Beloit High School - Trojan Yearbook (Beloit, KS)

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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

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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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the subject. A large part of the problems of the average text- book of algebra are not at all practical. As in days gone by our ancestors labored incessantly over the alarming fact that three cats caught three mice in three minutes, so we today are wrestling with figgers to find out the alarming fact that the tail of afish happened to be six inches more than one-half the length of its body, and that its body was as long as its head and tail together. Also, we are quite busy in determining how many leaps a hound will have to take in order to catch a hare which has the start of one hundred leaps, each one leaping as they can. So, in the year two thousand, we may guess that, keeping pace with t-he times, the problems will consist in determining the speed of automobiles and flying machines. That such may not be the case let us invoke t-he assist-ance of this mighty power fthe Seniorsj who are 11ow going out into the world to do good. MUSIC. It is impossible to estimate, even approximately, the success of this first year of special musical instruction in the pu blic schools, or to even venture a guess at the amount of benefit which may accrue to the pupils and patrons through its introduction. The director has reduced music in the grades to a system which is consistent, one grade with the others, and yet- compre- hensive, regarded as a concrete course. In the primary grades no effort has been made to crowd the young minds too far with an unreasonable and injurious amount of technical work, but rather the endeavor has been to instill into them a healthful and natural love for singing, reserving the more mature idea of not-ation al- most entirely until the more advanced years. And the teachers of the primary rooms testify that the children in their grades learn their note songs far more easily than formerly. In the intermediate grades, up to and including the Eighth, a great deal of time and effort has been spent in cultivating the practical knowledge and ability of singing new songs at sight, by means of reading the notes, unaided by any musical instrument. No organs or other instruments have been in use in any rooms, with one or two exceptions. Thus the pupils have learned to de-