Hamburg High School - Echoes Yearbook (Hamburg, NY)

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THE MQNARCII 1928 17 ADMINISTRATION Une Hundred Years Ago and Today Il one had peeped into the old log school house at White's Corners about a hun- dred years ago he would have seen rude handfmade desks and seats, few windows, a handfmade teacher's desk, pegs about the walls for dinner pails and wraps, a wooden water bucket, a barrel stove in the center of the room, a rude chair and perhaps the lanky school master poring over some hard problem lest he be unable to do it the next day. A hickory gad would have hung on a peg behind the teachers desk for those were the days when administration was summed up in the slogan, No lick' in': no larnin' Today, Mr. Frederick Moffit, a well trained and experienced school man with sevf eral college degrees after his name, and Mr. Vernon Simmons, a scholarly teacher, also trained for his position, in their well equipped and luxuriously furnished off iices, with every device known to modern education at hand, administer the business of Hamburg High School as efhciently as it can be done in any school in the state. Under Mr. Mof'ritt's care are the school buildings and grounds, the finances of the school system, the courses of study, the teaching staff, the janitor service, school law, and so many other departments of school work that it makes one dizzy to think of it. Ivir. Simmons has entire supervision of the High School and under his efficient management scholarship has been greatly improved, athletics built up and en' couraged, and much progress made in many ways. fi

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THE MONARCH 1928 19 History Department In this age of rapid transitions in the educational system, perhaps no subject in the curriculum has undergone such changes as has history. Fifty years ago history consisted of a detailed study of Greek and Roman life, a little Medieval and Modern European history, and, in the United States, the Revo' lution and the Civil War, with short treatment of the War of 1312 and the Mexican War thrown in, A modern survey of history leads us backward thousands of years before the Greeks. VV hat is more important, modern history, with its wealth of authentic ma' terial, can at last explain why such catastrophes as the World War can take place. In mastering their history, our fathers memorized long lists of political rulers, military chieftains and supposedly important battles. Now we know that it is neither leaders alone nor battles which turn the tides of human progress. On the other hand, deeper underlying factors such as industrial- ization, capitalism, imperialism, applied science, nationalism, mob psychology and secret diplomacy intermingle to move peoples along their course. In the days gone by history was more or less of a necessary evil the teaching of which required no special training. The funnel method of instruction was used. The students were passive recipif ents of the teacher's lectures which they were forced to 'memorize along with the conf tents of a single text book. - A well equipped history department of today is a laboratory fitted with news' papers, magazines, pictures, maps and various texts, used in conjunction with the school library. In addition, sources and actual documents are taking a larger place in the materials used to study history. l Present day history teachers are individuals who have made a wide study not only of history but also the allied subjects of sociology, psychology, philosophy and economics as well as literature and science. The greatest change probably has been that in the student who now makes of his class a place for the discussion of the problems of his nation and of the world and seeks to Hnd a way to better the conditions of both. Norman Downing '28 .-