Abraham Lincoln Junior High School - Annual Yearbook (Rockford, IL)

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Progress Uur school, we hope, typilies progress. It was not so long ago that the ma- jority of pupils learned their three r's in the little red school house of which the poets and song writers often tell us. The school consisted of only one roomg it was furnished with wooden benches and desks, and a stove which seemed ready to bake the pupils who sat near it while allowing the others to shiver and wish for its warmth. The teachers were poorly paid and could not afford to have much education or training. Today we are taught, not only the three r's, but a host of other subjects in a modern structure which does credit to the community. It has, not one room, but more than two score of them, provided with excellent furniture and equipment. Gymnasiums, a library. and an auditorium are provided as means towards our Ending and keeping health, knowledge, and enjoyment. NVe are not scorched by a Ere from a stove, but we enjoy the latest system of heating and ventilation. Truly, this is an age of progress in which we ,are living. VVho knows what the 'future will present to aid knowledge seekers to reach their goal? ll 9 3 1 page three

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To our school nurse MISS MARIGN DAGNAN we dedicate this book as a mark of our love and appreciation

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Old Schools and New Hurray for a day of fun! Our school is having a visiting day, and a few of us have decided to visit one of the old schools. As we come down the well-worn path, we see set back among the trees a log school house. A small creek runs along the side, and a hum of voices can be heard in the stillness. VVe open the door, and as we enter, we notice first of all the seats at which the children are sitting. They are long benches with many initials carved upon them. Qne side of the room is for the girls. and the other is for the boys. There are only two little windows high in the wall, but the sun is streaming in through the cracks. VVe notice on the boys' side of the room that the holes are larger where there are knot holes and the cracks more numerous. The teacher is a middle-aged man with glasses on the end of his nose. Behind him on a nail we see several birch switches of various sizes. He sits there like a judge on a raised platform with the dunce chair near his desk. As the children are called up to recite, they stand on a chalk mark. facing the master. their hooks in their left hands, awaiting his command to read. The room is rather quiet, and the voice of the reader echoes in the stillness. As we are sitting here, we think of the school we have just left. It is situated on a busy corner with busses and automobiles hurrying by. lt isa large building, nearly a block long. with long sidewalks bordered by flowers. NVhen we enter the large door, we walk up the steps and down the long corridors. We enter a large room and find a group of people engaged upon some problem or other. The teacher is sitting at a large desk helping and directing the class in their work. The room is provided with plenty of material so that each pupil will be able to secure all the help he desires. As we look upon this peaceful scene and think of the one we have just left, we think of the great difference between the quiet little school set back in the trees and the large school on the crowded busy streets. Orpha O'l-lara. 9A4-First Semester. The School My Mother Attended My mother attended Hall School. In those days school didn't commence be- fore the Twenty-Third Psalm was read and a song was sung. They had one teacher for all their studies except music and art. In room ten, the eighth grade room, there was an organ. The Principal would occasionally play it for themg this was a great treat. There was no cafeteria in the school as we have in Lincoln. As many of the pupils had a long way to come to school, they brought their lunch with them and ate it in a room down in the basement. There wasn't a teacher to keep order there, but the janitor did. Each room had two cloak rooms, one for the girls and the other for the boys. To punish the boys, some of the teachers would send them into the girls' cloak room. This was always hard on the girls because if it was a mischiev- ious boy, the girls would have a hard time Finding their wraps when they were ready to go home. The fifth grade teacher rode a bicycle to school. Vtfhen she came in, she would have to change her bicycle skirt to a longer skirt to be worn in the shool room. The schools in those days were not so well equipped as they are today, but still the pupils enjoyed what they had and proited by it. Virginia Franzen, 8Bl. 1 9 3 l page four