Wisconsin High School - Wisconsin Yearbook (Madison, WI)

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in relation to body health, the prolongation or furthering of life, bacteriological study in relation to infection in health, intelligent marketing and community hygiene with relation to personal hygiene. This course has accomplished the purpose of bringing to our attention the importance of health in moulding our life activities. Education for Leisure Time is an entirely new subject and was formulated for the previously mentioned adjustment idea to prepare young people for an increased amount of leisure time in the future. The difference in teaching procedure of this course from the others is that so many more instructors had a hand in executing the proposed plan at some time or other. The former coach, Russell Rippe, did assist, and the present coach, Clyde Knapp, will assist in leisure education in the world o-f sports. Drama, music, art and literature were jointly ha.ndled by Miss Hoard, Miss Springhorn, Miss Rector, Miss Boreh- ers, Mr. Claxton and Mr. Lees. To motivate interest, such activities as music request programs and special literature and drama studies, were attempted. Imaginative journeys, taken on a tentative XVestern trip were written up by the Alpha group and several of the students presented their compositions o-ver Radio Station XYHA. Another leisure activity unit termed, Know Your Auto- mobile, was led by Mr. Hinderman and Mr. McMullen, in an effort to educate boys and girls alike as to what makes our common machine servants run. The fourth constant of the adjustment program is Education for Vocations and College Life, which, by the title is self-explanatory. Extensive studies of the most important colleges and universities allowed our group to print a booklet giving full particulars concerning the different schools. In pursuing the vocations study, accomplished men of their respective fields, gave talks on the nature of out- standing voca.tions. The discussion of these four constants brings to an end the adjustment idea. For intellectual improvement. electives, taken by all students of the VVisconsin High School, were dressed up to suit the whims of the experiment directors. Such changes as, alternation of class days twhich also was the case in many adjustment studiesj, different teaching procedures and new study materials, were effected. With this sketchy review of the experiment in schooling, perhaps you can gain, as least, an inkling as to the purposes of the experiment and a partial knowledge of its actual working. Although this writeup has been purely ob- jective so far, it would not be complete without a word from the students stand- point. XVhen we were notified of the curriculum change, there were many do-ubts and misgivings as to the value of an experiment, under which we were to act as human ,guinea pigs. XVith the beginning of the school year, explanations were attempted to make clear many of the doub-tful points, but little enlighten- ment was gained until a month or two passed. XVe were all inclined to disbeliev- ing the merits of the new system and openly expressed our cynicism, thus making the teachers' jobs more tedious. VVe fo-und ourselves endowed with greater free- dom of study and action than ever before and some of us undoubtedly took more liberties than we should have under such circumstances. The first year, being as much an experiment for the teachers as ourselves, was quite successful. Few mistakes were apparent. Only such activities as fencing classes and rhythm classes, in the Leisure Time group, could be classed as time wasters. These relatively useless activities have been replaced by more beneficial ones and the experiment can be said to be safely past the haphazard guessing stage. During the junior year, the work was more difficult, with a gradual dropping off o-f many Leisure Time activities and an inclination toward more serious work. These tendencies persisted throughout the entire year and the Senior class of the follow- ing year had only six subjects as a result of the terminatio-n of Leisure Time. As a mark of gratitude, we, the Alpha group, express our appreciation to the teachers who have worked so hard to bring us through the three trying years of experiment. -A GUINEA Pic: Page Twelve

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1 I I l I I it y if lt L 4 4 1 S i f l i l r 1 I f l f I i I F 'f le l THE EXPERIMENTAL CURRICULUM It was in the fall of 1933 that a decisive action was taken in the United States to modernize education. XVith the installment of a new system, credited with vast improvements over the now existing standard type of high school education, a move was made which may revolutionize the present teaching procedure. Today we have the need of an altered educational system to meet the present necessi- ties. Life today has many more complex problems than in the pioneer era. Vtfhereas our fathers, living aro-und the 1890's had only about 300 kinds of work to choose from, we have now over 2300 varied types, created mostly through the incredible progress of science. The special curriculum group aims to prepare students for the present day complications and conditio-ns of later life. Fortunately XYisconsin High School was invited by the Progressive Educa- tion Association to be one of the many experimental groups throughout the na- tion. The basic principles set forth by the Progressive Education Association come under two heads: l. XVhatever the participating school does by way of experiment should be so thorough a departure from the ordinary procedure of education, that the results, be they good or bad, can be traced definitely to some failing or virtue of the new system, 2. The cue for direction of such a departure is most likely to be found in some major omission or fault in the present practice. Two points have been discovered in the secondary school curriculum which have been attacked only half-heartedly. ln these two points, adjustment and in- tellectual improvement, the experimental group curriculum has departed from the present high school standards. lt is the opinion of the Progressive Educa- tion Association that adjustment is needed to cope with the complexities men- tioned before. The conclusion drawn from the intellectual improvement idea is that the standard system gives only the advantages of more general wisdom, leaving the pupil to form his own design fo-r living. Another fault found in the school system of today is the passive acceptance, by the students, of facts rather than a more active participation in class discussion and an exhibition of reluc- tance to accept all ideas set forth. Consequently, the program o-f the experimental group was build around these first two principles with the last advanced idea as one of the foremost corrections to take place. The adjustment program consists of four subjects, education for Community Living, educatio-n for Health, education for Leisure Time and education for Vocations and College Life. The program for intel- lectual improvement is made up of elective courses varying in number from the Sophomore year through the Senio-r year. The adjustment program, being the major change effected, will warrant the most discussion. Let us look into the nature of the different subjects. Edu- cation for Community Living, supervised by Burr NV. Phillips, puts emphasis on two purposes, the first of which is to keep abreast of current affairs and get the best possible understanding of them, and the second, an analysis of the major social trends in our country. Perhaps many wonder if this is not covered in the other social studies such as History. A good deal of it may be, but in order to obtain a compact knowledge of histo-rical and present day affairs and social trends, they must be linked together and combined, fragmentary sketches from history studies soon leave the mind. To accomplish the purpose of student in- itiative, formerly given as an aim of this experiment, an orientation unit was estab- lished to encourage an interest in current affairs and the regular use of the news- papers, magazines and radio in regard to this subject. Education for Health is led by Miss Lynda XVeber and Mr. Harold G. McMullen who have, through extensive research, gained a mass of information and certain set principles in the field of personal and community health. Miss Henderson assisted bv teach- ing the fine points of marketing from the consumers standpoint. Aniong the things touched upon in this course are: adjustment to- the school program, posture Page Eleven

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i. .L .lf . 'ii X ll ll M7 JUNIOR CLA tg, fu., 'kilwtret-U19 is J D, u u , Qt . .X a 4 9 s W s J. N JJ 6 L A tl 2 i V l is l I i I 1 l l I ff :W F M. if OFFICERS : President Vice-President Secretary - Treasurer Having success Qin! SS li.4 thi. First Row: Daniels, Hansen,iiIohnson, Wflsoni, Thomas, Krueger, Pratt, M strand, Marsh, Snyder. Second Row: Desch, Curtin, Mutchler, Jones, Sommers, Plummer, Anderson, Buxton Johnson, Sheldon, Strong, Dawson. Third Row: Jollos, Fish, Schuettc, O'Malley, Batdorf, VVitzemann, Kolb, McCormick Lutbeg, Gillen, Bowden. Fourth Row: Blankensee, Corry, Frank, Mueller, Rockwood, Rash, Kerr, Zanoya, Clay- ton, Sanderson. Fi t Ro : F1211 , Sanderson, Lorenz, Hendrickson, Kriel, Thompson, Lewis, Royston W en, ill, mes. if flied! Qj ,ir fi ' -t QS! ss A, QL. Ks it - Dick JAMES BILL LIUTCHLER JSEANNE BTUELLER - BILL JONES fully passed all requirements in our Freshman and Sopho- more years, we are now worthy Juniors. This year we were even busier and more successful than in our last two years. We enthusiastically took part in all school activities. Members of the Junior class took part in the all-school and one-act plays. Many Juniors are in the glee-clubs and the newly organized A Cappella Choir. Several of our group are officers of various clubs. Nearly all of the boys and some of the girls take part in sports with great interest. A few of the boys are letter-men in various sports. One of them is Dick James, our class president this year, and next year's football captain. And then Prom! Because there was no Sophomore Shuffle due to scarlet fever, Prom was the one big dance of the year. At the very first of the year when we found ourselves juniors and with the Prom confronting us our enthus- iasm knew no bounds. And so, by an overwhelming majority, Tom Lorenz was elected Prom King. Then, what a time of suspense there was! XVe had to wait so long to know who the Prom Queen would be. Finally a little more than a month before Prom was held the whole school knew that Mary jane Thomas was the Queen of the Junior Prom. Under our capable King and Queen and two faculty advisers, Mrs. Burr and Mr. Hinderman, we, the Junior Class made good in our Prom and all our activities. Page Thirteen