Baker High School - Buff Yearbook (Baker, LA)

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Since the best way to become handy with tools is to use them, the Industrial Arts teacher cncour-ages much practical application of tools. Knowledge devolves from THINGS. “I will make a list ... of lovely things to hold in memory.” Baker High school is more than a cluster of buildings on a given plot: it is a typewriter in B-2, a sewing machine in C-l, a novel in the library, a spring balance in C-2, a volleyball in the gym, the drivers’ education car, and a string-and-chalk compass in G-3 or G-5. The professional baseball player of tomorrow boosts his batting average by spending hours upon hours at the bat; prospective brides learn the fine art of cake baking through many hours in home economics over the mixing bowl; up and coming business executives learn the tricks of their trade at the typewriter, the adding machine, the shorthand pad, the file cabinet; the future scientist is intrigued by paramecium, potassium reactions, and pendulums. Knowledge is gained through experience —experience with typewriters, sewing machines, books, balances, balls and bats, French horns, slide rules. Knowledge is the final product of direct contact with things: THINGS at Baker High School are important. In class we learn to observe: the simplest things most intrigue the observer.... From books we learn how things advanced from the primal wheel to the complexity of today’s computer. 8

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' hether inside the gym or out the mphasis is the same—intense con- entration on physical fitness. We loam to keep score in volleyball; we learn the basics of basketball; we learn to tell “birdie from “no ” From cheerleader tryouts to the annual spring play the auditorium is the locale for learning, laughter, and decision. At athletic activities, good sportsmanship can be learned both on the playing field and in the stands. Three housewives of the future learn their culinary arts in the domestic atmosphere of the Home Economics building. 7

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The more you play a musical instrument the more awesome it becomes. 9 Mastery of business machines in high school can be profitable in later life. A great deal of satisfaction comes from creating things.