Greenfield High School - Evergreen / Exponent Yearbook (Greenfield, MA)

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.' 5- . .' - nw sy. 1 W 4 .W 'rv' i 2 ' W Alai! . -'Y i F ' if eau., . i . ' . ' 'r . ..i - ' i ' 17 , 'a 7 'f ' .N -. tag . B -new . . ,,, l . . Q . as o V Y .C -.v sl 0 ,, b . K as , Q b ., , L ' 'Q t ,Ei O QQ . . , . R :V . . - xx s, . Vocational Training for American Youth VERY year, industry becomes more exact- ing in its requirements for workers. Years ago, before the advent of complicated machinery, there was room in the workshop for many laborers. Today, the demand is for skill and technical knowledge, and with further develop- ment of machinery the requirements will continue to he raised. So, as industry expands and grows, education must expand and grow to provide more opportunities and wider fields of training to pre- pare youth for the competition of the labor market. The old type of formal education is no longer sufhcient to meet the needs of a mechanized world. Though the general public looks upon education as a process by which the mind is disciplined to logical reasoning and hopes that such orderly thinking will carry over into solving the problems of life, educators have come to realize that the combination of thinking and doing is the best education for those who are to enter industry. Building along this line, the vocational student at Greenfield High School starts in the shops on simple jobs of a real commercial value. He is thus thinking and reasoning on the why and how, and how much. All his thinking is not in the mechanical field, however, as there is a cultural side to life, even the life of the lowliest worker. Our vocational school builds along that line too. So we build-learning to do, learning to think, learning to appreciate. i To strengthen the tie with industry, close con- tact is maintained with the establishments in our town. Real jobs for industry are carried to completiong our boys work in the local plants after school hours and during vacations, our instruc- tors, to keep abreast of the ever-changing trends in industry, aline themselves with other artisans in the designing room, in the tool room, on the production line, in the repair shop. Thus, we become a part of the industrial development of Grecnlicld. The contribution of the school to the industries of tl1e town can not be over-estimated. The shock of the transition from schoolboy to worker is lessened by the gradual adjustment that our school shops provide. The discouragement of failure that means dollars and cents when it happens in industry is eliminated. Rather, in the sympa- thetic atmosphere of the school, mistakes are cor- rected and failures made the foundation upon which to build success. At the end of our course we leave the school and feel confident that we can meet the stiff requirements of industry, for we know we can do, because we have been doing. The household appliances in our homes, the means of transportation - on land, on sea, or in the air, the food we eat, the books we read, the radio that brings us entertainment from remote distances- all these are ours to have and enjoy because some men dream and can make those dreams come true while others have the skill to make the dreams workable. We have laid the foundation in our school. Now we go out to build on this foundation, to produce bigger and better machines, more confortable and beautiful homes, to service the automobiles ofthe future-to make the world a better place in which to live. NICHOLAS PROKOWICH V i L A

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,.,g,t , in Viv- I f A g :ttf LJ ,ix M . J -JV 1: P 41 iv: .' H W' . n -- ,L 1 f 1 ducation for American Youth DUCATION is a building process, and the young people of America are the raw materials. Since youth is as diversified as are the varied raw materials that are used in the construction of a building, the pupils have to be tempered and processed just as the raw materials have to be prepared in order to make fine, polished products. This is accomplished through a thorough education of youth's hand, heart, and mind. How- ever, consideration is given to different interests and abilities. The possibility of accomplishing this feat in Greenfield High School is by having different courses to suit different types of pupils. For example, in our College Preparatory Course, a boy or girl, wishing to go to college, will receive a well-rounded education that will tit him to enter any college in tl1e land. Likewise, a boy or girl wishing to prepare for ofiice or secretarial work will get tl1e best possible training in our Commercial Course. Also, the Liberal Arts Curriculum offers a broad, general training on which the pra.ctical affairs of life and occupational preparation after graduation may be based. Under the guidance of a counselor, a pupil chooses the course that will suit his interests and develop to the utmost his hand, heart, and mind. I shall trace the training and development of a student's hand first. A training which is very useful to girls is household arts. Here a girl is taught how to make her clothes, how to cook delicious foods, and how to plan meals. Attrac- tive dresses, modeled by many of the girls, and pungent odors that emit from the home economics kitchen are evidences of pupils' skills. In science courses for the college-preparatory pupils, moreover, laboratory work is stressed. In chemistry the pupil performs l1is own experiments with various apparatus and chemicals as well as records his results in a. notebook. In tl1e physics laboratory a pupil is allowed to experiment with certain natural phenomena and derive his own conclusions. In biology, plant life is investigated and observed by the student. Art is a very good course for developing the hand, also. We have not only creative art and 16 freehand drawing but also mechanical drawing, a subject which develops technical skill. In this course a student is taught how to make accurate, scaled drawings of plans, whereas in freehand drawing or creative art classes the pupil has a freedom of expression and develops his hand in accordance with his ability. Furthermore, stenography, a skill offered to commercial students and a course which may be taken by liberal arts students if their counselor agrees, develops manual dext-erity. A person must be able to transcribe letters both accurately and rapidly. Also, after the fundamentals have been mastered, a student may win a Gregg Certificate for being able to transcribe either sixty or eighty words a minute. Typewriting, which plays an important part in the entrance to the business world, is another operation which requires speed and accuracy of the hand as Well as mental concentration. During the student's course of study there is an opportu- nity to win awards for typewriting forty, fifty, or sixty words a minute. Also, besides the regular three-year course, which is offered to commercial students, there is a special course for college- preparatory students. This meets after the regular school hours. Next, modern education develops a student's heart. This schooling promotes higher morals, stimulates emotions, and cultivates an apprecia- tion of beauty. For example, a student is taught to obey his superiors. Obedience is simply the way in which knowledge is recognized as power. In this way, by obeying his superiors, he is able to gain from them tl1e store of knowledge which they are willing to impart. In history and civics classes a student may learn the story and laws of his great country. When he realizes how arduously his forefathers fought for his rights and learns about the laws of his land, he will become a better and more tolerant citizen. Besides the fundamentals of art and drawing that have been mentioned previously, there further training in the appreciation of aesthetic things. A pupil has an opportunity to learn the