Gas City High School - Epoch Yearbook (Gas City, IN)

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U---4?THE EPOCH,1927-l---o DOMESTIC SCIENCE All High Schools must provide at least one full year's work in Home Economics for the girls. Home Economics instruction should be organized and conducted so as to accomplish the following results: Q15 It should give to our young people a more intelligent appreciation for the important and fundamental occupation ot' home making. Q25 It should prepare them for etlicient and economic work in the home. ' Four courses in Home Economics are given at the p1'esent time in the Gas City High School. One semester of foodsis given in the Freshman year. The aim of the foods course is to give the girl a practical knowledge of food in relation to her healthg experience in selection and preparation of foods and practice in planning, preparing and serving meals. One semester of clothing is also given in the Freshman year. The question arises in this course, Why study textiles ? Textiles should be studied because a large part of the income is spent for textiles. The pur- pose of most clothing courses is to teach the girl how to buy more wisely. This includes: CD How to judge qualityg C25 how to choose wisely for beauty and utility, and Q35 how to care for articles after purchase. A course in Dressmaking is offered for those girls who have com- pleted their first year of sewing. This course gives them more practical experience in constructing clothing and in the choice of clothing. A very interesting course in related art has been given this year. The great objective in this course is to develop a desire and an ability to apply the art principle in solving new problems, either individual, home or of the community. A course in Hygiene and Public Health will be given next year. Some course of this kind, adapted to special needs of students, should indeed form an essential and required part of every system of education.

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O--.li-THE EPOCH,1927-i--o Q . Z TYPING The typing department has given splendid assistance toward running the business side of our school. All Annual work has been typed by typing pupils. Beginning typewriting courses aim only to teach the keyboard and instill confidence in the pupils. Accuracy is emphasized far above speed. and errors are penalized heavily. The average speed should be about 35 or 40 words per minute at the end of the first year. The second year of typewriting is devoted to speed, with accuracy still held in the foreground. One incorrect stroke is penalized 50 strokes, or practically one line of ordinary type. The average speed should be about 60 words per minute. In beginning shorthand the Gregg Manual is used, and students are confined to drill on forms, rules, penmanship, and slow dictation. At the end of the first semester the students must know all the word signs in the Gregg system. By the end of the first year all prefixes and sufhxes must have been learned. In advanced shorthand the entire year is devoted to gaining speed in taking dictation in both old and new matter, literary, and business forms. The average speed is 110 to 125 at the end of the senior year. Commercial Arithmetic aims to teach the student five things, namely, command of the fundamental processes of addition, subtraction, multi- plication, and division, a workable knowledge of fractions and taxes, part- nerships and corporations, commission and brokerage.

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o---- THE EPOCH,192T----1--o MUSIC Music is one of the most valuable subjects in the school curriculum, and the influence of music in the lives of both children and adults is more powerful than that of almost any other educational activity. Music affects human beings favorably both in their intellectual and emotional lives. Music has come to be more and more commonly regarded as an indis- pensable subject and a larger place is being accorded it. Music, as offered by a High School fab exerts a definite beneficial effect upon the physical, mental and spiritual life of the student, tbl pro- vides an excellent type of intellectual training, fcl is of high value as a socializing force, fdl a worthy use of leisure time, fel indirectly introduces music into the home. The home needs music to express its social life, as music needs the home to supply an opportunity for its effective use. One of the most noticeable shortcomings of our American social life has been our inability to engage in a satisfactory song-singing at social or other gatherings. Doubtless the chief reason for this deficiency is that few of us know the words of our songs. It has been our aim to meet this need. Constant companionship with good music tends to develop character. Shakespeare's statement: The appetite increases by what it feeds upon, is nowhere truer than in the musical world. Courses in music offered to our High School students this year are: fab Music Appreciation, in which the student studies artists of today, opera and oratorio as vocal forms, and classification of voices. The de- partment has a splendid library of Victrola records that have aided greatly in appreciation work. fbi Orchestra. Orchestra is offered only two days each week, but We are looking forward to having it daily again. Riley says, Sing as you will, O singers all, who sing because you want to sing.