Withrow High School - Withrow Annual Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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ENGLISH LITERATURE NE of the most important and best known departments in Withrow is the English department. Every student in the school, regardless of the course he takes, must study English in each of his four years. The purpose of the department is three- fold. It aims to prepare students for college work, to offer pupils knowledge of the best in English literature, and to give them con- trol of the English language in both speech and written composition. In preparation for college one must know something about English literature and its history. He must be acquainted with essays, poetry, plays, novels, and short stories, and know the fundamental principles for writing them. A student entering college should be able to speak correctly, clearly, and force- fully. All of these things are taught in the English department through literature, com- position, grammar, and elocution. The friends made in books never change, and in the study of literature one finds many such friends. By reading the works of the best writers, the students taste is guided toward the selection of worthwhile literature with which to beguile his leisure hours. Withrow's finely equipped library is ready with its hundreds of fascinating books of fiction, science, history, fine arts, travel, and biography, to satisfy that hunger for good reading which is thus aroused. In the daily period of English many new ideas are suggested by the book or poem under study, and vitally interesting discus- sions, sometimes occupying the whole period, are awakened by perhaps just one short line in that book or poem. Some- thing intangible, yet immensely valuable, thus is brought into being. Both in literature and in composition is one taught closer observation and keener ap- preciation of the happenings in the world about him. Through literature one experi- ences all kinds of adventures vicariously, through composition one learns to organize and record his observations and adventures in an interesting, imaginative, and informa- tive way. Creative composition nourishes the new ideas and flights of imagination which are springing up in the mind. Enough grammar is taught to enable the student to speak and to write his native language correctly. The study of grammar is continued in high school not to make periods boring, but to help the individual pupil. One must know how to talk properly no matter what one's vocation may be, and the purpose of teaching grammar is to pro- vide that essential knowledge. Elocution, too, is part of the English course. In this study, which is required of juniors and seniors, one learns how to speak fluently, clearly, and purposefully before a group. It is here that the need for grammar study is most apparent. Poise and ease of manner are developed, and latent dramatic talent often is aroused in the weekly elocu- tion class. And so, the important English department prepares one for college and the outside world, arouses a love for the finest in liter- ature, fosters new and interesting ideas, and gives one control of both the written and spoken English language. VIRGINIA WEBSTER.

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FOREIGN LANGUAGES f HE Foreign Language Department of Withrow includes Latin, French, Span- ish, and German. Each language has its own peculiar value to the student, and each opens a different field of literature and cul- ture. The Latin department is headed by Miss Alice Donnelly, and offers a four years' study of that language. Latin is valuable because, since seventy-five percent of the words in the English language are derived from the Latin, a knowledge-of it makes English more vivid. Latin students become acquainted with the lives and customs of the Romans, and with Roman culture. Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars gives them history from the pen of a maker of history. They explore the fields of oratory and literature with Cicero, and Vergil's Aeneid and Ovid's Metamor- phoses give them Latin poetry at its best. Miss Catherine james heads the French department. Since French comes third in the list of languages that are spoken most widely in the world, a knowledge of French is valuable to one who travels, as it enables him quickly to adapt himself to his sur- roundings in French-speaking countries. In classes, parts of Victor Hugo's Les Miser- ablesf jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, short stories of Guy de Mau- passant, and stories of Alexandre Dumas are read. Famous authors like these are the out- standing figures in French literature, and their works are not only entertaining, but instructive. The Spanish department, directed by Miss Mary Louise Perkins, is one of the most pop- ular in Withrow, judging by numbers. Spanish is essential in business and in com- merce carried on in Latin countries, and for this reason many commercial students study this language. Spanish students become familiar not only with the history and legends of Spain, and with stories of' its gay and colorful people, but they study, too, the customs and current affairs in modern Spain and read about her great and famous cities. They gain a more fluent speaking knowledge by singing Spanish songs in class. The German department, of which Dr. Schoenle is the head, is becoming increas- ingly popular year by year, it is regaining its pre-war status, and recovering from the arti- ficial decline in interest it suffered during the World War. The study of German opens up the rich field of German literature and culture, and the rich storehouse of German history. Next to English, ,German is the most widely spoken language and therefore is almost essential for travel and foreign business. German also has a peculiar value to English students, because it is the key to those words which have come into English from the Saxon. A German students read the lyrics and bal- lads of the great German poets whose names are known everywhere, Goethe, Heine, and Schiller. They read the memoirs of a Ger- man who served both his fatherland and America, Carl Schurz. They learn the cus- toms of Germany and her many old legends. In each language section, the students or- ganize clubs and add further to their knowl- edge of the language. ANN MCELFRESH.

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