Jefferson High School - J Yearbook (Jefferson, WI)

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PAGE TWENTY TWO ENGLISH The aim of the high school English is two-fold: 1. To give the pupils command of the art of communication in speech and writing. 2. To teach them to read thoughtfully and with appreciation, and to form in them a taste for good reading. The following is a general survey of the course in English: Literature (a few of the classics studied). First Year: The Odyssey...................Homer The Merchant of Venice. .Shakespeare Second Year: Silas Marner..................Eliot The Tale of Two Cities......Dickens Third Year: Twice Told Tales..........Hawthorne Selected Poems........... Fourth Year: Macbeth ................Shakespeare Democracy Today...........W. Wilson GRAMMAR. The English language is the one tool above all others by means of which even the most practical business interests of our life are earned on. Before we are efficient in the use of any mechanic al tool, we must learn how to use it. It is necessary then to study grammar, that we may correctly use English. A part of the time in the first year is devoted to this work. A few common errors with corrections: Wrong: He first came to school this morning. Right: He came to school this morning. Wrong: Them books are old. Bight: Those books are old. Wrong: This was all the further I went. Right: This was as far as I went. SPELLING. A special effort is made during the four years of high s Lool to encourage the habit of spelling correctly. At the beginning of the year, the pupils are divided into eight groups, according to their ability to spell. Three fifteen minute periods are spent each week in the study of words most frequently misspelled by the average person. The

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i a ;k twexti o. k MUSIC The Orchestra The special features in high school music this year were the Girls’ Glee Club, tlie Boys’ Quartette and the Or hestru. Floyd Bienfang, Kenneth Crawford. Arnold Bienfaug and Bert Hilberts formed the Quartette and won a reputation for themselves accompanying speakers on Liberty Loan drives. Both the Orchestra and Quartette have done much in the way of entertainment at public meetings of all sorts in the city. The Girls' Chorus, with a membership of twenty-five, has had a successful year, also having done their bit of campaigning for patriotic purposes. During the winter the three organizations gave a concert at the High School Auditorium. Any of this work offers one-fifth credit toward graduation.

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 PAGE TWENTY-THREE more advanced class is given an opportunity to study the words one meets in the popular current reading of war and post-war activities. LIBRARY WORK. A series of lessons on the use of the library is given to help make both the public library and school library, which contains approximately 1700 volumes, effective agencies in the work of the school and in the lives of those who attend it. ORAL COMPOSITION. It has been said that the supreme and ultimate product of civilization is two or three persons talking together in a room. We are as sensitive of our speech as of our manners. The commercial value of effective English has been well expressed by Ruskin, '“The rule is five thousand a year to your talker and a shilling a day to your fighter, digger and thinker.” Each week the pupils in every year of high school are given the valuable opportunity of preparing talks in outline form and addressing classmates on subjects of interest to them. The choice of subjects is such that pupils must keep in touch with the affairs of the world by reading the carefully chosen magazines and newspapers in the library. WRITTEN COM POSITION. The following themes are representative of the work done by Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors respectively: THE RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. (An Editorial). A question of much interest in France to-day is the future of the Rheims Cathedral, which was bombarded and left in ruins by the Germans in the World War. In former wars the enemy has tried to avoid destroying works of art, such as this structure, built about seven hundred years ago. In this war, the Germans have shown their mercilessness by destroying a cathedral which is sacred to all France. Some have thought of rebuilding it. but I believe that it should be left as it is. in ruins, showing tlie world the barbarity of the ruthless enemy. It is impossible for any architect of to-day to construct a building of such magnificance as the ruined cathedral. I think that if it were left in its present condition, it would forever remind the French people and tourists from other countries of the cruelty of the Germans. Isabella Weber ’22.