East Brunswick High School - Emerald Yearbook (East Brunswick, NJ)

Page 20 text:

CHAPTER TWO I RRICULU Once we have graduated from the classroom into what we sometimes call the outside world, we are likely to find that the day divides itself roughly into three eight-hour segments: eight hours of work, eight of play, and eight of sleeping. One can do without an education to accomplish the last of these three bits, but it is generally acknowl- edged that he does require academic preparation for the first two. The question is then raised, What is an education? And, in response, most people will think in terms of job pre- paration. While they will concede that the classroom situa- tion does not fully qualify a person in his given occupa- tion, they do expect that, in most cases, his schooling will train him sufliciently well to keep the cyanide out of the aspirin or a reasonable number of his clients out of the electric chair. Not everyone recognizes, however, that side of a person's education which deals with what educators love to call the worthy use of leisure. In speaking of this aspect, the eminent poet john Ciardi once remarked that unless a stu- dent had time for Shakespeare - and Shakespeare repre- sented all the arts - then he could not really say he had been through college. Rather, college had been through him, without leaving an impression. He fthe poetj sug- gested that to claim having an education is to claim that one is a human being. And no one, he declared, gets to be a human being all by himself. VVhen one scans the list of more than 120 courses offered at the high school this year, one cannot but wonder if the makers of the curriculum were not of the same mind as john Ciardi. For while he spoke of the college education to a college audience, his remarks are just as applicable to the potentials of the learning experiences to be found here: The high school operated again this year on a single-track curriculum. That is to say that, except for the minimum courses required by the laws of New jersey, the student was free to select his academic program from the myriad courses available. His choice was circumscribed somewhat, of course, by his post-graduate ambitions: the college- bound student would naturally select his program with an eye towards college entrance requirements while the girl with intentions of becoming a secretary would schedule appropriate subjects in the Business area. But the student was not bound to a rigid, pre-determined program once he announced his major interestg he could wander into other areas, out of curiosity and in search of his own level. In effect, East Brunswick High had as many different academ- ic programs as it had students. To meet these demands, the school had not only to in- crease its teaching staif but also to broaden its curriculum. A program was begun in Humanities, which state evalua- tors called unique in the county and one of the best in the state. The Sciences offered non college-bound a new course in General Biology. Industrial Arts inaugurated a program in Graphic Arts and opened its new Power Shop. So despite larger class sizes and a reduction in the number of sections in some electives, the program of instruction available here was such that no student was denied the opportunity to become a human being, in the Ciardian sense of the word.

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It got to the point with the telephone that the folks jinalbf gave me an extension as a Christmas present. Funny how I could be with the gang all day in school and still find all kinds of things to talk about at night . . . If it wasn't something at school that filled our conversa- tions, you can bet it was something around town. And, de- spite the lack of adowntown area in East Brunswick, the gang still managed to assemble at places like McDonald's or Ma1's or Brookwood to rehash the day's news and to make plans for the weekend. Seniors especially fotuid it easier to get around now that they were old enough to drive - provided Dad could be talked out of the car.

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