Hicksville High School - Comet Yearbook (Hicksville, NY)

Page 22 text:

IN A VARIETY OF SHAPES AND SIZES . . . The HHS faculty displayed a remarkable diversity. Mr. Ericson {above) gave pointers on art, and Mr. McCarty {upper right) was fond of pointed speech. But not enough of the teachers were lucky enough to have a few com- pletely absorbed students as Mr. Shanley {right) did. 18

Page 21 text:

Chester S Jaworski Raymond Rusch HELPING OUT . . . with office paraphernalia Mr. Jaworski advices Mrs. Gold on a matter of business. 17 ANSWERING THE PHONE . . . proved to be a time-consuming task for Mr. Feigin and the other assistant principals.

Page 23 text:

HHS Teachers Are Human If Nothing Else Students think of teachers as people who come into rooms crowded with young people, talk at them for forty-five minutes, and then run to the faculty room to smoke and forget. Teachers think of themselves as glorified clerks, periodically swamped in registers and report cards. Although it may often be difficult to remember, teachers are ordinary people. They are not so dedicated to ed- ucation that they are impervious to anything ex- cept academics, nor are they teaching because it is the easiest thing for them to do. They are not machines impersonally giving out the grades that are so important to their students, or extremely sympathetic people showing their partialities to large numbers of impressionable youths. They are men and women with the same problems and pre- judices as everyone else. Teaching, it has been said, is an art, not a science. Scientific principles may be applied to teaching, but a scientific relationship between teacher and pupil is inadequate and undesirable. A teacher must be orderly and precise in planning and presenting his material, but this does not make him scientific. Teaching involves human val- ues and emotions, neither of which can be sys- tematically evaluated and employed. It is more like painting a picture than producing a chemical reaction. A teacher must realize that it all cannot be done by formulas, and must be willing to put all his heart into his work. Devotion is what makes a good teacher. And, despite all the griping that they do, the teachers at Hicksville High are devoted. It shows in their willingness to speak with their students after class about topics that may have nothing to do with the course. It shows in their concern about district and school policy. And it shows in the fact that they stay to teach even with all the hard- ships that they must suffer to do so. SOME, VERY EXPRESSIVE . . . Many of the faculty displayed a real enthusiasm for their work. Mr. Pellerin (left) was, of course, a xesty man as a conductor. Mr. Jones (above) was quite a moving history teacher. 19