Sapulpa High School - Sapulphan Yearbook (Sapulpa, OK)

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THE K 0 I) A K The Foreign Language Department of the Sapulpa High School is made up at present of two languages. German and Latin. There are now about 25 pupils enrolled in German, which is an increase of almost 50 per cent over last year. In the first year special attention is given to grammar. It is essential that the American pupil, first of all, have a technical knowledge of the language. This is attained by giving the pupil in the first year a thorough drill in all the grammatical forms. In addition to this, memory work is required, which gives the pupils training in pronunciation and also helps them to think in the language. A third thing sought after in the first year is that the pupil may have at his command, even though it may be limited, an every-day vocabulary of the language. The work taken up in the second year is three-fold. First, several of the best known German classics are read and studied, together with the life of the authors. This year, “Immensee,” “Der Neffe als Onkel,” “Hermann und Dorothea,” and “Wilhelm Tell,” were read. Second, some time is spent in German composition, that is, translating English into idiomatic German. Third, one day a week is devoted to conversational German. In the Latin Department, the regular four years’ course is offered. There are now 30 pupils enrolled, showing an increase over last year. It is hoped that next year a beginning Latin class can be started at the time of the mid-year promotions. A number desired to take up Latin at that time this year, but on account of a lack of teaching force it was impossible to start a new class. It is very probable that in the near future other foreign languages will be added, such as Greek, French and Spanish. COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT BY MISS T. DALE NISWONGER The purpose of the Commercial Department of the High School is to train students in proper business methods and prepare them thoroughly for future positions of responsibility and influence. The Commercial Department was established in the Sapulpa High School in February, 1913. At that time courses were offered in shorthand, typewriting and bookkeeping. Last fall, however, we were able to introduce in addition, courses in commercial law, business spelling and penmanship. Twenty-nine students are enrolled in this department this year, most of whom are registered in two or more commercial subjects. One encouraging feature has been that every student who finished one

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THE KODAK izenship; it must be fashioned with an eye to all the leading types of character and proclivity, the intellectual or scientific type, the humanitarian, the artistic and the practical. Nothing is literature in or of itself. A poem or a story is merely the medium through which the feeling that possessed an author is transferred to a reader. If the reader gets from the masterpiece no emotion, only information, he has found no literature, whatever critics may say is there. Today, under the teaching of the new psychology, the dramatic instinct of the child is being used in a definite, systematic way as an aid in the study of English literature. At the High School age the dramatic and imitative instincts are still vital forces in the life of the boy and girl. Dramatization with its power to rouse interest, to stir imagination, to induce appreciation of the masterpiece, and thus to quicken a love for literature, has no equal. For literature is life, the life of other times and peoples—real or fantastic, and life is action. Hence the dramatic appeal is perhaps the most compelling force in the interpretation of literature. FO R EIGN LAN GUAGES BY MISS NINA KF.IGER Of all the practical benefits that we can confer upon our young people in their education, there is nothing that will contribute more directly to real success in life than the power of logical and lucid expression. For the English-speaking student, the chief training will always come from the vernacular itself, but the most effective means of deve’oping this power is undoubtedly to be found in the use of a foreign tongue which will force us to compare and contrast expressions, to analyse and combine words and sentences, to notice and reflect upon speech and it’s peculiarities—in a word, to foster and upbuild within us the linguistic sense. In addition to developing the power of expression the study of foreign languages broadens the mind. It also gives intellectual perspective, it widens our knowledge of life and man, it makes one more capable of facing the various problems and difficulties of personal, social and political life. That is, it develops the historic sense. But it is not only the linguistic sense and the historic sense that the foreign language student is cultivating. There is this crowning merit that he is feeding his mind upon literary models of a lofty type and building up an excellent taste, a sense of order and proportion, and an instinct for the seemly and beautiful in prose and poetry—in a word, the literary sense. This last is especially true of the study of Latin.

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THE KODAK or more courses in this department a year ago were able to find positions if they so desired, and all who accepted positions have been able to hold them satisfactorily up to the present time. The Gregg system of short-hand is taught. This course consists of all the different forms of business letters, journal and legal dictation matter and word drills of various kinds, thus preparing the student for every kind of stenographic work. The Rational System of Touch Typewriting is used—a fact which every modern business man will appreciate. The course in bookkeeping offers training in both single and double entry bookkeeping. Exercises in various types of business practice are worked out with ample drill in the use of vouchers. Great emphasis is laid upon accuracy and neatness in this course and the relative importance of each phase of the work is not neglected. MATHEMATICS BY MISS NELLIE SCHULTZ The general purpose of Mathematics in our High School is not so much to give to the student a large amount of new facts and information, nor yet to train him for practical later life, but rather, to inculcate in him certain ideals of work which carry over into all his activities. In the study of every branch of Mathematics the student is brought face to face with the fact of the immutability of truth. There is no quibbling possible here. A solution is either right or wrong and before he has gone very far he comes to the realization that unless he is willing to work persistently, honestly, accurately, and thoroughly it is impossible for him to obtain any great good whatsoever from the subject. However, its logical reasoning and abstract thinking soon manifest an ease, accuracy, and definiteness which results in a spirit of mastery and makes the subject appeal as a pleasurable activity. At present the Sapulpa High School offers three units in Mathematics. Of these two and one-half are fixed requirements for graduation, and the other one-half is elective. The requirements are: ALGEBRA—One year: In this an attempt is made to broaden the student’s quantitative conception of his surroundings. The fundamental operation of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are first exhaustively treated, followed by factoring, proportion and radicals. The equations, linear and quadratic, are studied only so far as their solution