Angola High School - Key Yearbook (Angola, IN)

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The most careful attention is given at the outset to pronunciation, as mistakes in pronunciation once become habitual are very difficult to correct. At the end of the first year the student is expected to have a good working knowledge of the grammar and inflections of the language and his vocabulary should be such as will enable him to read the simpler German texts at sight. Constant, daily practice is given in the class- room in pronunciation and in answering questions in German based on the text-book work. The text used has been Spanhoofd ' s Lehrbitch der Deutschcn Sprachc, supplementetl by occasional poems for memorization. Gcnitan II. The principal aim in the second year course is to fix firmly in mind the forms and principles of German grammar, and to put them into practice in translation from English into German. For this purpose the first part of Thomas ' German Grammar is completed, which is then followed by the reading of Grimm ' s Kiiider-nnd Haiisinaerclien. In the second semester the reading of Storm ' s Iminensee is accompanied by Bernhardt ' s German Composition and followed by Schiller ' s Wilhelm Tell. A special effort is made in this course to get the student to pro- nounce the language fluently and naturally, and hence much practice is given in reading aloud in the class-room. German III. In the work of the third year an effort is made to in- troduce the student to the real German atmosphere and literature ; and the works read are studied as nearly as possible in the same way that works in the student ' s own language would be studied. In this way the selection develops itself as a piece of literature, not as an exercise in translation. Recitations are conducted as far as possible in German, and the texts read are made the basis of exercises in conversation. As in the second year, fluency of pronunciation is insisted on. The following texts are read: Heyse ' s L ' Arrahbiata. Hillern ' s Hoeher als Die Kirehe. Lessing ' s Minna I ' on Barnhchn. Schiller ' s Der Neffe als Onkel. Thomas ' German Grammar (as reference.) German IV. The fourth year work in German consists of a study of the History of German Literature. For this purpose Bernhardt ' s Deutsche Litteraturgeschichte is used as a text book, supplemented by work in Wenckebach ' s Meisterwerke des Mittelalters and Keller ' s Bilder aits der Deutschcn Litteratur. In addition to this work, two plays of Schiller are read during the year. In 1907-1908 these were Wilhelm Tell and Die Jiingfrau von Orleans. In 1908-1909 they will be Die Jiinsfrau von Orleans and Maria Stuart.

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History II. This course starts with a brief survey of the ancient civilizations of Eg)pt, Assyria, Chaldaea, Babylonia, Persia, Phoenicia and Palestine, and then takes up a detailed discussion of Greece. Leav- ing Grecian history at the death of Alexander, it takes up Roman history and carries the history of Rome and her possessions down to the time of Charlemagne. History III. The work in the third }car starts with Charlemagne about the year 800 A. D. and carries the main threads of European his- tory from that date dow n to the present time. Especial stress is put on Feudalism, Crusades, Reformation, Growth of Papacy, Rise of Various Nations, and the Political Evolution of England. The French Revo- lution is carefully studied and its subsequent bearing on the bicameral systems of monarchical Europe. History IV. The course covers U. S. history and is finished in one semester. The work is made as intensive as possible, outside work being assigned, and special topics being worked out by each member of the class. Civics I] ' . The work covers one semester and includes a study of federal, state, county, town and township government. The study of the growth of political union in the United States is followed by a careful analysis of the Constitution. A critical study of our own state and county government closes the work in this course. GERMAN. All educators are agreed that a high school course in German should accomplish at least two important results : It should give the student an insight into the life and literature of the German people, and by its drill in the grammar and vocabulary of the foreign language it should make him all the more skillful in the use of his mother tongue. If, in addition, the student can acquire the ability to use the language in conversation, he has been thrice benefited by its study. Our school course in Ger ' - man has been lengthened to include four full years of work, of which the first three are required, when Latin is not elected, and the fourth year ' s work is elective. German I. The object of the first few months ' work in German is principally to get the student to think and feel the new language. Hence at first many facts and phrases are taught simply as such, without over- much stress being laid on the scientific principles of the language which underlie them.

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SCIENCE. Physics — The work in Physics is taken up as a required subject in the third year of the High School course. The great importance of this subject is that from its nature it is the foundation of all the subsequent work in science, whether it be in High School, College or Engineering School. For this reason an efifort is made to so arrange the course that it will be of equal value to the student whose education ends with his High School course, and the prospective college or engineering student as well. The work is then taken up under the heads of Mechanics, Heat, Sound, Electricity and Magnetism, and Light; the subjects of Mechanics, Heat and Sound being studied the first semester, and the work finished the second semester. There have been two classes in Physics this year. The course in each class has consisted of class-room work accompanied by illustrative lecture experiments, four hours per week, together with indi- vidual laboratory work, two hours per week. The fundamental laws and phenomena of physics have been carefully studied and, in addition) throughout the course special attention has been given to the applications of these laws to everyday life. In the work in electricity, especially, a study has been made of its applications in commercial and industrial lines. The equipment for experimental work, especially in electricity, is good and is being increased as rapidly as appropriations will permit. Consid- erable new apparatus in the way of laboratory equipment has been added this year, and among other things a wireless telegraphy apparatus has been set up. The text used is Hoadley ' s Physics with Millikan and Gale ' s Laiboratory Manual. Each pupil has been required to keep a note book containing written reports of his laboratory work. Chemistry. — The work in Chemistn- follows the work in Physics, ' being taken up during the Senior year. It has this year been an elective course, and was taken by all the Seniors but two. The course con- sists of class room work accompanied by laboratory work as in Physics — four hours of recitation, and two hours ' laboratory per week. Remsen ' s Revised Chemistry is the text used, and the class room discussions are illustrated by demonstration experiments. The laboratory work is so ar- ranged as to constantly supplement the text book work and apply the principles ' being studied. After a preliminary study of the elements oxygen and hydrogen, a careful study of the non-metals is made. Con- siderable time is spent in studying the more important of the non-metals, especially chlorine, nitrogen, sulphur and carbon ; and the consideration of the acids which they form leads to the theory of neutralization and the formation of salts. This leads naturally to a detailed study of the metals, which are taken up in turn according to their grouping in the Periodic Law. In considering the salts of the various metals, emphasis is laid on the principles underlying their formation rather than on the usual detailed study of salts themselves, it being the belief of the instructor that the mere learning of names and descriptions of salts is of slight importance to a high school student except as a test of memory. The more important and useful salts, however, are carefully studied and the work closes with a thorough review of the year ' s work.