Gainesville High School - Hurricane Yearbook (Gainesville, FL)

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GAINESYILLE HIGH SCHOOL. 1915 THE FUNCTION OF TIIE HIGH SCHOOL IN THE STATE'S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM Previous to the period of twenty years past nearly all secondary educa- tion was entrusted to academies and private schools, but within the past two decades conditions have changed. 'the high school is no longer merely a preparatory school for university, but is coming to be more and more the final word in education for the great mass of people. During twenty years past the number attending high school has grown from three hundred and sixty-five thousand to one million and one hundred and thirty thousand, an increase of two hundred and ten per cent. as against an increase in population of but forty-seven per cent. A few years ago there were only twenty-live hundred high schools. Now more than eleven thousand exist. Hence it is fitting and necessary that the high school take full account of the conditions in the community and of the needs and requireinents of all those whom it professes to serve. The chief purpose of the high school, as of the elementary school and of college and university, is the development of intellectual power, the ability for independent thinking and skill in accomplishment. These things may be achieved tll1'UUgl1 the constant and systematic application to any ot' the studies provided in a liberal high school curriculum. Students with ditlerent purposes in life will of course find proportion- ate difference in the value to them of this or that branch of learning. It is not with the relative merits of various subjects that we a1'e concerned, but rather are we anxious to establish clearly the proposition that the high school must make provisions for satisfying all just demands made upon it, and tor meeting the constantly arising new conditions whether these be of a social, industrial or civic nature. It is generally agreed that it is nowise the specific purpose of the high school to provide for technical training in any line. Nor is it in anyway a part of the general plan to convert the high school into a purely vocational or trade school. Nevertheless it must be recognized that it is equally as serious a failure for the high school to re- fuse to take into account the value and necessity of those studies and arts which have an intimate contact with every day life, which lend a more di- rect and vivid interest to the average student, and which se1've, in short, to exemplify the relation between the theoretical and the practical, It is through a recognition of these facts, for example, that the boy who has found the ordinary routine of studies dull and uninteresting and who is on the verge of completing his education in the ninth grade, can be turned from his aversions to school life by a systematic course of instruction in the manual arts. The interest awakened in him through this means will 16

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GAINESVILLE HIGH SFHOOL, 1915 monly used is the steam heat, steam being conveyed to radiators placed in the different rooms and corridors. These radiators are always placed under a window or near an outside door so that the inrush of air is imme- diately warmed. In some of the better schools wall ventilators are pro- vided which take the foul air up through the wall, also creating a cir- culation of the atmosphere in the room. Much care is being expended on the school building nowadays in re- gards to cleaning and preservation. Preservative oils should be applied to all woodwork once a week: this not only preserves the wood but keeps down the dust and makes cleaning and sweeping easier. Several dillerent mixtures of this oil are in use now, most of them contain a high per cent. of turpentine which is very healthy to breathe. Soap or water should never be put on woodwork in school buildings under any considerationg damp- ness causes growth of germs and also decay. The building should be thor- oughly swept or brushed every day and all trash and garbage collected from building should be incinerated so as to immediately kill germs which are carried about in many ways-as, for example, by flies, mosquitoes and other insects. All toilets and lavatories should be scrubbed and disinfected at least twice per day. Some people may think this is a lot of unnecessary routine work jotted down to fill out the composition, but if you will make our school a few visits you will find every mentioned detail thoroughly carried out. A large, spacious ground is very essential for schools and if graded and parked beautifully is one of its best drawing cards. lt should include basket-ball and tennis courts, foot-ball gridiron, base-ball diamond, and special playground for primary children. The grounds should have plenty of trees for shade and ornamental purposes. As much of the ground as possible should be sodded in grass to keep down dust, one of the best germ carriers known. In respect of buildings and grounds, our Gainesville High School is exceedingly well equipped. We have a large, commodious and comfortable building of modern construction, and our play grounds and athletic field are unequaled in the State, if indeed, in the South. A campus of many acres, shaded by beautiful trees, affords place for tennis and basket-ball courts, and our elegant athletic field just completed, contains an up-to-date race track of five laps, a foot-ball field and base-ball diamond. Our buildings are most carefully kept clean and sanitary, being regu- larly oiled and dusted and swept as modern sanitary methods demand. M. A. TUCKER. 15

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GAINESYILLE HIGH SCHOOL. 1915 not stop there but will extend more and more completely to the field of subjects before distasteful to him. We have as yet touched only briefly on other phases of community and social life whose interests the high school should and must serve. School is not merely preparation for life, but is in no small degree life itself. And though this period stands at the threshold of life in its complete state, yet those who are pupils must now begin to meet and solve the problems which meet one on every hand. We have said that the high school is not merely a preparatory school for college and yet it must make adequate provision for those who desire a higher education. This is and must always be a subject for serious con- sideration on the part of both high school and university authorities. Our system of education in Florida is so arranged that there need be no decided gap between the kindergarten and the State University or Wo- man's College. Thus the graduate of the high school, who so desires, may turn to one or the other of these institutions with as little inconvenience or interruption to work as is experienced in passing from the lower grades into the high school. Hence this correlation between high school and university niust not be overlooked, but it w'ill always remain necessary for the high school to provide such instruction as is required for the foundation for a university education. We may conclude then that the high school occupies a position of vast importance in the States educational system: and, as it recognizes and meets the requirements imposed upon it, in just such proportion will it justify its existence and increase its value and usefulness to the State. T. J. SWEARINGISN, JR. THE GENERAL VALUE OF LIBRARIES TO SCHOOLS The schools of America, and especially the public schools, are doing great things for the country. They are the future hope of the republic, and with out schools its days would be numbered. The schools have labored hard to give the youth all needed informa- tion, that is, the fundamentals of knowledge. In recent years other things have been added to these, such as manual training, domestic science, draw- ing, music, agriculture, and many other subjects of practical value. Books and their uses is a topic of great signiiicance to teachers, and is of real importance to every grade of the schools from the primary to the 17