Hermon High School - Microphone Yearbook (Hermon, ME)

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12 The MICROPHONE through the aid of extra-curricular activi- ties. There are many extra-curricular activi- ties in the schools today. Various contests are held between schools in the performance of dramatics, debates, and athletics. The student who learns to accept defeat without hard feelings and is able to sincerely con- gratulate his opponent on the victory be- comes the adult who is able to meet the set- backs that accompany success and overcome them without ruining his opportunities. A teenager finds out how hard it is to ac- complish something under pressure as he realizes the trophy for the school depends upon how well he pronounces his words and puts the idea across to the audience through his actions and expression, or upon his mak- ing this basket regardless of the excitement and cheers of the crowd. A certain degree of quickness of mind is developed when the basketball player has to quickly decide whether to pass or feint or when the young actor or actress has to rearrange his or her actions when a prop for a particular scene is on the wrong side of the stage. Many people feel that the extra-curricular activities of the school do the student “no earthly good,” but any student can tell you that this is not true. Perhaps it seems at times that no work is being done, but any outside activity calls for a lot of work on someone’s part. Even a simple trip to the library, although not strictly an extra- curricular activity, calls for letters to be written and arrangements to be made, which are done by students, and followed up by class discussions and tests. All in all, extra-curricular activities play a very important part in the role of the stu- dent of today. They develop his mental ability, self-control, ability to make friends, co-operativeness, and sportsmanship, all of which are important character traits. Patricia Leathers, Editor-in-Chief A Joint Effort For An Enjoyable Life There are many ways to make the school life of each student a happy one, but there are also many ways to make one’s school life a tedious, unenjoyable task. We can have a school with each student taking part and sharing the responsibilities or one where there is always trouble. No one likes to go to school if they can not get some enjoyment out of it. Let’s make our school one of which each one of us can be proud. The best way to do this is to have a closer rela- lationship between the student, parents and teachers, therefore, doing away with any misunderstandings. When one comes home from school all dis- couraged and in the quitting mood, his par- ents should not ignore him; they should try to help him solve his problem. Perhaps there is trouble between the student and the teacher, or between the student and the par- ents, or some other source. This is where the parents should step in. It is a privilege of the parents as well as a duty to go to visit the school and talk to the teachers. Perhaps the teacher and the parents could straighten out many problems and make the school life of the student much more pleasant. There are students who have to work at home. I mean by work, having duties as- signed to them that they are expected to do whether they want to or not. These students miss out on some school activities, but, above all, their school work is neglected because of their responsibilities at home. When a student’s grades are low they are left out of some activities which depend wholly on ranks. Often the teacher considers these students uninterested, when it is not entire- ly the student’s fault. There again we have a misunderstanding because the parent and the teacher have never met to talk over the student's particular situation. It would be

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EDITORIALS EDITORIAL BOARD First row: F. White, M. Li ht, A. Boudreau, C. Heughan, Mrs. Myers, P. Leathers, M. Griffin, T. Voudoukis, V. Lord, M. Johnson. Second rote: N. Phillips, R. Campbell, P. McGinley, P. Dole, S. Burgess, T. Reynolds, L. Lufkin, M. Lord, M. Teague, D. Hillman, C. Pickard. Extra-Curricular Activities And Their Values “Sissy!” “Aw, come on, be a sport.” “Can’t you take it?” “He’s very unreason- able.” These taunts will follow the poor sport from childhood to maturity. Character traits are developed in childhood, and good sportsmanship is definitely a character trait. The time to obtain and develop these traits is while a person is developing, which is the teen-age period. School is not just an institution of learn- ing. It is, also, an institution for training a person’s social habits. It is in school, where a teenager is surrounded by his equals, that he learns the values of friendship and co- operation. He learns to co-operate with his teachers and his friends, but this is accom- plished not only through class work but

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The MICROPHONE 13 impossible for the teacher to visit each par- ent, so it is the parent’s duty to visit the school. Not only would this perhaps straight- en out this misunderstanding, but if the stu- dent thought his parents were interested in his school enough to visit it, school might look more appealing to him. Many times there is a misunderstanding when the student comes home with an exaggerated story. Quite often this starts some harmful gossip which ends in hard feelings between teacher and student, when it could have been ended by the parents with no hard feelings and just a little shame in the right place. The Parent-Teachers Association is doing much to join the community together and to make a better school. But there is the job ahead to get each parent interested in the school life of his own child. The parents should support the teachers but each parent should be interested in their children’s work at school. There are still many parents who believe that it is the teacher’s duty to run the school. I wonder if the students are doing their part to convince their parents that this is the wrong way to look at this situation. We like to have our parents visit our plays and pro- grams and it is their duty. Let us, the stu- dents, remember that we have duties to them as well. Let us all strive to do our part to make our school a gathering of not only teachers and pupils but of parents, teachers and stu- dents, working together for the good of all. E. Marie Griffin, Assistant Editor The important thing is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are go- ing.—Oliver Wendell Holmes. Graduation And What It Means Graduation is the beginning of the sever- ing of family ties. We all have had our families to take care of us, to plan for us, and to guide us. Many of us have been working part-time for a few years, but it has been only for our own spending money and personal wants. After graduation we must find a vocation which we can enjoy and will provide us with an income sufficient to support us. We will be completely on our own. Some of us wonder why get a high school education when we are going to have to go into the service? This does sound gloomy, but the services prefer men with a high school diploma, and rating comes quicker if you have one. These young men need to get their high school education to be better citi- zens after they return from the service. An- other point is that a high school diploma helps in getting a job in civilian life. The men who have their diplomas will be ready to go on to school under the “GI” Bill. Graduation should be the completion of a course in learning to work and to co-operate with others. The object of a high school is to help prepare us to go out on our own. This means developing us to be able to fit easily into society. Why Not Stick To It? What do all of us want out of life? Do we want a good iob. security, and hanniness'’ Or do we want the insecurity that a person is mostly likelv to feel if he is not prepared for anv specific profession or job? We train for our ioh or profession through grammar school and high school. One of the most important stepping-stones to getting a good job is to be able to show our hi dv school diploma. Tt shows the world that we were able to stick to it: we have “ghie”. Graduating from school is half the battle of growing up. If we quit before entering high