Butler High School - Nugget Yearbook (Butler, NJ)

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tory and a combination physics and biology laboratory are fitted with all necessary materials. In these laboratories, students of science can work independently and watch demonstration experiments made by the instructors. This opportunity to come into actual contact with various phases of research gives them the experience of “do- ing things” which cannot be had merely by reading books. It has been found that certain scien- tific and commercial subjects can be learned much more easily and quickly through the utilization of visual aids. Still slides for graphic presentation, and movies on appro- priate subjects are kept on hand in these departments. In addition, industrial organ- izations send supplementary films and ex- hibits to the school at intervals during the year. Trips taken by classes and clubs com- plete the research program. Commercial students visit offices and factories where they see how things are done and made in the business world; English classes and dra- matic clubs go to plays to study the tech- niques of acting and stage production; French classes attend French movies; biolo- gists take field trips and explore the Museum of Natural History in New York; and astronomy enthusiasts go star-gazing in the Planetarium. The practical advantage of this system of research is obvious. It is no longer neces- sary for students to accept facts just be- cause they find them printed in textbooks. Interest is indeed stimulated when students can prove things for themselves. Another word has been added to a well-worn but essential slogan. Modern education now says, “Stop-Look-Listen! Then Do.’’ Top—CHEMISTRY STUDENTS DOING EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH. Inset—SENIORS BUSY WITH HISTORICAL REFERENCE Center—GENERAL SCIENCE CLASS EMPLOYING VISUAL AIDS. Bottom—BIOLOGY GROUP DISSECTING STARFISH. Page F-ve

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RESEARCH THE HEART OF TODAY'S SCHOOL In the modern school, there are few fields of study in which research does not play an important part. Since the completion of the new wing, Butler High School is especially well-equipped to provide interesting and effective methods of study. If research is the heart of the school, the library may be called its pulmonary vein. From there, a daily average of 120 books, including litera- ture of all kinds and informative books treating a wide diversity of subjects, are lent out to students; larger reference books, encyclopedias, magazines, and newspapers, are also consulted freely. The pleasant atmosphere of this room encourages stu- dents to use it as a reading room, where they can bury themselves in favorite stories or subjects and forget the cares of classes for a period or two. In order to facilitate scientific instruction which requires active research, a chemistry labora- Page Four

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MODERN EDUCATION DEMANDS SCIENTIFIC nizes the fact that if democracy is to survive it will be not by accident but through design. A modern school also realizes that proper training for citizen- ship is an indispensable factor in the maintenance and the preservation of American democracy. Therefore the concepts of improving sportsmanship, student cooperation, student-teacher relationships; of improving assemblies and the show of courtesy to visitors; of helping needy students, preventing juve- nile crime, and making the school more truly demo- cratic in the real sense of the word are the student contributions to a school democracy which must lead inevitably toward adult contributions to a national democracy. A modern school recog-