Barre High School - Barretone Yearbook (Barre, MA)

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SHOULD HAVE PINAL EXAMINATIONS The roaGons why v c have final examinationo are purely in relation te the loosens studied, not because the teachers want to make it harder for the students. Pinal examinations toll just hov; much of wiiat the student has learned during the year ho has retained in his memory. If there were no final examinations solic students would not learn things; they viTould only ronomber thorn until the monthly examination was over. Since a final examination covers only v hat is studied during the year, the student v ho has studied his lessons and learned each one thoroughly has nothing tc fear concerning the outcome. Most of the monthly examinations given during the year are not to see how much the student knows, but hov much he doesn’t knov . Tiic purpose of those is for the teacher to find out just what the class needs more study on. In this way the narks of the class as a whole can be brought up to a better average. I sincerely think that if every pupil thoroughly learned his lessons every day, and every pupil received a good mark- B or A-- in tlio final . examination, there would be no further need of final oxam.inations . In this case they v;ould probably be abolished. The final examinations no Icngcr play an important part in the marking for the year, for it is not right to count one examination for as much as three or four months’ v ork. If there were no final examinations in Barre High School I do not think that Barre would hold its Class A rating very long. This Class A rating makes it r.iuch easier for Barre graduates to enter college, because if they do good v;ork in high school, the principal can sign a certificate for them and they v ill be spared the job of taking an entrance exam- ination to enter college. For the reasons which I have stated above, I believe that final examinations arc a benefit to the school as a whole both to students and to teachers, because it gives them a good idea of v hat the student has learned during the year in a manner which is not hard for either teachers or students. It is reasonably safe to say that if the student has remem- bered his lessons for all the school year, he will remember them iTiuch longer. Harold Lackey ‘’38 WHY WE SHOULD NOT HAVE FINAL EXA::INATI0N3 ’ - The students’ main argument for the abolishing of final examinations, Finals are too much v;ork, is one that is founded on the students’ first thought on the subject. In a v ay these pupils arc right, for finals arc more work than ordinary exams, yet there arc more sensible and convincing arguments to be used in support of the abolishment of the time-honor custom. In former years the exams counted one- third of a student? year rank in a subject. Of recent years this practice has been eliminated. Why was this system stopped? The school

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authorities realized that the rank did not roally represent a student’s ability in a subject. A general roviov at the end of each term should give the pupil sufficient knowledge in a subject without his having to take a two-hour review of his accomplishments at the end of each school year. The final ranks may shov some pupil not to bo as ex- cellent in academic knowledge as a second pupil is; yet ask these same pupils the same question two years after the orig- nal examinations and the results may be different. There is alv ays the pupil who memorizes his way through ever subject. If that pupil hasn’t a superlative memory, in time his crammed knowledge is sure to slip from his mind, though his ranks in his finals may have singled him out as excellent in his subjects. Final examinations come in June, one of the hottest months of the yoar. A normal person can’t think best in the heat. Any person’s ability to work sags more or less in the summer. Tliis certainly would affect the final ranks, for finals are not play. Everyone realizes that final cxaLiinations are becoming less important every year because colleges ask for a general idea of a student’s Iniowlodge, never as]-: fir a final rank, but especially try to find out about the student’s character. Final examinations and ranks certainly don’t develop a person’s character beyond the old adage that ”v;ork never hurt anyone.” To sum up, then, wo maintain that final examinations should bo abolished because they are too inuch v ork, they do not represent a pupil’s real knowledge , and they come at a distinctly inopportune time of the school year. Dominic‘s Todine. ' ’38 ' ' BARRE S BENEFACTORS One of the most beneficial of the many gifts ’which Barre has received from native sons, was the High School building, v;hich was given by Mr. Henry Aoods, of Boston, and will stand v ith the public library as a monui ' .iont to his memor ' y for future generations to see. Although it is not made of bronze or marble, it v ill survive all costly monuments because his memory is cno that will be cherished for years to come for his generosity and interest in education. The building, erected by Andrev s, Jacques Rantoul, architects, of Boston, and Gutting, Bardwcll Co., builders, of V orcc-ster, under the supervision of Mr, Goorgo W. Cook, chairman of the build- ing committee, v as presented to the tovm at a special tovm meeting in 1900. Mr, Cook gave an addross in which he pointed out the many features of interest in tho building. Mr. Henry Woods, born in Barro, obtained his education in the publia schools of this town and rt Mor son Academy, Pie became a clerk in the store ‘of Bush Delano of Hardw ' lck at the ago of 15. Ho then entered the employ of J. C. PIov ro, of Boston, afterward the well-known dry-goods house of C. F. Plovcy Co., a position ho hold for more tPian half a century. The spirit of giving for the good of the people was one of his outstanding characteristics. He aided children in their