Essex District High School - Argus Yearbook (Essex, Ontario Canada)

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In t his essay, I shall discuss the ideal school under five aspects, the teaching staff, discipline, extracurricular activities, the cur¬ riculum or course of study, and the purpose, itself, of education. These are not listed in order of importance, because it is obviously impossible for one aspect of education to rival or do without another, and produce the correct result. A person who enters a school with the purpose of teaching young people, shaping their minds, and preparing t lem for life after school must, of course, be prepared for this t.isk. The teacher must himself be well-educated, interested in young, peoplo, have acceptable personal habits, and be of a sociable disposition. He must be a good example to his students, and must practise what he preaches. All In all, today ' s teachers are a fine, outstanding group of hard-working people. It is, and always will be, necessary to have teachers as good as we have now, ond even better, for in an ideal school the students and staff must be in constant co-operation and this ond can be achieved only through thorough training on the part of both. When several hundred students are gathered toother in one building, sitting in desks exactlv alike, learning the same subjects, having lunch on masse day in and day out, boredom, arisin r from this continual same¬ ness, is likely to result in srme sort of discipline problem. This problem is manifested mostly through talking and fidgeting in class, cutting classes, damage to school property, or downright insubordination In extrem- cases. Most schools nev r administer corporal punishment, nor do they.like the idea of wholesale expulsion. Eut, in an ideal school, discipline must be maintained and the continual inf rin ( eraer.t of rules cannot be tolerated. Most often, punishment meted out is in the form of detentions, heavy assignments, or suspension for a short time. In an ideal school, discipline would nut be a problem; at least, not a serious one. Rather, discipline would be maintained and enforced by the student body as well as the staff. Extracurricular activities are designed to encourage students ' free ■lssoclation with one another, in regulated, boneficial organizations. These activities each serve a purpose: sports, to develop the physique and teach pood sportsmanship; rl q. clubs and bands, to develop musical aptitudes and combat shyness; and cadet corps, to develop alertness and the tendency to obey one ' s superiors. Extra activities should not, under any circumstences, be allowed to interfere with studies. In an Ideal school, a student ' s freedom of participation in these activities would be determined by his academic rtanding. This brings us around to by far the most important aspect of a school; by that I mean the curriculum, or course of study. If the school is- to be the arency whereby people strive to make realities of the r hopes and ideals through the development of their offspring, then tht. curriculum of the ideal school must be such that it will do just that, or come as nearly as possible to it. It has been long realized that the continuous study of language, mathematics, and science, contributes greatly to onb ' s reasoning powers and development of mind. Above all, the intense study of the English language is indispensable in preserv ' ng the beauty and proper use of this, one of the most eloquent, beautiful, ond widely used languages on Earth. One should also study history; many lessons and morals can be learned from it, and it develops the memory. It should be grasped im¬ mediately that a dead language is not taught so that one may speak it

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Modern science has endowed mankind with countless reminders of how . ach life ' s necessities and luxuries cost. We live in an era of cash registers, adding machines and finance companies; our dail’; newspapers remind us constantly of the rising cost of living. We are told so frequently about the price of everything, that we often forget the many things we get for nothing. One has only to gaze into nature ' s boundless realm to find in¬ numerable free gifts. We all enjoy the glorious, dazzling colours of a sunrise. In contrast to this, what is more restful than peaceful, silvery moonlight? We pay nothing for the ethereal beauty of a rainbow, or the delicate design of a snowflake. Flowers are another free gift of nature; there are flowers of all descriptions ranging from a small, blood-red rose to a giant, white chrysanthemum. In forests, one finds rlants of all sizes--tiny plants like the delicate fern and tall trees like the oak. All the e gifts of nature are free for the person who stops to look. Life ' s freest and mo t precious gifts cannot be seen by the naked eye. There is no price for which one. can buy true happiness and con¬ tentment. The faith and trust that one vuman being places in another cannot be purchased for any monetary price. No one can make us pay for our dreams, and no one can make us pay for our prayers to the most powerful existing Authority. Many reorle consider love the ultimate joy of life. Love is free; not only the love of ' one man towards another, but the supreme love of God for humanity. All human beings, whether they are as rich as millionaires, or as oor as church mice, can love and be loved. Many things in our modern life cost a great deal, but let us not forget that the beauty of nature ' s multitudinous forms like the sunset or a rose; the joys of love and hope cannot be purchased with the British pound sterling, the Italian lira or the German marks. . Is it not marvellous that for these precious gifts we pay nothing? Peter Burrell 12CD THE IDB L SCHOOL Education has been defined as the process by which a person devel¬ ops his abilities, attitudes, and general behaviour toward society. From the time of the rigidly regimented educational system of the Spartans to the Oxford university system by wnich the student learns mostly by himself, society never has, does not now, and never will, leave the education of an individual to chance. Instead, the individual is placed in a controlled environment, in which e learns, through com¬ petent guidance and continuous effort, how to meet effectively experien¬ ces and problems in life. This environment is what we know as the School. L

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in the marketplace; that mathematics is not taught to enable one to re¬ cite formulas; but that intellectual and well-organized subjects such as these play a major part in the development of the thinking processes of the human brain. K’ith a disciplined, well-developed, wholesome mind, tho student graduating from an ideal school would be prepared to fend for .himself in this modern, competitive world. He would realise that in a demo¬ cratic land such as Canada, one has great freedom, but one also has rc3ponsibilities to live up to. The.well-educated citizen of a democracy must have self-control, be noble of conduct, and have charity and xvillingness to concede, and to accept his responsibilities. He must bo so educ ted and informed as to be free from bigotry, ignorance , and intolerance, for these are the seeds of the ruin of democracy. .If one is learned, informed, and knows how to live decently in this modern world, the reason must be that he has obtained a thorough, all-embracing education. An ideal school would provide this, throu-h a carefully selected course of study, taught by competent teachers, in a proper atmosphere for learning. The ability to aporeciate the finest of all kinds of entertaining and cultural aspects of life should be instilled in ev ry student. Each student’s aesthetic sense should be developed at all costs. The great literary gems of Dumas, Browning, Keats, Tennyson, and Shakespeare, to name only a few, should be explained thorough ' , and an oporeciation and working knowledge of them should bo taught to the student. Likewise young people should be exposed to art and music, so that they may also develop a taste for those. Whether tho music is the swinging rhythm of country and western music, or tho melodic, deepl moving works of Ts- chaikowski, young peopl should bo taught to recognize nd appreciate the best in their preferences in th field of art and music. Comparatively few hi n h school students ore inclined to appreciate items of culture, such as Shakespearean clays, art exhibits, or concerts but they should at least be riven a ’’taste” of these, so that a liking may be develooed for them in later life. For in an ideal school, the aesthetic senses and one’s cultural knowledge would be awakened and trained, along with his academic work. In an ideal school, then, well-oualifled teachers would work with properly disciplined stud nts under a well-selected, useful programme of 3 tudy and extracurricular activity, toward the achievement of tho school’s purpose, namely that of formin good, s ' lid citizens. I mean people who know right from wrong, who are loy l to Goo and country, and who are well-informed and self-reliant. Such a school would produce in quantity future doctors, lawyers, authors, teachers, and e ' en future prime ministers, who would all be of the highest caliber. If everga day comes when every man can say-with certainty that his children are being taught in an ideal school, it will be a giant step in the progress of mankind.