Beloit High School - Trojan Yearbook (Beloit, KS)

Page 18 text:

The Sophoniores have accomplished an unusual amount of individual research work, becoming acquainted with various authors and their distinguishing characteristics. They have readily interpreted Milton's Minor Poems, which are usually not attempted before the third year. Ro1nola, Crawford,l' Lays of Ancient. Rome and Bryant's Sella have likewise beencompleted. For the provincial type, t'Colonel Carter, of Cartersville, was studied, while Irving's Tales of a Traveler furnished many charming bits of hum or. Impersonations, charac- ter sketches, and debates have been written. The Sophomores have a special aptitude for literary work and always perform any amount with a good natured smile. They have their own way of doing things and it is almost invariably a good one. The Juniors have made a special st-udy of the different periods in English and American Literature, the Greek, French and Eng- lish Drama, and the development of the Arthurian Cycle. They have made a critical, detailed study of Tennyson's Idylls of the King, outlined Sophocles' ' Antigone, ' completed Hawthorneis Mosses from an Old Mansef' read 'iCyrauo de Bergerac, and made a philosophical study of Shakespeare's Macbeth. They have proven themselves worthy of their place as the most ad- vanced English class by their progressive and wide awake spirit. The hours spent with the English classes have been most en- joyable ones. Together we have studied and striven, toiled and laughed 3 together we have learned many lessons which are daily proving themselves practical. ' MATHEMATICS. Another year has rolled itself around. Another class looks backward, not forward, to the four long years of high school work on the hill. During these four years the present graduat- ing class has had the constant company of some member of the mathematical family, except for about eight weeks which was spent on a review of civics. The real duty of the teacher of mathematics lies, not so much in the teaching of the solution of the equation, the rules and methods of factoring, the application of the four fundamental signs, etc., as it does in the development of the spirit of individu- ality and investigative research in t-he students themselves.

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ENGLISH. The chief function of English is to develop the power of self- expression. Self-expression is the medium through which all knowledge is communicated,and through q which that invaluable something, indi- viduality, asserts itself. The English co u1'se in the Beloit High School comprises three full years of text book, classics and research work. Classes complete a text book and' six classics in a year, sometimes more.A An endeavor is made to select such literature as is adapted to theimmediate need of a class. A love for good literature means a love for nature, for humanity, and for Wholesome, helpful living. Tl1e reading habit, rightly formed, means the ability not only to read books, but to read life with an unfaltering trust in the opti- mistic idea that life, clean, busy, pur- poseful life, is worth while. The Freshman class this year have made a study of the typical novel, Silas MARY B- NELSON' Marner,J' thus gaining a' standard by which to judge all novels. It is dangerous to read at random, without some established method of criticism. The Old Greek Folk Storiesw make a good preparation for further lit-erary work because literature teems with allusions to mythological char- acters. Scott's Lady of the Lake, a narrative poem, makes a most interesting and profitable introduction to the study of poetry. g In addition to these, the Freshman class have studied the historical novel, Tale of Two Cities, outlined biographies of scientists, orators and philosophers, and completed The Great Stone Face, a model short story. They are an enterprising, in- dustrious class and have shown a marked improvement in origin- ality during the year. h DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH.

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From the very beginning of algebra in the high school the teacher should insist upon accurate, concrete and logical reason- ing, for without this mathematics has no more strength than a chain whose links are divided. Then, if accuracy i11 reasoning is developed, the next essential and inevitable step is the corre- lation of the various branches of mathematics found in the cur- riculum. Algebra is simply the upper story of arithmetic, while geom- etry is the foundation and the tower oi the structure. Then, since the whole makes one com- plete structure, why is there a tendency to make of them three distinct and separate units? In the words of Professor Slaught, of the University of Chicago, Algebra should take its root in arithmetic and arith- metic should find its fruit in al- gebra, otherwise the study of al- gebra to the beginner is a con- fused juggling with symbols. Separation of the two is abso- ' '1'-P- DOWNS, - ., DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS. lutely fatal. . Elementary algebra and geometry should be correlated with arithmetic far back as the Eighth, or even the Seventh grade, and if this is not done the duty of the high school teacher becomes all the more difficult. To overcome a ditliculty such as the one just named the teacher must lead out from the known into the unknown, always keeping the land in sight. Professor Slaught still further adds to his previous figure when he says: The stu- dent must constantly hold fast to the shore line of arithmetic while he ventures out into the unknown sea of algebra, so beset with the hidden rocks of abstract diiiiculties and so befogged with the mists of destination. Although mental development is a prime essentiallof high school mathematics, still we must not forget the utility side of