Castle Heights Military Academy - Yearbook (Lebanon, TN)

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GYMNASIUIVI INTERIOR

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two years' stay is three limes as valuable to him as one, and the gain to the cadet who remains three years is proportionately greater. The ideal as well as the most economical plan is to enter the boy as a freshman, and give him the cumulative advantages of the full four-year course. There is not a month of the year in which the Academy does not receive letters from parents the burden of which is, My only regret is that I did not send him to you sooner! Work at Castle Heights prepares a boy for whatever the world may have in store for him. If he is going to college, he will be pre- pared to get out of college the best there is in it. If he is to begin work, he will be ready to take up his new responsibilities with a mind accustomed to meet difficulties and conquer them. Whatever the boy's course later, as a freshman he will begin Algebra and go through a very careful review of English Grammar. The importance of these two classes cannot be over-emphasized, for nine-tenths of the trouble that a willing boy may have later on in his preparatory school work arises from a lack of foundation here. That is why the Academy makes so earnest a plea for the boy as a freshman, when there are no mistakes to rectify. ln addition to English and Algebra, the new cadet will take up English l-listory and either Latin or General Science, this choice depending largely upon his already pre-determined course after graduation. For the sake of the cultural advantages as well as the great assistance the subject is in the study of English, every effort is made to schedule the boy in Latin. These four studies, English, Algebra, History, and either Latin or General Science, together with Spelling and Military Science and Tactics, which are required of all cadets, give the boy a full schedule. When he passes this work at the end of his frst year, the cadet has an absolutely solid foundation for the remainder of his preparatory school course. He ought never to have any further serious trouble in the classroom. The sophomore cadet completes Algebra through Quadratics, and COUUHUCS the Study of English with special reference to composi- tion. By this time his letters home should begin to be sources of real gratification-and just here the Academy wishes to call attention to its unique system of required letters home. In addition to the regula- tion that every cadet must write a letter home each Sunday and 43

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Eneid of Virgil, and an examination into the ancient myths of Greece and Rome. The cadet devoting himself to modern language has his second year of French or Spanish, not only conversing in these lan- guages in the section room, but also pursuing his study of grammar and idiom, and reading a number of well chosen texts. The senior history courses offer American History or a year's work in Civics. In the realm of science the cadet is offered an unusual course in Phys- ics, again with the two additional laboratory periods and some forty experiments. The senior work in mathematics, finally, em- braces a half-year in Solid Geometry, a half-year in Plane Trigonom- etry, and a half-year in Advanced Algebra, beginning at the end of Quadratics and especially designed for those cadets who desire to present two full credits in Algebra upon college entrance. . ln addition to this academic work, Castle Heights offers a highly practical one-year Commercial course, the work of which includes Bookkeeping, Commercial Law, Commercial Arithmetic, Shorthand and Typewriting, and English. The Headmaster will be glad to correspond direct with any parent regarding a boy's special scholastic needs. CLASSIFICATION One of the most vital influences in determining the success or failure of a schoolboy is his classification. ' Hundreds of boys who are willing to study, and do study, stillfail to make passing grades. I n nine-tenths of such cases these boys are in classes where they do not belong. Almost every classroom in the average school has its boys whose minds are incapable of the particular work required. This condition arises, Hrst, from the natural ambition of the boy to get along in school: secondly, from the still more natural am- bition of the parent to hasten the b0y's graduation: and, thirdly, from the unescapable fact that too often boys are allowed to advance from a lower class to a higher without having mastered the work they were supposed to do. The value of a school credit depends upon the school. Credits are not necessarily worth anything. Castle Height-9 will I-W-If your boy where he belongs, and where he will do the bestiwork of which he is capable. When a. cadet enters the Academy as a freshman, his parents 47 .