Auburn High School - Follies Yearbook (Auburn, IN)

Page 14 text:

Gourse of Study--English HE best Educators of today agree that English in the High School should be a unit of study. Grammar. Composition. Rhetoric. Literature.- all are inter-related and come under the one head. COMPOSITION. The purpose of composition in the High School, both oral and written, is to develop the pupil's ability to express his thoughts in a clear and concise manner. Each pupil is possessed of a definite individuality, the development of which means tho building of character, which is the aim of all education. It is recognized that the work in composition is a means of discovering to the pupil this self: thus tho reason for emphasizing the work of composition. PITST YEAR COURSE. The work of the first year is opened with a thorough review of Grammar, after which the formal work in composition is begun. The different forms of prose composition. narration, description, exposition and argumentation are studied, the first being especially emphasized. The aim is to gain facility and spontaneity of expression, and as pupils learn to do by doing, much oral and written work is required throughout the year. Training in spelling and punctuation is also given. The work in Literature is carried on simultaneously with that of composition, the Classics chosen for study being those which best illustrate the narrative style of composition. The aim is to create a taste for good literature and to stimulate a desire to read. To this end the Literature chosen has life and movement. Books such as the following are studied intensely in class: Irving's Sketch Book.'' Scott's “The Lady of the Lake Longfellow's Tales of the Wayside Inn. Dicken's Christmas Carol. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.” etc. In addition to the books studied in class, others are assigned to each pupil to be read at home, written reports being required on the same. For such study books like the following are chosen: Hughe's Tom Brown at Rugby. Cooper's Deerslayer. Hale's “Man Without a Country. Eggleston's “Hoosier School Boy. Gasket's Cranford. Roosevelt's Winning of the West. Dodge's Hans Brinker, etc. SECOND YEAR COURSE. The composition work now becomes more progressive. The first year has given much drill in the mechanics of expression.—punctuation, indentation and sentence structure: a wider vocabulary has been acquired through word study and Literature. Through constant practice in expression. both oral and written, a foundation has been laid. The work now becomes more definite and progressive. Stress is laid upon unity, mass and coherence of the composition as a whole. Both oral compositions and written themes are required during the entire year. Later in the year, paragraph development and figures of speech are

Page 13 text:

who are graduates of four-year standard colleges and universities. Our faculty is composed of graduates of the following well known institutions: University of Chicago. Indiana University. University of Michigan. DePauw University. Albion College. Earlham College and the Michigan State Normal School. There can be no better incentive to student life than to daily come in contact with instructors whose education is thorough, broad and completo. As to equipment, our laboratories for the teaching of Botany. Physics and Chemistry are constantly being replenished and apparatus for the teaching of all subjects connected with these sciences is supplied. The school library consists mostly of reference books and new books are added from time to time. The Eckhart Public Library is also at the command of the entire student body and students are not only encouraged to use this library but a competent librarian is always present to assist in any line the student may desire to carry out. It is not necessary to say that our students avail themselves of this opportunity, for at the close of the sessions of school both morning and evening the reading rooms are filled with student reading good magazines or books which are ever at their command or perchance following up some line of reference which has been assigned them for a report the following day in their classes. Space will not permit a complete enumeration of the advantages offered the students of our High School but it suffice to say that every advantage offered anywhere is given here and many more than can be found in a number of places. Transfer students from anywhere in the county are always welcome and receive the same attention and advantages as resident students. We believe parents who are thinking of sending their children to High School, and whose children must be transferred, are anxious for them to have every possible advantage, and in the light of this should carefully consider the advantages offered by the schools of their county seat city. Any information along this line may be readily obtained by calling on. pr writing the Superintendent of Schools of Auburn at any time.

Page 15 text:

fully studied. As during the first year, the work in Literature goes hand and hand with the composition. Such books as the following are used for class study: Tennyson's Enoch Arden. Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Goldsmith's The Deserted Village. and “The Vicar of Wakefield. Scott's “Marmion. Poe's Tales. etc. From the following list, books for home reading are chosen, written reviews of the same to be handed in: Blackmore's Lorna Doone. Stevenson's Prince Otto. Tennyson's Princess. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Dickens' Oliver Twist. Lytton's The Last Daysof Pompeii. Wallace's “Ben Hur. Irving's Alhambra. etc. THIRD YEAR COURSE. The aim during the third year is to secure logical thinking and clearness and force of expression. Narration with plot is emphasized the fore part of the year, with a critical review of paragraph structure, special attention being given to the discriminating ure of words. Written themes are required, giving especial care to arrangement of material and the choice of words. For the oral work, the pupils are given drill in preparing outlines and speaking from them on subjects taken from their work in Literature. History. Science, etc. A formal oration is written and delivered by each member of the class. The work in literature is continued, books for class study such as the following being chosen: Tennyson's Idylls of the King. Ruskin's Seasame and Lillies. Arnold's 'Sohrab and Rustum. Burns' Poems. Browning's Shorter Poems.” Emerson's Essays.” Famous Orations, etc. For home reading, the following are typical: Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop. Curtis' Prue and I. Hugo's Les Miserables. A Elliot's Adam Bede. ' Scott’s Kenilworth. Thackeray's Henry Esmond. etc. A study of the History of English Literature is pursued throughout the year. FOURTH YEAR COURSE. During the first part of the fourth year all the forms of composition are reviewod. and the pupil is strengthened in each. The emphasis of the year’s work is placed upon argumentation. Argumentative themes, both oral and written, are required. The selection and arrangement of material, the construction of sentences and paragraphs, the choice of words, and the principle of unity and coherence are points especially dwelt upon. A thesis is written by each pupil and approved by the Faculty before graduation. The aim in Literature is a more critical study of writers. leading the pupils to form opinions of their own. Such works as the following ire used for class study: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.” Milton’s Minor Poems. Carlyle’s Essay on Burn’s Macaulay's Essay on Addison.” Burke’s Speech on Concilliation with the American Colonies.” Shakespeare's As You Like It” and Macbeth.” etc. For home reading and reports the following is a typical list: Elliot’s Mill on the Floss and Romola.” Kingsley’s Hypatia. Carlyle's Heroes and Hero Worship.” Hawthorne's The Marble Faun. ’ Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer. Riis' How the Other Half Lives. Scott's Waverly.” Thackeray s Vanity Fair. Homer's Odyssey. Shura's “Abraham Lincoln. etc. The study of the History of American Literature is pursued throughout the year.