Jacksonville High School - Crimson J Yearbook (Jacksonville, IL)

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Ye Staff EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSISTANT EDITOR BUSINESS MANAGERS ART EDITORS ATHLETIC EDITOR ORGANIZATION EDITOR TYPIST SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER LITERARY EDITOR - SNAPSHOT EDITOR JOKE EDITOR - ADVISOR GEORGIA M. TERHUNE HELEN PHELPS ELMER YECK SAMUEL OSBORNE LETSOM REID RUTH LEAVENWORTH TOM BUCKTHORPE WILLARD JOHNSON MAURINE BRADLEY DOROTHY ELLIS ROBERT REID ERNEST OLDS LUCILLE HARDER FLOYD SANDERS MISS IRENE MERRILL Page Eleven

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SCHOOL. J. H. S. History KIKST IIIOII SCIIOOI. A comparison of the high school as described in the earliest report of the Board of Education and the high school of 1924, brings to light many inter- esting facts. Although grade schools had been established when Jacksonville was in its infancy, the first school resembling a high school was a High School Department”, established by I)r. Newton Bateman in the ‘‘West Jacksonville District School in the fall of 1851. Here, several young men were pre- pared for college by instruction in algebra, geome- try, Latin, and Greek. High schools at this time were still modern institutions, the first one in the country having been established in Boston in 1797, and there were many who opposed the establishing of any such school in Jacksonville. The main reasons for their opposition seemed to lie that there were three seminaries for young ladies, and Illinois College and Browns Business College for young men, and that taxes might be higher because of such a school. However, after a bitter struggle, the first high school was established in three rooms on the third story of the old Washington School, in September of 1857. The enrollment carried the names of thirty-six ladies and of eighty-two gentlemen, making a total of one hundred eighteen. The faculty consisted of a principal, a teacher of languages, a preceptress, and an assistant. Astronomy, Greek, philosophy, and rhetoric were among the studies in their curriculum. For five years, the school furnished only a three year course, but in 1872, the first class was graduated from a full four year course. It is interesting to note that the three graduates were ladies, and that the commencement program in- cluded a Latin Salutatory, a German Drama, and a Greek Declama- tion. In 1874, just fifty years ago, the graduating class consisted of two ladies. The high school was housed in these three rooms until 1888, when it was moved to an old building on the present site. Here it remained, until it grew to such an extent that in 1902, a new one w'as erected. In 1918, this structure burned, and then work was begun on the present building. During the lapse of time, the sessions were held in David Prince Building. The Class of ’21 had its commencement exercises in the new school, but it was not until the fall of 1921 that regular sessions were conducted in the new place. This school differs greatly from the original Washington High School of three rooms. The pupils now have forty-seven rooms in which to gain knowl- edge, and a faculty of thirty-two members. The course of study includes all those things which are taught in the first class high schools of the country. In the year 1924, one hundred twenty-eight Seniors will receive diplomas for completing the prescribed course. So much has been done for the high school pupils, that when they become voting citizens, they cannot fail to appreciate the needs of the ward schools. For as Talleyrand says: The chief object of the State is to teach children to become, one day, its citizens. It initiates them, in a manner, into its social order by showing them the laws by which it is governed. This elementary instruction is a debt which society owes to all, and which it must pay without the slightest deduction.” A KIKST CKAIX'ATK