Jamestown High School - Red and Green Yearbook (Jamestown, NY)

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Owing to the lack of room accomodations, due to the increase in number of high school pupils and the resultant increase in Arrangement number of teachers, a new plan of organization was Satisfactory put into effect last September. ln brief, this organiza- tion was arranged through three separate assemblies of the students, the elimination of school study periods for Seniors and juniors, and the lengthening of the school day by the addition of two periods. The Senior and junior classes in one unit have assembly at S210 a, ru., and complete their recitation work at 12:05 p. ni., being dismissed at that time for the remainder of the day. The Freshmen have roll call at 9:05 a. m., chapel exercises at 1:35 p. ni., and are dismissed at 4:00 p. m., having spent seven periods in school. The Sophomore class is di- vided into two units which have roll call at 9:05 a. m, and 10 135 a. in.. respectively, chapel exercises for all the classes at 1:35 p. ni., and re- main in school until 4:45 p. in., thus having two periods in the morning and four periods in the afternoon. As far as the limited sources of information available indicate, the students seem to maintain about the same average of work as has been done in previous years. The plan makes the arrangement of schedule quite difficult, and the organization of the whole school for common purposes less satisfactory. However, the greater use of the school plant, and the resulting better accommodations makes the arrangement satis- factory as long as the capacity of the building is limited. Merton P. Corwin. Q 0 Q 4 .-X very good law was recently passed in 'Albany which requires every student in the public schools of New York State to Physical take at least twenty minutes of Physical Training each Training school day. Some of the benefits derived from these exercises are: better ventilation in the school room, for the windows must be thrown open, and the student inhales the fresh air in the regular breathing exercises given: as a result of the bending and stretching of the body the blood is forced more freely into all parts: the relaxation of mind and body tends toward clearer thinking when once more the student returns to his work. The fact that many schools throughout the state report that they have enjoyed the work and have found it most beneficial is interesting. This law was largely a result of the efforts of Commissioner of Education, john H. Finley, who, because of his own love of the great Outdoors, felt that each boy and girl should have the opportunity to develop strong bodies as well as minds. I Edward Rosengren, '20. 27

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Night school work in the city of Jamestown began on the evening of October 9, l905, as an experiment. No one knew when The Night the night school for the city was advertised what School would result: but from the first evening the popularity of night school work in Jamestown was clearly demon- strated. As soon as the doors of the high school were opened, men and women began to stream into the corridors and soon there was barely standing room in the academic study hall: ' During the first term six hundred and sixty pupils registered. These consisted of several nationalities, Swedish, Italian, and Albanian pre- dominating. It would he difficult to estimate the influence for good which the night school has exerted during the eleven years of its existence. The value of its work to this city cannot be reckoned in dollars and cents: it can only be reckoned in terms of better citizenship and wider vision. Hundreds, yes thousands, of young people have entered the night school unable to read or speak the English language and have gone forth able to read the daily papers with a fair degree of intelligence and to enjoy the books of the public library. More than this, the night school has had a strong demoeratizing in- fluence in the community. In the early years of the school's existence the various nationalities manifested strong antipathies and objected to working together in the same class. ln later years students representing seven or more nationalities have worked side by side under the same teacher in perfect harn1ony. Coming together three nights a week in pursuit of a common object taught these aliens tolerance and respect for one another and impresed upon them Stevenson's lines: There is so much good in the worst of us. And so much bad in the best of us, l That it scarcely behooves any of us, To talk about the rest of us. Finally, the night school has always stood for patriotism. Much of the material used in teaching English is drawn from American history. The students are taught the fundamental principles of our government, and the teachers seek in every way to impress upon the men and women in their classes the desirability and the duty of becoming American citizens at the earliest opportunity. , In a word, the night school has always stood and will continue to stand for the same things which this country stands for, namely, in- telligence, democracy, and patriotism. George A. Persell. 26

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NN'erc Thales, thc grcat Greek thinker. living in this age of revolution, he would feel doubly certain that mind and not matter Mind and rules the universe, Yet so easy is it to comprehend the Revolution visible, the tangible that we often fail to sense the existence of that quite invisible mental force back of all phenomena. While Revolution and War are children of the same parents, the former is not synonynins with the clash of saber, the throw- ing of bombs and the boom of cannon. These are but evidences of revolution-mere testimony of a movement full grown from seeds planted deep in the minds and hearts of mankind. Every normal individual is the rightful possessor of certain inherent tendencies, which he intuitively knows he should have the right to de- velop and express, and the nature of the forces trained upon l1is mind, particularly in youth, will determine in a large way what tendencies hc will be most desirous of expressing and developing when grown to man- hood. Individuals when grouped into communities and states, from common training, develop connnon tendencies and consequent common desires. If this development takes place within the bounds of arbitrary restraint, there is an inevitable struggle-a revolution. The more spo- radic the training, the more scattered and ineffective the struggle. The more constant, the longer and the more universal the training, within persistent arbitrary restraint, the more noble, the-more spectacular and effective the revolution. Under continued training the revolutionary forces gradually compel successive compromises on the part of .the re- straining power and such victories often continue over a long period of time. Then, if the arbitrary power dies hard and its final overthrow is illumined by the rocket's red glare, we become suddenly awakened and are conscious only of the last struggle of what has been a long revolution. The state with its individuals left free-free to develop and give expression to their innate qualities becomes republican. The three great revolutions now most vivid to us Americans were all born in the mind-results of particular training. The American revolution had its origin in the minds of our fore- fathers trained in the school, centuries old, of Anglo-Saxon principles of liberty and justice. In that school, from the ancient laws collected from Kent and Mercia, Alfred the Great had taught the principle of justice and the right of individual development. The witan, the hundred, the shiremoot, and the tumnoot, embodying the principles of representation and power emanating from the people. had all been grounded as funda- mental in the minds of our sturdy New England fathers. Their desire and determination to safeguard their inherent rights were nurtured as they saw in imagery, upon the green meadow of Runnymead, that historic gathering forcing despotism in the person of John Lackland to sign the Magna Charta. ln that article,-UNO scntage shall be levied with- out the consent of the common council of the realm, they read the princi- 28