Central High School - Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Dr. Lopow Deparimenf Head 4 1 SCIENCE DEPARTMENT A medical wrifer described Americans as follows . . . As a nafion we seem fo have a syndrome characferized by afrophy of will, hyperfrophy of fhe ego and dysfrophy of fhe infellecfual muscula'rure. Our science deparfmenf is defermined, fhrough our pro- gram of science insfrucfion, fo discourage fhe developmenf and exisfence of such undesirable fraifs. We sfrive fo promofe, in our sfudenfs, an undersfanding and appreciafion of science as an imporfanf fool in solving a difficulf equafion -- fhe human equafion. We emphasize fhe significance of fhe scienfific mefhod as a reliable mefhod of ascerfaining Trufh. Wifhouf an undersfanding of Man and a means of obfain- ing and idenfifying Trufh, if seems impossible fhaf genuine Peace can become a realify. Our primary funcfion is fo provide fhe opfimum climafe for college preparafionz neverfheless, we consfanfly sfrive fo develop independence of fhoughf, rafher 'fhan rigid conformify. If we have been able fo have you feel fhe poefs' imagina- fion in science, 'rhe ioy of creafive scienfific efforf, and fhe desire fo ioin fhe fhousands of science workers all over fhe world, who are rolling back fhe curfain of darkness. we are confenf. Our science sfaff is nofed fhrouohouf fhe cify for ifs high level of scholarship, for ifs consfanf efforf fo be up fo dafe, and for ifs desire fo improve our insfrucfional program. I am privileged fo be associafed wifh such devofed, conscienfious and able men. We are confidenf fhaf fhe ZI4 Class, as did ifs predeces- sors. will make ifs mark in fufure years. We like fo feel, fhaf your science fraining af Cenfral High has confribufed greafly foward your fufure success. Be-sf wishes from fhe Science Deparfmenf. SAM U EL LEPOW Deparfmenf Head Now mosf of us had nof come in confacf wifh Science before. Therefore we had nof had frouble wifh Science before. Therefore Science was fhe subiecf in which we all mighf excel. Therefore everybody was eager fo fake Science. We realized fhaf Science was fough lAffer all, Science courses sfarfed in fenfh grade. Obviously, fhey didn r frusf mere freshmen wifh Sciencel: buf we were fough enough fo meef fhe challenge. If can be safely said fhaf more of us were discouraged by Science fhan by any ofher course. We hasfen fo add fhaf fhis is nof a reflecfion on our feachers, or even on our course: buf rafher, if was fhe'highly scienfific nafure of Science fhaf fhrew us. Yes, we found ouf fhaf Science is more scienfific 'rhan any- fhing lexcepf possibly. GXl. Mosf of us expecfed fo dash info fhe lab and whip up somefhing a la fhe Safurday nighf lafe, lafe show. We did nofhing of fhe kind. lnsfead. we learned. I8

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fs - if ff snr' if '-if Q. 4 l - A 5 sil A S -Q-W ----'- DFW-Igwv ' ' 'W' Wi+h +he fall of Rome. we eniered in+o +he Dark Ages lor Middle Agesl. We didn'i' aclually enfer fhe Middle Ages lor Dark Agesl. we iusl' +urne'd lhe pages of our lexfbook, and 'rhere fhey were. The reason why +he Dark Ages were dark lor fhe Middle Ages were middle?l is +ha+ ihere was an absence of knowledge. In o+her words, everybody was siupid. Since everybody was sfupid. 'rhey iusr did whai' came na+urally- fhey waged war. Wars were +he only highlighf of ihe Middle Ages lor Dark Agesl, excepf for 'rhe Feudal Sysfem. which was a pyramid on which noblemen could s+and. , ' Suddenly. people began +o quesiion l'hings, explore fhings, inveni fhings. and become generall smarf. The sun of knowl- edge illumina+ed and eliminaled +lie Dark Ages lor Middle Agesl. This period was called +he Renaissance. Jus+ when fhings began +o swing, our course came 'io an end. lngeniously linked wi+h Ancieni' l-lisiory was a course in Pennsylvania Hisfory. We learned fhis when our feachers were +ired of leaching Ancienl I-lisfory. The nexi course was Modern World Hisfory. Few of us look il' because if merely deal? wi+h +he insignificani period of world hisiory from fhe Renaissance 'ro modern limes. Also, if wasn'l' a required course. We sfudied American Hislory, in all of ifs aspecis, for +wo years. To aHemp+ a humorous rehashing of our Na+ion's Hisiory. which was so fhoroughly iaughi. would be somewhaf akin io blasphemy. We sfudied poli+ical hislory, economic hisiory, social hisfory, di loma+ic hisiory, and milifary hisl'or . We observed pa-Herns olpsfruggles beiween Norih and Souih, Easl' and Wesi, rich and poor, ins and ouis. men and women. cowboys and Indians. goodies and baddies. feachers and sludenis. Par'r of our course was devoled 'ro The fascinafing subieci of Economics lA+ leas+ we fhink if was fascinaiiingg we're nof surel, and parl' of our course was devofed +o Polifical Science lThis course was so fascinaling +ha'r we could +ake a quiz on if every dayl. Hisfory is a course which is ready-made for fes+ing, since learning hisfory eniails learning a large body of fads. 'We s'ruden'rs ofien complained +ha+ fhe obieciive +es+ meanl' +ha+ we would only have +o regurgi+a+e digesied fads. This was noi so. When a feacher asked for +he five causes of 'rhe depression of +he fhirfies. ihis did noi' mean +ha'r ihere were 'live causes of 'rha'r depression. Cerfainly. if +he depression could have been caused so easily, 'rhere wouldn r have been one. But rafher. +he aufhor of 1'he fexibook, or +he ieacher fell Thai' +here were 'Five definife causes of +he depression, and we would have +o be able fo lisl' +he'm. Some reachers fell' fha? The essay ques+ion was +he proper +es+ of a s+uden'r's knowledge. These essay quesiions were simple. For example: Wha+ caused +he Civil War, whaf hap- pened during +he Civil War. wha+ happened aF+er The Civil War, and why? Some +eachers gave open book +es+s, buf fhey probably were nof aware of fhis. I7

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'1 ,A - --.55 . i f I . TI. -..A iv 'A 'K ,qi l,Al .n-. -M K ' -1 H , rm V V 4 E i f .. i V 1 rifle 4' Firsf, we learnedbiology. Firsf in biology, we learned abouf planfs. Firsf in Biology abouf lanfs, we learned abouf planfs fhaf we couldn'f see. These planfs fhaf we couldn'f see lived in microscopes. These microscopes were very delicafe, and very expensive. We were almosf afraid fo fouch fhese microscopes. Hence we were almosf afraid of fhe liffle planfs fhaf we couldn'f see. We moved on fo planfs fhaf we could see, and fhen on fo bigger and bigger planfs, and finally frees. Many of us were blushingly surprised fo learn fhaf planfs have sex lives. lvlosf of us didn'f care. We followed fhe same procedure in sfudying animals, gradually working up 'ro man, who also has a sex life llvlosf of us realized fhis. ln Biology lab lwe herein confess our sinl we pracficed fhe cruel and barbarous cusfom of dissecfion. We fore poor, defenseless worms, grasshoppers, and frogs limb from limb in fhe name of Science. Oh fhe shame of if alll On Fridays we won release from fhe fedium of our weekly work. We saw movies. Unforfunafely, fhese movies were abouf Biology. Nexf, we learned Chemisfry. If we were confused abouf nof being able fo see amoebas, we were complefely dumb- founded by afoms and molecules. Neverfheless, we sfarfed by building a basic foundafion in Chemisfry. We rejoiced af fhe opporfunify fo purchase lab manuals. We commiffed fo memory 'rhe weighf of one gram of aluminum. We learned abouf fhe elemenfs, and all fhe wonderful fhings fhaf can be made by mixing fhem fogefher-namely, everyfhing. The elemenfs had symbols. The symbols wenf fogefher fo form formulas. The formulas wenf fogefher fo form equafions. And fhe eguafions wenf fogefher fo form fesfs. Of course, fhere were more facefs of chemisfry Than simply learning equafions fo illusfrafe fhe reacfions fhaf were seldom successfully demonsfrafed by our feachersg buf as we look back fhey do nof come fo mind. Oh yes. There was lab. Chemisfry lab consisfed of puffing some mysferious ingredienfs in a fesf fube, and heafing said fesf fube unfil ifs confenfs were inexfricably welded fo fhe glass, or unfil fhe fesf fube broke. Physics appeals fo fhose boys who like fo know how and why. Only a slide rule andfor l,OO0,000 fingers are needed. The beaufy of physics is fhaf everyfhing said or done in class may be found in fhe fexfbook. Occasionally fypical sfudenfs fake fhemselves, and fheir books info fvpical labs, where fhey prove fhaf physics really does work affer all.