Madison Central High School - Tychoberahn Yearbook (Madison, WI)

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Commercial Department hir. Leonard A. Yvaehler. Bliss illabel C. Dietrich. hliss hlartha C. Tkadlec. ixliss fllary E. l.athrop. bliss Belle R. Green. Bliss Ruth A. Bennett. I lvaeliler Dietrich Tkadlec Lathrop Green Bennett COMMERCIAL The enrollment in the Commercial Department, especially in shorthand and in typewriting classes, has been larger than in any year since 1921. Several new courses have been added, and a plan of assisting graduates towards securing positions and promotions has been worked out. During the year the department has had a twofold purpose: First, it proposed to make of its Commercial Course graduates not merely specialized otlice clerks, but broadly trained office workers who can adapt themselves to the many varied tasks that present themselves in every modern office. To this end the Commercial Course comprises a variety of required subjects, and to better accomplish this end Book- keeping l2lw and Otiice Training were installed as new subjects. Second, it proposed to aid those pupils in the General Course who had the foresight to appreciate the advantage which a knowledge of shorthand and typewriting will give to them as college students. The incentive usually otlered by the district commercial contest was absent this year due to non-participation of Madison schools. However, the awards offered by the various typewriter companies and by the shorthand publishers gave inducements for better work to a much wider circle of pupils. Dozens of such awards won by Central pupils have been on display in the glass exhibit case erected for the Com- mercial Department in the ground floor corridor. Page Twenty-three

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Department of H istorjy bliss ixlartha E. Sell. Bliss Ella C. Schuldt. Dir. Leonard H. Vlaehler. Nliss fwarie Wittxve1'. Bliss Grace E. Bailey. Aliss lulia lf. Alurphy. ixliss Lxlargarel 0'Neil. Bliss ixlatilda Arneson. Dir. Neal II. Stoddard IVaeliler, Sell, Bailey, O'Ncil, Schuldl, Ivittwer, Arneson, Stoddard. THE VALUE AND AIMS OF HISTORY AND OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDIES ln high schools of the country new opportunities are being offered for a broader understanding of conditions under which we live, and how these conditions came to be. Ilistory and other social science studies, that isfcivics, economics, and problems of democracy, aim to teach young people what it means to live together in organized society. Social, economic and political factors have helped shape man's civilization for ages. Aluch of this has come as a result of blind groping for better things. Nlore and more, however, a conscious effort to shape our lives toward living together well is loolced upon as a positive need in education. The social sciences teach young people historical facts as tools for thinking and analyzing. These become guide-poses in the solving of present-day problems. A study of modern conditions alone will not be sufficient. They train young people to render decisions on evidence, and not to render response off-hand. They train them in proper civic ideals and habits. History, especially, gives perspective, because it teaches them to understand and appreciate that human advance in civilization is continuous and forever changing. It makes intelligible the constant references to people and conditions of the past in literature, speeches, public discussions and in the daily press. It gives more interest to travel. It develops fair-mindedness by showing how loyal citizens have honestly differed on public uestions. Lastly, the study of the social sciences leads to the comprehension of the necessity of team-work and the interdependence of man. Organized society works for the welfare of all, and each must strive to be an intelligent part of the social group in which he is. Page Twenty-two

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Department of Art Bliss Irene Buck. Miss hlabel G. White. Diiss Elizabeth Finstad. Bliss Helen C. West. Buck Nvhite Finstad Xvest ART The idea prevalent in the purpose ot the study ot' art a generation ago included nothing more than the achievement of technical skill. This view has now broadened to include a type ot' art education adapted to the needs ot' the great majority ot' people who will perhaps never follow the arts professionally, but who may acquire through various art problems a finer taste and a deeper capacity for the appreciation of beautiful things. There are two main reasons for art education in Central High. The first is to increase the number ot' appreciators of art and art products: the second is to multiply the number of artists or art workers. These last are students, who are encouraged to continue the study ot' art due to native ability discovered in this preparatory course. The appreciators are those who experience satisfaction in beholding works of art or in possessing beautiful things made with human hands or with machines under the control of human minds and emotions. They are those who are conscious of the presence ot' beauty in design, in curve, in color combinations: they are the ones who frequent art museums, who seek out the choicest patterns in textile materials and home decorationsg they admire tine buildings and tine books and paintings, colorful gardens and pageantry, exquisite jewelry and pottery as well as sculptured marbleg they are sensitive to beauty in many forms. The appreciators are the real consumers ot' art products. The artists or workers who are developed in the Art Classes here are relatively few in number, but they possess the talent, the taste, the designing ability, the skill of hand, the knowledge ot' processes that enables them to add beauty to things ot' utility. They have the power to record some of their emotions in material form so that they can be transmitted to other human beings whose emotions are tuned to catch the message. No one who has been drilled in design will be content with chaos and discord, for order or design is the basis of science as well as of art and it a student acquires an understanding of it he has acquired the foundations of a balanced life. To open up the road to beauty and understanding, to encourage joy in creation, is the function ot' the Art Department of Central High School. Page Twenty-four