New Trier Township High School - Echoes Yearbook (Winnetka, IL)

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One of the girls also made a sly remark about the legibility of American handwriting, which, she felt, sug- gested a possible reason for the emphasis on typing. llflartine took a dim view of the typical spelling ability of her New Trier classmates. She was surprised and amused to find that she received one of the highest grades in her senior English class on a spelling test. This is partially the result of the spelling incongruities in the English language and of the fact that a foreign student of English is apt to pay more attention to these incongruities than a native American who has been conditioned to pass over these trivia without thinking about them. It is more the fault, however, of the lack of emphasis by New Trier on the study of the English language. Martiiie said that French students spend much more time studying the French language than New Trierites spend studying theirs. The European students were also asked what they thought of their American friends' peculiar way of slaughtering French and German in their feeble attempts to make the visitors feel at home. Hans and Anne lVIarie said they were impressed by the enthusiasm and accomplishments of New Trier students of the German language, but they were very amused by their pronunciation of the German r.,' Hans complained that many non-German speaking Americans seem to think that Austrians speak a different language than the Germans. Martine had many words of praise for the New Trier French department, saying that the third and fourth year students were acquiring a very good command of her language with excellent accents. The European students admitted that their previously held impression Capparently a typical one in Europej that American high school students do little, if any, homework and lead at best a shallow life academically, has drastically changed. llflartine said that her New Trier work load was somewhat easier than her required French curriculum of three years of physics and chemistry and five years of math. But both she and Anne lliarie said that despite the casual- ness and informality of the school life, New Trier students do work hard, especially in courses on the -l and 5 levels which correspond in difficulty to those in the European pre- paratory schools. Is the New Trier curriculum with its overtones of infor- mality and its de-emphasis on rugged academics better or poorer than those programs which confronted these students in their own countries? lllost of them agreed that the New Trier system has definite advantages. They mentioned that the students here seem to be more vitally interested in their courses because they themselves choose the subjects in ac- cordance with their individual interests, Both Hang and U. S. Academics Mr. Knupfer illustrates his point in a US. History class. The foreign students were impressed by the helpfulness and objectivity of their NT teachers. QM. Slcinlnfrgl aa1-,+,,,,...WW,,,,.4 , . ,, of H f . Nlartine felt that their New Trier classmates work more enthusiastically and imaginatively, especially in science. Hans said that his physics course in Vienna was nearly all lecture and very little lab. The New Trier physics course includes three periods weekly of lecture and four periods of lab. lXIartine remarked that she had performed fewer dis- sections during her Lyonnaise biology course and that she had been spared the traditional New Trier lab experience of cutting planeria into little pieces to prepare them for regen- eration. All the foreign students took courses in United States his- tory. Anne llflarie made a remark about a surprising facet of the course that a native American would probably not have noticed. VVhen ECHOES asked her if the attitude to- Ccontinued on page SD 'glisskmfqn 5.911-.., WWA riivtsis i Vp... ,ELK vu pg' - 'X 14- - '!. n--ls .af-is - ' '- ' . - ,- -1. , .. .Y . . . , . .i f-ii -, ff ' Q ' , ' ' A ' ' ' 4' 'H ' f, vs f- - f,. c- . - B -. ..- - . Y V . .. ... ... Q- .v ' -V - milf , ..,.. .- . 8 . .J ,,- , rl -.-.A , .. .. -V -L v -. , .. .. ., -H-544, . .

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,v. ,ge fe ae' 2. X 3 n K is we S3 J. J. r .., .g F 'S , . , a ' 1 , T 1 Mg Ji ,fff 9 Z ,- nff - 1, v u,:- .fy- i ANNE Minus Smrl-1, Germany ITANS BIFFL. Austria Slilflk Yuitsizl., Turkey NIARTINIE JEUNE, France lm Nnwixwi, Indonesia Josie PADRON, Venezuela ew Trier: Different and Amazing SIX NEDV TRIER STUDENTS FROM FOREIGN COUN- TRIES PROVIDE A UNIQUE INSIGHT INTO AMERIF CAN EDUCATION AND LIFE. The North Shore is inhabited by people of many back- grounds and, persuasions. Most of them, however, have been Americans for several generations, and consequently view their country, society, and schools as insiders. They are frequently oblivious to the advantages and disadvantages of their way of life because they have nothing radically different with which to compare it. For this reason, E-CHOES 1962 has asked New Trier's foreign .students for their impressions of our way of life in order that we may more clearly see ourselves and our differences and similarities with other peoples. Anne-Ma1'ie Spath is Visiting New Trier for her Senior year and is from lVIunich, Germany. Jose Padron is from Caracas, Venezuela. Four students connected with the American Field Service exchange program are also living on the North Shore with American families. They are: from Lyon, France, lWartine Jeuneg Ida Nawawi from Bogor, Indonesia, Hans Biffl from Vienna, Austria, and Seflk Yuksel from Istanbul, Turkey. The American educational system was entirely new to all our foreign visitors. European schools are considerably more stringent academically than ours at the university preparatory level, since only the intellectually superior con- tinue on to college. It was a great surprise to the foreign students that approximately QOWJ of New Trier's students go on to college. Hans remarked that this fact points up the more democratic nature of the American school system in that it provides education for everyone and in that it reflects the American obsession for equality. It also forces America and New Trier to deal with the problem of an educational .system tailored to the needs of all degrees of intellectual ability. All the visitors were impressed with the New Trier system of dividing courses into five levels of difhculty. That the students in high school are free to choose their courses according to their individual inerests was a new con- cept to the foreign students. Ida told her ECHOES inter- viewer that Indonesians pursue 16 subjects per year and that government regulations require every student to have had at least six years of English before graduation. ln Europe common New Trier electives such as economics and typing CContinued on page 65

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Ixglifon. I' the telchersi I I I 4 n I I +I l more fence. ly all UUTSC Ili Ql . dig- 5 she If of -gen- hif- -wi not , m- Judy Mussehl, Nancy Fenn, Theresa Sergel, and Connie Mcfllory listen to Dr. Guest in an English class. The relaxed atmosphere differs greatly from the European mode. fRZtlllllS0'lll QV' N ,M ,lag QW ,fL,LL.e.,s,WW...m, x , x I, 61 I W' . . , MW.......,.. l... s......s: or rf awww Students do research in a corner of the school library. Anne-Marie Spath commented that the New Trier library is excellent. In her German school, only several hundred books were available for the students. Anne-Marie and Martine both were disappointed, how- ever, in the limited number and variety of foreign language books, magazines, and newspapers compared to English language collec- tions in their school libraries back home. flfoxj A pensive Sally MacKinnon in study hall. Time for study is not set aside in many countries. tStci'n- bcrgj