Elkhart High School - Pennant Yearbook (Elkhart, IN)

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,- f -I X S . Q- l lr li f x v,c, - : -.- ,f l , . .5 rl is l c- gqr ziggy C Ci ti .lcfliyltl l Atl- -e -, fi All? Tailored for Us the curriculum ot this progressive school. Sure, thatls the lolurln we get whenever the city council is trying to malie excuses tor the increased taxes-hut what is a progressive school? Vvell, a progressive school is one that is entirely ditterent lrom the old-style school. ln the old days, when a person went to school he learned the three Rls, some Latin, some composition, and some ancient history. Vvhether he intended to he a doctor, an engineer, a journalist, or what have you, he still tool: the same hasic course all the way through high school. It wasnlt until atter high school that the various vocations split up in their training. The Curricum tum ln other words, the old theory was that the student was fitted into a rigid high school curriculum, with no allowance made for what he was or what he hoped to loeg hut now that theory is considered old-fashioned. in a progressive school, lilce EHS, the wants and needs of the students are determined in advance hy a program of tests and interviews, and then an attempt is made to huild a curriculum to these needs and satisty these desires. The curriculum, then. is titted to the indi- vidual student. The student is offered a wide range ot sulojects, and, loest, ot all. he is given the opportunity and the guidance to choose from these sulojects the ones which will malce him the happiest and the most successful citizen possilale. Up-To-Date Co urses Letls have a loolc at some ol' these up-to-date courses that are offered in EHS. .lust line up any ot the courses in the voca- tional line and talie your piclc. ln these courses, which teach lay actual practice, using actual equipment, a laoy can see what a joh is lilce, learn to do it well. and malce contacts which are valuahle in selecting a jolo tor his tuture. And the vocational courses arenlt the only ones that give these advantages. Just talie a loolc at some ot the commercial courses which teach us to type, write shorthand, lieep husiness records, and do many lil other valualole things, which under the old system would have had to he learned in a secretarial school or during an apprentice period alter graduation. Tli e Student-Taitorect Curriculum lt all comes down to this: lt used to he that a student made no detinite move toward a vocation until alter his tormal educa- tion. whether is was six, eight, twelve years was over. Now the student starts to malce choices in his freshman year ot high school. They are not tinal choices, so that he canst change his mind. hut they are choices that narrow down the scope ol edu- cation which he will tollow each year, as the looy or girl goes through high school. ln this way, the student teels that he is something special, that his program is one which is receiving special attention, and that he can get whatever he wants out ot his school. The End-Product But atter all, a school is supposed to give a person more than training tor malcing a living. Xwhat ahout the higher values, the cultural things like music, and art. and literature? Courses in vocal and instrumental music, music appreciation. art, Eng- lish and American literature, US. and world history. dramatics and speech are among the many courses availalole along these lines. Figures show that the students o nour college prep. course are given excellent loasic training in math, English Composition and other suhjects especially provided tor them. You see. there is nothing one-sided alaout an EHS education. tor the whole pro- gram is set up in such a way that the end product will he a well-rounded person. So this is what progressive education means. We had thought that it was merely a high-sounding term applied to schools when they were out to raise money. Now' we can see that it means education geared to hring out the lnest in each individual and to cause him to grow into a real person, prepared tor the place in lite he is laest-suited to till. Sure, grades are important for atter all. the world will judge us hy results. But our high school success is not to he judged hy grades alone. ltls what we are, and what welre prepared to do thatls important. FUI' Example . Herels what welve loeen saying ahout the curriculum in EHS. This picture ot the Speech Vvorlishop shows how students rehearse and produce their own radio shows. These are the shows that are heard over the local radio station, VVTRC, every Vvednesday on the mYour Schoolsu series hroadcasts. Xvith real equipment, and a qualified director, these students are getting valuahle experience in radio techniques. A special course to meet a special need . . . hlailored tor us., thats EHS!

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