Julia Richman High School - Spotlight Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 16 text:

nl E, lil E H956 The talent that is the English departments' business to develop is writing. At least that is the more obvious deduction. But in reality, skill in writing is only one result of our training in English. All of us should write correctly. We cannot all have a special talent in writing, however. But there is another great skill to be learned from the study of English that is more important than creative ability. Proficiency in reading is an achievement for which we should all strive. 'GBut, you are saying, UI have known how to read for a long time. There is nothing more than can be taught to me about readingf' Of course at this late date if any of the Seniors did not know how to read, their education would have been a sad failure. But merely calling words off a page is not skill in reading. Have you not often read a sentence over and over again to grasp its meaning? Have you not ever come to the end of a paragraph and found yourself without the slightest knowledge of what it was about? Have you not ever had to read a poem time and time again to understand the thought that was expressed in it? These situations have happened to almost all of us. lt is probably because they miss the meaning of what is on a printed page that some people say they do not like to read. Real reading, real enjoyment of literature is a talent. lt is a talent that can only be developed by living with books and by setting your mind to the task of understanding them. We often have thoughts that cannot be spoken. We often imagine that if we could sit at a desk with a piece of paper in front of us, we could write down those thoughts. But if we ever actually tried it, we would find that writing our thoughts is a talent in itself. It is not easy to convey what we mean by using words. The less of a barrier the paper and pen becomes the greater is the talent. But still greater a talent than the conveyance of thought is the ability to express feeling through words. It is only practice that makes for correct writing. Where our writing is correct, one barrier has been broken down. Clear thinking and sincere feeling will do the rest. MQ V 3 3 I T u , 5 81 1: 7 I ' KY

Page 15 text:

cience The Science Department, which includes Biology, General Science, Chemistry, and Physics, is wide enough to interest anyone who has the slightest inclination towards bugs or animals, and a curiosity as to what makes the world go round. Most everyone in the school has at one time taken some course in Science, and never can it be said that there is one of us here who has not had some kind of question to ask about it, even if it were only to know the why and wherefore of personal things that bother us. The world is a mass of scientific problems, and we are constantly endeavoring to find the solutions. Miss Topp, the head of the Science Department, has tried to answer a few ques- tions about why it is taught in the school. 'She believes we should develop a scientific point of view, personal and social tolerance, the ability to self analysis, and to build up sound mental health. Many a girl has a special talent or adaptability for a certain phase of science. For example, she can reprint diagrams, model from life, or formulate problems and see them through in a laboratory. Teaching, medicine, social welfare, laboratory work, research, dietetics, geology, and anthropology, are Helds of endeavor open to women. Mr. Dow believes that the study of science prepares us to live with greater understanding in this scientific world. He thinks that the natural desire of pupils for information shows-the inclination they have towards further interests in this field. Mr. Dorin holds that science'has many rewards-thoroughness, patience, and a sense of personal accomplishment. A good worker possesses courage, alertness, the ability to think independently, honesty, and a love of truth for its own sake. She may become a beautician, with a knowledge of cosmetics chemistry, a journalist for a scientific publication, do museum work, or home economics. In other words, the vocations in which women scientists may engage, are numer- ous and varied. The object of teaching science in the school is to enable us to engage in these positions, and to provide a strong, solid foundation on which we can base our future life. isx

Page 17 text:

NAN MATE Yes, one can grow to love inanimate things like the rain, or lonesome, black trees, or a violin. What makes me think so? I know because Ilve done it. Listen: I was small, oh very small when it happened. All day it had been dark and wet. Music was all about the house, in the corners of rooms and tumbling up and down the staircase. What kind of music? I forget, but it was played on a violin by my father. It was played by my father, my tall, care-bent father, on a violin. I had been looking at the cold, swift rain. My chin rested on the window sill. There was a lonesome, black tree outside, so near I could almost reach through the rain and touch one of its lean branches. But I dared not open the window for Mother sat in the corner, sewing, and Mother hated drafts. Yes, Mother hated drafts and she hated the rain and friendless trees and 'music and the violin. I can believe now that what happened was best and that the f retful unhappiness of the day was leading up to it. You see Mother had never loved the violin, nor had she ever liked music. Today, she sat here in my room, pretending that the silver lines of melody winding about the house weren't scratching at her heart. What about my father, my tall, care-bent father? I'Ie had lived with the violin as I have with the rain and leafless trees-always. We hadn't had dinner yet. Father had practiced all day and Mother was unhappy and weary over it. You see, there was a Wall between them, a hard impenetrable shaft of music. I had seen it in the dismay in my father's eyes. I had heard it in words that were never spoken. When dinner was ready, Mother took me downstairs. The music stopped. Have you ever noticed how the air vibrates when music stops? In reality it doesn't stop. It never can. I I saw Father put down the violin, so thin and fragile. He layed it on the deep couch in the parlor. The instrument was so light that it hardly sank in the cushions. There was strange, stilted- conversation at dinner. It went like this: 4'Spring is so soon now, do we need more coal? MNO, with Spring so near we can think of shrubs and flowers and a gar- den for Annf, ..- 1 r it - Fl . I I sf v r I If at f' I f v