Central High School - Red and Black Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

Page 15 text:

Around forty Central' High students are seen leaving the school soon after lunchtime each day. Are they skipping? you might ask. No. At least, most of them aren't. Their programs are arranged so that they can get to work early in the afternoon. These students are the Co-ops, enrolled in our two part-time work-experience programs, Distributive Education and Secretarial Practice. The Co-ops attend regular classes where they study about the work they are doing in the afternoon. UentraI's Cu-lip Program cedures during their eighth term. While doing this, they are attending school in the morning, and getting practical on-the-job experience in the afternoon. During the last year the girls have received their training in such businesses as insurance, finance, wholesale paper, newspaper, fuse and electrical manufacturing, as well as at several elementary schools. Co-ops in Secretarial Practice and Distribu- tive Education earn a credit for their class work and a credit for their successful work experience. The employers grade their work for each report Secretarial Co-ops Distributive Education students study about the distribution of goods: that is, the buying and selling of merchandise, with all the prob- lems connected with that activity. They learn about the problems of both the employees and the management of stores. Each Distributive Education student learns and earns on the job, by working at least l5 hours a week in a store. Jobs range from stock work to selling, in such places as grocery stores, department stores, va- riety stores, drug stores, and others. Some 20 Central students have been in the D. E. program during the past term, having started as New Seniors. Secretarial Practice Co-ops finish their training in typing, shorthand and office pro- card period, by means of a rating sheet, for characteristics like Ability to get along with others, Initiative, Punctuality and Attend- ance, and i'Suitability to the job . The teacher-coordinators, Mr. Chapman and lVlr. Kirn, visit the students' training stations regularly, to observe them on the job and to confer with the employers about the training programs. Employers like to take our selected Central students for training, because they progress faster on the job, and are ready to take over full-time jobs when they graduate.

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Guidance and Cnunsehng Guidance and counseling services at Central High School are biased upon the principle that Guidance is any activ- ity which influences any individual in making plans, for his own future. Our guidance program may be identified by three phases: Orientation. Educational Guidance, and Voca- tional Guidance. Included in all of these is also the fac- tor of Personal Guidance. The elementary teacher, the high school teacher, the group adviser, the counselor. and the administrator must all work together to success- fully fullill the aims of any guidance program. In the Central High plan, the school principal and as- sistant principal serve as the directors. They appoint a guidance committee of teachers. who have been certified as counselors by the Missouri State Department of Edu- cation, During the school year 1953-54, Mr. Russell W. Hibbert has served as chairman of the guidance com- mittee and as counselor for the pupils of Sophomore and Junior groups. Mr. Leighton Martyr has served as Freshman counselor, Mr, Max Carlisle as Senior counselor, and Miss Ruth Colestock as testing counselor. Much of the orientation guidance has been done in the Freshman year. It starts when the high school counselor visits the elementary school to interest the eighth grade pupils in a high school education, The selection of high school subjects most suited to a pupil's needs embraces the scope of Educational Guidance. Most Educational Guidance is done by the teacher-ad- at Central visers, some through the administrative staff of the school, and some through the counselors. Many individual pupils call at the guidance oiiice for personal counseling, and each term an increasing number of pupils are referred to the counselor by his advisor, Group guidance, as well as individual counseling helps to make a better informed pupil. At Central the group guidance program has included Auditorium programs, Guest Speakers, Visual Aids, Career Clubs, Multiple Counseling, Career Day, and field trips. Vocational Guidance helps a pupil prepare to better meet the problems he must solve when he becomes a high school graduate. Counselors spend considerable time in helping pupils make their vocational choice during the time they are school citizens. Much of this individual counseling is based on the results of Standardized Tests inter- preted by the counselor. Placement service is a part of the total program of Guidance services. At Central many pupils are placed in jobs selected to meet their interests, needs, and capabilities. Placements in commercial work are cared for by Mr. Ralph Kirn, those in Industrial Arts by Mr. Jesse Vertrees, and those in Distributive Education by Mr. E. E. Chapman. The Guidance and Counseling Service at Central en- deavors to provide a well rounded program including both Group guidance and Individual Counseling, and to agree with the author who says, Group Guidance plus in- dividual counseling produces better results than either alone.

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llur Anti - Jaywalking Pr Last autumn, when the city of St. Louis launched an anti-jaywalking campaign as a phase of their major traffic control plan, the public schools were invited to cooperate, Since Central High School lies along a very busy thor- oughfare, which most of our pupils must cross on their way to school, an anti-jaywalking cam- paign seemed a very practical and worthwhile project, It seemed an opportune time to try to establish in our student body a consciousness of the need for pedestrian cooperation to overcome the traffic hazards in our school community. This project fitted in very nicely with the work of the American Problems classes, which had just completed the topic of Propaganda and the Devices for Influencing Public Opinion . Both classes decided to test their skill in the use of these devices in an Anti-jaywalking Cam- paign. They drew up lists of things they needed to know before launching the campaign. Pupils at once volunteered to gather the information. Prom then on to the end of the project, time was given at the beginning of every class period to any committee of pupils which wished to report its progress or ask the class for advice or authority to pursue an activity. In this way pupils learned responsibility for group action. inject One small group of students visited the Traf- Hc Division in the City Hall to get a copy of the Traffic Code and learn the provisions of the ordinance on jaywalking. Another group visited the Police Station in our community to talk over our project with the Police and ask their cooperation. The next matter to be considered by the classes was the diffusion of information to others. Ways and means for informing the whole school' were decided upon. Every pupil agreed to advertise the project by speaking to at least ten other pupils not engaged in the project. The classes also selected the propaganda devices to be used, and grouped themselves into com- mittees, each committee assuming the responsi- bility of using one of these devices. So they made up slogans and posters picturing the pos- sible consequences of jaywalking, The slogan, The life you save may be your own, figured prominently in the posters. The Principal and student leaders were interviewed for statements on the value and need of an Anti-jaywalking Campaign. These testimonials appeared in the daily bulletins and in the school newspaper. Playing upon the desire of every school child to belong to a club, a committee decided to or-