John A Johnson High School - Maroon Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

Page 16 text:

as Manoa 1 5391! FROM DARJEELING TO JOHNSON It is with pleasure that l respond to the request of the Maroon Board to write on education in India as far as l understand it. I have been at school for ten years in Darjeeling, and perhaps the students at Johnson High would like to hear about my experience. The educational institutions for white children in India are more or less closely connected with one or the other of the principal churches. For ex- ample, in Darjeeling, one of the summer resorts, there were five schools: Two under the supervision of the Church of England, two under the Roman Catholic Church, and one belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Church of England schools cater mostly to the children of Government officials, while the Roman Catholics in some Way appear to have assumed responsibility for the Anglo-Indian children, whereas the children of mis- sionaries and business men patronize the Methodist school. The school hours as a rule compare very closely with those at Johnson High School. Lessons start at 8:30 A. M. and end at 2:45 P. M. with a recess of forty-five minutes beginning at l0:30. The school work is closely Htted into the routine leaving no period for study during those hours. Study has to be done at other times, especially assigned for it, usually between half past five and 8:30. The routine for Monday, Wednesday and Friday is the sameg while Tuesday and Thursday are differently arranged: whereas Sat- urday being a half holiday saves the school routine from being monotonous. On the Plains, the schools are nearly all equipped with motor or horse busses, which go around to the homes of the day scholars, collecting the pupils and bringing them to school. After class the students are taken home in the same way. , These busses are not needed in any of the hill schools as most of the students are boarders and the day pupils live very close to the school building. l think the driver of such a bus has a right to special com- ment as he looks very dignified in his Oriental attire. The feet are usually bare, and if he happens to be at all fashionable he will wear puttees, put on in a more or less military style. The long shirt reaches almost to the knees with a waistcoat Worn over it. The pugri for turbanl is his crown of glory. It is a garment from ten to fifteen yards long, which he Winds round his head leaving a yard or so hanging down his back, reminding one of the pictures of India Rajahs, we often see. Practically all schools are under the direct supervision of the University of Cambridge, from which all sets of examination papers are sent twice a yearg in July and December. One school in each town is selected for the local centre, and there all candidates must go, at exactly the time assigned for the examination. A minister generally presides at these. The candi- dates are permitted to bring nothing but a pen to the examination hall, and when all is ready each pupil is presented with a printed question-paper and other essentials, and the long looked for, long dreaded occasion has ar- rived. Assistants patrol the aisles, giving those who require it, more paper, ink, etc. Poor things! Those who can't think of it just now. There are only two short hours, and then one's fate is sealed. After that, the papers are collected and sent the same evening to Cambridge. It takes three long months of waiting before the Results arrive in a printed pamphlet. Besides the general subjects that come under the above examination, a professor of music is sent from the Trinity College of Music in Cambridge to make a tour all over India, examining those who have made a special study of music. He travels to each institution in its turn, taking each candi- date separately. The examinee must be able to play two pieces, two studies, scales, and a piece by sight and is graded at once so there is no great sus- pense as in the Cambridge examinations. From the foregoing, one may see that though the education in india is very different from that here, it is quite modern and up-to-date. 12

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me miggqgoo XAPJDJ THE PRESENT JOHNSON HIGH SCHOOL A school of big departments, and an able faculty: but cramped for lack of proper accommodations. This building was designed for five hundred, but now houses almost a thousand. Class rooms are lacking for a number of teachers. The lockers are blocking the corridors. The gymnasium has become a lunch room. The auditorium is being used as a study room. The corridors are used as class rooms. 11

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Q lie MQQMQQN if i oil 6 ' A Q6-ess 1 Y ' Q eN.QX2f1fi O 7 Q if YI -I If L President - Vice President Secretary - Treasurer - Valedictorian Salutatorian Ada Altmann Arline Clang Vardis Cope Helen Dostal Julia Dostal Ben Gottfried Evelyn Hanke Alvin Hilgedeck George Hoppe Violet Jackson Helen Johnson Senior Officers. Honor Roll. Liberty Honor. - Alan Wemple - Martin Holm Florence Petersen - Alva Lindstrom - Elmer Noreen - james Mayfield Bernese Kern Irene King Majella Kucheman George Ofelt Florence Petersen Lucille McGuire Elsie Nelson Florence Schmidt Ada Quehl Olga Tolaas Margaret Wallblom Mildred Westerlund Alvin Hilgedick 13