - 1 . l . V ' 1 ' 1 1 1 1 ' 1 ' ' 1 4 1 I - , y ' vm 7 Y . ' I . 1 . . K 1 I A i Y . ' y v U . . , . . 1 Q1 ' ' s s -' ' 1 '1 ' 1 ' I' t ' . D, 1 11 1 1 xx 1 n ' 1 By the middle of the Nineteenth Century there were more than 6,000 academies . I Y ' 7. 1 . Y ' . 5 KK Y? . I . . 3 ' Y - - .1 - - 11 - . , . . . ' . I 1 1 - y 1 1 - U Y 1 1 1 1 . . . . . v . , sn ' ' rv rr sv ' - 1 M . , . . . 7 5 . . . . . ,, . 3 1 ' . it . . 'N 1 . 1 1 I - I 1 D D . 1 . A V U . v v 1 ' 7 - 1 1 ' 1 ' ' ' : 1 1 , Q ' . Y . 1' 1 1 ' ' ' Y . y - 1 I B s '

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SOLld1 Oldel 15 ln 1 confused state makes lt necessaxy for the youth of today to be taught to thxnk fox themselves It IS essentlal that they be confronted wlth problems that are xltal and meal We do not know what problems w1l1 confront the men and women of tomorlow however 1f they are to cope wxth dlfllcult sltuatlons that w1ll doubtless 6XlSt the chlldren 1n our schools today must often be led to the forks of the load 1nto sltuatlons WhlCh w1ll xequlre careful thmklng Boys and glrls must be taught how to thlnk by glvmg them real practlce m solx mg problems Rousseau Sdld 1n speaking of the pupll Let h1m know nothlng because you have told lt to hum but because he has comprehended lt hlmself he lS not to learn sclence but to dlscoxer It It lb qulte essentlal that our school actn 1t1es be so planned for boys and gnls th nt thele wlll be ODDOIIUHIUES for close dlQLl'll'lllI'l ltlOI'lS and c11t1cal exalu ltlons In the l1ght of the urgent need for cleax and unbused thlnkmg we cannot help but l6dllZ6 the stx xteglc paxt whlch the schools haxe to play m bulldlng the cn 1l1za tlon of tomolxow We should feel mole than exex the heaxy xesponslblllfy whlch lests upon us to t1a1n boys and g1rls so that they may deal Wlth the present and futule problems m our Amexxcan democracy In older to paltlclpate worthlly ln the soclety of whlch they ale a palt lt lb necessaly to DIOX 1de ways and means lol ou1 chlldren to develop undelstandlngs appreclatxons and attltudes that make 101 full and complete llvlng Expexlences must be provlded fm boys and glrls which w1ll gue them practlce ln solvmg problems for themselves and ID makmg satlsfactory adjustments to a changlng SOCIHI order In a long pe11od of relatxvely l1ttle change we tend to develop a tenet to the effect that everythlng that lS IS rlght and any suggestlon of change IS taboo Then when someth1ng does come mto the scene such as the advancement of sclentlfic knowledge and all 1mpl1ed thereby a severe COHHILI ensues between thls 1nert1a of ou1 soclal lDSt1tL1t10l1S of WhlCh the schools are one and the change xn soclety at lalge created by thls new factor We seem to be ln mg m such a perlod of confllct nt the present moment Th1s plesents a selxous problem to those who are engaged pxotesslonally 1n edu c xtlon fox m the final malysls the wolth whlleness of then SGIXICES w1ll be meas ured by the extent to whxch the publlc thlnks lt has been enabled to meet lts ploblems The 1nd1x1dual so measures them m the hnal dDdlySlS and soclety 18 nothlng more ox less than lndlxlduals l1v1ng together It IS my bellef that part depress1on was due to a feellng on the part of large numbers of people that educa t1on had not been as helpful as lt was assumed lt would be In other words there was some loss of falth 1n educatlon as a means toward successful l1v1ng and we may well ask ourselves to what extent thls reactlon agalnst educatlon was justified by a comparlson of the programs of educatlon offered 1n the schools with the problems that people have to face For example education should among other things develop that degree of economlcs whlch IS necessary to the successful worklng of socxetys economlc proc ess Has lt done th1s' Th1s IS a questlon that many people no doubt have been l11lSlflg ln the1r minds dul mg thls depress1on Educatlon IS supposed to develop enough mtelllgence w1th xegaxd to how people may l1ve peaceably together that war w1ll no longel be necessary Has lt done thls' Educatlon should develop xn people a hlgh degree of the sense of socxal responslblllty We mlght call thus morallty Many people no doubt thought much of the trouble that came upon us dulmg the depxesslon even of an economlc chalacter was due to a lack of thls sense These and many othels are problems which educatxon has to meet and to the extent that lt meets them successfully wlll lt hue the apploval and suppoxt of the people In facmg the necesslty fox educatlonal reconstruction we need to conslder whethel we are workmg thlough a shoxt period of transltlon lnto another perlod of statlc llfe ls thls a transltlon perlod ln that sense or IS lt one WhlCh really means that we are golng 1nto a way of l1fe that w1ll be contmuously changmgq If It IS the lxttel we shall have to develop a system of soclal tenets conslstent wlth the ldea of contmuous reconstxuctlon At th1s pomt It IS necessary that we get rlght down to 1eal1t1es as to whether we bellexe ln democracy For democlacy surely means that we ale to afford the llldlkldlldl maxlmum oppoxtumty for the development of h1s pexsonallty If we leally bellexe that such opportunity should be afforded the ln dnldual and nf we set about to make such oppoxtunlty leal we by lmpllcatlon accept the p1 mclples of contlnuous change and reconstructlon Fon any socxety based on such phllosophy wlll contmually be recelvlng flom gxowmg and developing mdl xlduals new ldeas new mventlons new l1fe Such a soclety w1ll be contmuously 16 created leconstxucted redlrected because xt w1ll be made up of 1nd1v1duals who are contmuously growing and dexelopmg not ll'ldlVldUd1S who have been fitted lnto ruts and nxches Thls lt seems to me IS the meaning of democxacy and 1t IS a mean mg I bellexe that has never been applled comprehenslxely over a long perlod of tlme Are we now gomg to apply lt That lS the questlon If we are not only do we face the problem of educational reconstructlon as a temporary responslblllty but we face lt as an all tune 1espons1b1l1ty Democx icy I bellexe 15 a way of llvmg not a way of slmply exlstlng RACHEL KING Page Twenty Four A. .'1 1 1 ' 1 ' k 1 1 1 1 1 ' , 1-11 1 1 V Q Y. ' . . . 1 1 . 1 Q 1 1' 1 V I 1 t . h V- . ' , 1. ' ' 1 ' ' 1 M ' ' 1 ' D 1 Y 1 1 1 1 1 ' 5 3 1 . V . ,, .1 . M . . 7. . 1 ' 1 A i 1 1' 1 ' ' 1 B 'x 1 ' ' C ' 1 1' ' 11 - ' ' 1 ' 1 1 1 'ls ' ' 1 - 1 1 ' - -2 ' 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' ' ' 1' 1' ' 1 - ' ' 1 1 1 1 ' . . 1 1 . 1 1 1 ' ' ' ' , . 1' 3 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 Y I' '1 15 1 . 1 1' ' K1 ' ' 7 ' , ' 1. ' 1 1 ' A ' 2 ' 1 1 1 . 1' I 1 ' 1 1 ' 11 , 1 1 N1 1 1 1 ' ' , 1 y 1 1 ' ' ' . . L., . . 1 y . . 1 ' . .1 ' Y ' 1, ' 1 Q 1 I 12, 1' - D' I ' ', .1' ' 1:1- 1 - v v . 1 71 1 1 . . Y 1 . A of the reaction against school support which came about during the present economic ' v- ' ' ' ' ' - 1 1 ' ' I 1 1 1 1 1 ' Y 1 ' . 1 Y . Y l . ' 1 ' ' 1 1. ' ' Y ' - ' ' , ' . 1 1 1 . . ' 1 1 1 ' . 1 . , Y ' 1 I ' ' B. 1 . . 1 ' ' ' 2 1 1 . . 1 1' 1 ff' 1 1 ' 1 1 . Y 1 ' 1 - 1 1 2 .Y 1 1 1' ' ' ' ' 1 1 ' ' 1 1 I ' 1 ' 1 . 11 1 1 1 1 1 ' ' 1' 1 ' 1 ' ' 1 1' 1 ' 1 L. 1 1 ' 1 1 1 9 ' ' ' y 1 1 ' ' 1 ' 1 ' ' 1 1. 1' 1 ' ' '- V 1 Y .. . . 1 1 1 . l V 1 Y 1 ' y 1 1 ' . ', ' ' 1 ' : - ' ' v 1 I 1 ' 7 . . Y . 1 1 1 . . 1 - 1 , . . -- I . V, 1 . .1 . Q 1 V . Y