Bradford High School - Barker Yearbook (Bradford, PA)

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B. H. S. YEAR BOOK . Thirteen Vocational Training in the High School Does this High School need vocational training?', is a question which ought to ap- peal to every pupil as well as to every tax payer of our city. Vocational training is being advocated in the best high schools throughout the country and, as we are striv- ing for a bigger and better Bradford, why not at least make our schools better by add- ing vocational training to the curriculum of the High School? If you think that Bradford does not need vocational training in its schools, ask some of the students of the High School what he or she is in High School for or what they are going to do when they leave school. There will be many answers to these ques- tions. Some will say they are in school because their parents force them to go, others will say because of the friends they have in the school, still others will say be- cause they wish to have a good time. You will find a few pupils who are going to col- lege and expect to be benefited by the years they spend in this High School. Most of the pupils have a vague idea that they are going to work at something Most of the pupils expect to work at one thing or another till they find something they like to do and then stick to it. Few have any ideas given them by their High School Course. There is a wide range of subjects which could be taught in the High School which would give the pupil an insight and a start in some line of work. Electricians could be trained, as they are in many other schools, by having walls built, through which they should install wires and lighting connections. They could also have electric meters and motors for the pupils to study. Plumbing, machinery, sheet metal work, and other trades could be taught by having some of the tools and rooms with instructors to show the pupils how these should be handled. In this way the pupils would get good training and could learn to make many useful articles. These are onlya few of the trades that could be taught. There are enough trades that could be taught to benefit a large num- ber of the students, especially those who are not going to college and would like to learn a good trade in school. It is done in other cities. Why can't it be done in Bradford? WILLIAM DUNNE Q XX VI !!

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swear ' Twelve B. H. S. YEAR. BOOK The realization that five hundred eighty- nine pupils were registered in our High School during the past term has brought forth the fact that our building is too small. We have one hundred five pupils in our Senior Class. Take the class of 1908 for instance. There were thirty-five in the Lit- erary Department and nine in the Commer- cial Department, or forty-four in the grad- uating class. We have the same building they had. True, we have a fine gym and assembly hall, but this does not add class rooms to our school. Their old assembly hall has been turned into a physics labora- tory and quite a small lab at that. The superintendent's office and school board's room are now dismantled and are being utilized as a typewriting room, nevertheless, we still hear the cry for a larger typewriting room. Every possible corner is being used and still we lack room. The only possible solution is a new building. We have a queer system of study. The system is theoretically correct but not prac- tical. Each classroom has an imaginary di- vision. On one side is a recitation class, on the other side are the study C?l pupils. Thus the study pupil twists and groans in his or her attempts to study instead of lis- tening to the recitation which is sometimes very amusing. Finally findingit impossible he gives it up. There is a crying need for a study hall where one could spend his time in honest effort with fair reward. New teachers entering Bradford High find it most discouraging to try to keep order in two classes at once. The teachers cannot do justice to the reciting class because she often has to stop the recitation to settle a distur- bance among the study pupils. What about our lunch room? The pres- ent one is dark and far too small. It is necessary for the pupil, in order to obtain his lunch, to stand in line almost all the lunch period, enduring the heat and fumes from the furnaces. Our present lunch room isimpossible! Come and eat lunch with us some day. During the winter time, passing from class to class, we sometimes discover great things. It is a common thing for the girls to wear their coats from class to class during the en- tire winter. Do you think it pleasant to plunge into the icy depths of one room after leaving an overheated one? Needless to say, it is a detriment to good health, fur- thering colds, flu, pneumonia, etc. There- fore adequate heating facilities are needed. One acquainted with the conditions at present existing in our High School will well agree that the present building is inade- quate. True, it is satisfying, to some ex- tent, our present needs, but where will we be in a few years? Freshmen will be ready to enter High School with no place to put them. Statistics prove that the number of Freshmen is increasing every year. By the traditions of our country everyone is enti- tled to a High School education. Certainly now is the time to act! Students, talk to your mas and pas about a new High School building. Tell them the true conditions now existing in our present building. Citizens of Bradford-you who take pride in your schools as well as your city, advocate a newibuilding. This is not mere propoganda. Bradford is falling behind other cities in its educational rank. It is plain to see that a lack of vocational sub- jects is the cause. They are an impossibil- ity with the present building but certainly are as much of an educational advantage as Latin, etc. The pupil leaves the High School without any definite training. The teach- ing of vocational subjects would give him a chance to find his life's work. This is not written for our benefit. We graduate this year. Our High School days are over but we see the existing conditions in the present building and foresee the fut- ure conditions, if nothing is done to remedy them.

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