Angola High School - Key Yearbook (Angola, IN)

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SCIENCE In order to be a successful person, one must be able to cope with his physical environment. A knowledge of various phases of nature is essential to give man this ability. To wait until one has reached the High School to begin his or her study of natural phenomena, is putting the work too late in the student’s life. Hence nature work is given in the grades. On the other hand, to stop science study with the grades, is giving the child too meager knowledge of his surroundings. The course of science in this school is intended to broaden the child’s view and to make his environment his servant. Four yeafs of Science are offered of which two years are required. The science offered is one year each of Physiography, Botany. Physics and Chemistry. Of these either Physiography or Botany fills one year’s requirement and Physics or Chemistry makes out the second year’s work. The majority of students elect Botany or Chemistry. MATHEMATICS Probably the only real test of formal logic that the majority of people get is from the study of Mathematics. While there are some other branches of study that furnish more wholesome means for the development of the reasoning powers in general, there is no High School subject which demands such exactitude and logical arrangement of statements to reach conclusions as Mathematics. Again, by its use of symbolism, Mathematics lays the foundation for a higher plane of thinking. Whenever the mind is able to handle symbols with ease, then it is that it can do logical thinking. And logical thinking is only common sense organized. To fill these requirements, the course offers three and one-half years of Mathematics. One and one-half years are given to each of Algebra and Geometry. One-half year is given to Commercial Arithmetic. LANGUAGE In this age of demands for practical results we tend to measure everything by a commercial standard. We ask wdtat it will yield in dollars and cents. Now, material results are not always the most practical, for they may be too transitory. On the other hand, therefore, permanent qualities of mind and character must be considered. For this reason Foreign Languages are given a prominent place in the course of study. The foreign languages, when seriously considered, give discipline of mind and thought, power of expression, information, outlook, the sense of the noble and beautiful in literature. Two languages—Latin and German—are offered in the Angola High School. Pupils on entering have the option of either language, which must be pursued three years for graduation. The first year’s work in Latin consists of a study of forms and syntax; in the second year, Caesar’s commentaries are studied; the third is spent in Cicero’s orations. In the second and third years, composition is given one lesson each week. A fourth year in the study of Virgil’s Aeneid from the literary point of view, is offered. The first year of German is devoted to the study of declensions and conjugations together with the reading of easy prose. In the second year,

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(ouRse of Study The course of study for the Angola High School is planned in accordance with the requirements for commissioned High Schools of Indiana as approved by an act of the General Assembly, March 9, 1907. In addition to these requirements, Manual Training and Parliamentary Law are taught. Whenever a student wins thirty-two credits in this course, he or she becomes eligible to graduation from the Angola High School. Of these thirty-two credits, necessary to graduation, eighteen are required and fourteen are elective. A credit means satisfactory work in one subject recited five periods per week for one semester. The amount of work given is outlined below. ENGLISH Language is fundamentally the basis of all education. Without a fair knowledge of our mother tongue, it is impossible for any person to become a clear thinker or to make himself understood. Hence the work in English is emphasized in the High School course. Four years are offered, three years of which are required for graduation. For those who take a minimum of the foreign language requirement, four years of English arc necessary to graduate. The work in English consists of the study of composition and rhetoric and the reading of English classics together with the history of American literature in the third year and of English literature in the fourth year. In addition to the critical study of classics in class, a number of books are required for home reading, upon which the pupils are examined. Memorizing choice selections and class debates are features of the English course. Beyond the regular work in English, the Senior class during the last semester of this year has pursued the study of technical English Grammar. HISTORY For the enrichment of the student’s life and the development of his moral nature, no better subject is found than History. Besides giving one a picture of the progress of the human race. History affords the best basis for development of the reasoning powers. A further reason why it claims a prominent place in the school program, is the basis it furnishes for the solution of governmental problems with which the student must come in contact. In the Angola High School four years of History are offered, three years of which are requiied for graduation. This work consists of one year in Greek and Roman History, one year in Modern, one-half vear of United States History and onc-half year of Civics. The work is given in the order just indicated. In addition to the work specified, a year’s work in English History is offered as an elective.

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Thomas’ Practical German Grammar is made the basis of the work. In this year such classics as Storm’s Immensee are read. There is no third year class this year, hut a course is outlined in which the language is studied from th ---1— .xtUnju AHIJMING Although practically a new subject in public school work, Manual Training has. both from psychological and commercial reasons, become a perma-ment part of the course of study. It makes a strong appeal to boys because of its mechanical and practical nature. From a psychological standpoint it is valued because it furnishes an opportunity for the training of the hand. Again, the muscles are the great clarifiers of thought. We have heretofore offered training for heart and head but neglected the hand. The training of the three is the modern educational ideal. Three years’ work is outlined : two being given in the seventh and eighth grades and one year in the High School. In the grades sewing is taught to the girls. The work is elective in the High School. It consists of wood work of various sorts as outlined by the Beardsley system of Manual Training. MUSIC Since the ideals of education have risen to the height that calls for the development of the whole individual, any course of study that ignores or neglects the emotional life of the child, is seriously defective. No one can deny that the emotions lo form a large factor in the conduct of men; and that unless the emotions are properly directed they become a dangerous force in society. It is only when emotions are centralized into pure sentiments that they become positive forces for good. Music has that power of centralization of emotions about pure sentiments, for which reason it naturally becomes a fundamental part of a course of study. In the High School the work in music is fitted to the different degrees of advancement of the students. For those who have never pursued a systematic study of music in the grades, an elementary course comprised of the rudiments is planned. In addition two other courses are given, one in fuda-mentals, the other in chorus work. Admission to the chorus work presupposes ability to read music readily. DRAWING Drawing comes into courses of study for various reasons. Among these two reasons justify its presence in a public school course. It is a means of expression that has been employed from time out of mind; and it is a valuable aid in the cultivation of the aesthetic sense in man and woman. At no time do these factors develop so rapidly as in the High School period of childhood. It is the time when the child is grasping for every form and means of expressing itself; it is also the time when the beautiful air castles are built and the dreams of the future glory assert themselves. Drawing affords an opportunity to put these in tangible forms. While it is not the aim of the course in Drawing in this High School to