Birmingham High School - Piper Yearbook (Birmingham, MI)

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l 'sn i9oc:o be mobo f A Little of Everything D Muriel Sturt: It is always the unusual that attracts one's interest. And there is much about Mexico that is unusualg the c1imate,the scenery,the people,their customs-d in fact, so much that it seems completely'!oreignN. Our first sight of Mexico City was from the window of the train, and I felt as if I were seeing it from an airplane. The city rests in the bottom of what looks like a huge volcanic crater.The valley is over 7,500 feet above sea level, an altitude to which it is difficult to are two snow-capped volcanoes. nPopon great land mark of the Valley of Mexico. It rises to a height of 17,888 feet and ed deposits of sulphur are stored in its great crater. Cortez let a man down into the crater The other snow-clad mountain,Ixtaccihuatl, usually known because of its odd configuration, is linked to Popo by which Cortez led his little band to attack the Valley of When they heard of our plans to spend the summer in accustom oneself. Overlooking the valley as the Mexicans call Popocatepetl is the In Aztec the name meansnSmoky Mountainn. has suffered several eruptions.Unfathom- A story is told of how sulphur for gunpowder. as the nSleeping Wbmann a curving Nsaddlen over Mexico. on a rope to get Mexico,friends exclaim- ed, Nwhat makes you choose such a hot place? Isn't it hot enough for you here?N Even after we returned from Mexico, it was difficult to convince them that the linen suits and the other summer clothes which we had taken with us had hung in the closet all summer and that we had suffered from the cold almost every day. The cool climate is due to the high altitude. The daily rains help to cool off the air, too. Without fail the rain descends in torrents each afternoon. Until a few years ago the rain came with such regularity at four o'clock that the na- tives were in the habit of setting their watches by it. The strange thing about the rains in Mexico is that one learns not to mind them in the leastg they are accepted as just part of the daily schedule. There is the assurance that the sun will be shining brightly the next morning, and there is no place in the world where mornings are brighter or more beautiful than in Mexico. we spent most of the first days we were in the city wandering about the streets. we tried to avoid Madero Street, Mexico's Fifth Avenue, because of the many Americans. American tourists are obnoxiousg they talk in loud voices and ask senseless questions. So we wandered onto the out-of-the-way streets, and it was there we happened onto many strange sights. we saw the public-letter writers plying their pens, helping many love-sick Indians to Wwoo by mailn. bk visited many beautiful flower markets where a gardenia could be bought for a cent and a half. There is the Thieves' Market. Whenever anything is stolen from you in Mex- ico City,they say, nYou go to the Thieves' Market and look for ltn. We heard of one man who bought back his own fountain pen and umbrella there. IEven more strange than the Thieves' Market is the Monte de Piedad,a most unusual pawnshop. This busy establishment was founded as a form of public charity by a Mexican muleteer who grew rich from a silver mine. On pledged articles it will lend any amount from a few cents to several thousand dollars. It works like a bank, ex- cept that collateral on loans may be anything from a blanket or sewing machine ' 7

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39069, Anniversary of the High School Ellen Ford '35 A little over three hundred years ago,to be exact on February 13, 1635, the 'PublidsLatin School of Boston' was founded. This school was the forerunner of the modern American high school, but how different from the schools we know! As its name implies, the school based its curriculum on Latin with Greek as a close second. Boys, and boys only, entered this nhigh schooln around seven years of age and were ready for college at about Yourteen. Usually only the sons tithed for the ministry attended school, and the colleges prepared almost exclusively for this vocation. However, during the eighteenth century the changing economic and political conditions greatly affected the schools. They began to offer, besides Latin and Greek, mathematics,English, physics,writing, geography, and gradually other sub- jects.These courses were in answer to demands that the schools provide education for boys entering the business world as well as the ministry.So as early as 1750 both business and college preparatory courses were offered in American high schools. These early schools were considered very well attended if there were as many as twenty students. Today a high school with less than one hundred attend- ants is considered too small to have a well-rounded curriculum. The teachers in these early schools were everything from unschooled,indentured servants to grad- uates cf theological seminaries waiting for openings in some parish. However, nowadays, all high school teachers are college graduates, many with advanced de- grees, who have been prepared for the sole purpose of teaching. Also eighteenth century teachers were called on to teach anything from writing to physics, re- gardless of their knowledge of the subject, while modern instructors have had special training in the subjects they teach, and are seldom called upon toinach more than two unrelated subjects. Although the liberality of the high schools increased steadily from the seventeenth century, it was not until well on in the nineteenth that high school education was open to girls. Some communities finally established separated schools for girls,while others offered separate courses to girls and boys in the same school. From these practices the coeducation of today rapidly evolved. From Boston's WPublick Latin Schooln, the first American school financed at public expense, the twenty-eight thousand high schools can and do adapt them- selves to local conditionsg depending on the characteristics of the community, one can find commercial,agricultural,scientific,technical, and many other types of schools and courses mixed in with the standard college preparatory ones. In- deed, after three hundred years of struggle, the modern American high school can prepare its students for every field of lif9.Even so,all leading educators point to the promising future of secondary education,when the high school will seek to be of greater service than ever before. Every kind of preparation for life will be offered, and educational opportunities will be adapted to the individual stu- dent according to his needs, his interests, and his ability. u e s e e e e e e e 1 The whole countryside was transformed into a fairyland of white and silver. Lady Moon was the queen if it all, and the twinkling stars her subjects. The desk was a battle-scarred catalogue of names. 6

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to field-glasses or an eight-cylinder car. One of the most peculiar sights we came upon was the outside barber. He would stroll along the street carrying his equipment, chair and all, until he met a customer and then set up shop wherever he might be. ' In appearance the native Indian is a very picturesque figure.He often wears two large sombreros, the best one on top. The Indian is never seen without his sombrero, and yet we saw no bald Indiansg this would explode the theory that hat wearing diminishes the hair. He wears a white, pink, or blue shirt and white py- jama trousers often rolled up to the knees. On his feet he wears Uguarachesn, a type of sandal. Many thousands of old automobile tires are imported from the United States each.year to use as soles for these Wguarachesn. The Indian woman always wears her hair down, either in long black braids or loose around her shoulders. Her skirt is ankle-length, full and gored, and her collarless blouse is tucked into her skirtg she wears a bright-colored sash,earrings, and a shawl- like scarf called a Ureboson in which there is tucked away the inevitable baby. f0ne wonders how the poor little thing breathes7.Besides the baby she is usually toting a heavy bundle. Many of the table manners are quite different from ours. The men sit at the they finish eating before the women sit down. Dinner at about nine o'clock and usually consists of from course is an egg dish very tastily a separate course. Hard rolls are table and are served firstg is served in the evening eight to ten courses. One brown 'frijoles fbeans lform butter. The meats are generally tough, but chicken is good and fresh tropical fruits like the banana, mango,and pineapple are cooked, and rich served but seldom quite common. The very deliciousThe coffee is abominableg it has been roasted until burnt and is served with hot milk. Then there are the typical Mexican dishes like the tortillas, the national dish of Mexico.They are made from a paste of corn meal and lime water and rolled very thin like a pancake.At first they taste as flat as they look,but one learns to like them. They are served with avocado paste. Another popular dish is the enchillade, a tortilla rolled around meat and sauce. The tomale is made of meat surrounded with cornmeal and slipped into a cornhusk. It is as famous in Mexico as the 'hot dogn is in the United.States. We are inclined to form our impressions of the Mexican from the railroad laborers in this country or the bandits pictured in the movies, and we think of them as a greasy,undesirable lot. when one has had the opportunity to live among them,one changes that first impression and concludes that his brother across the border has some very admirable qualities. Even the poorest has a quiet dignity that is most admirable. One of the outstanding characteristics is their extreme courtesy. There is always a greeting on meeting anyone, stranger or friend, on the road. When a guest enters a home the mistress always informs him, nEs su Casan, which means, nThis is your homeN.If in the course of his visit the guest should admire anything which he saw in the house, the hostess will present him with the object of his admiration and will not permit him to refuse it. On a street car or bus, a man always rises to give his seat to a womang it makes no difference whether the woman is a smart looking Spaniard or a poorly dressed peasant. It is small wonder that this country with its charming people and fascinat- ing scenery captivates everyone who has visited its shores.It is a country which once seen one hopes some day to visit again. March is a changeable old woman who can't decide whether to scold you for your muddy feet or to soothe your cares with gentle, spring-like breezes. 8