La Porte High School - El Pe Yearbook (La Porte, IN)

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Each recitation period per week, if work be continued througn one- half year, entitle.' the person successfully completing requirements of same to one-fifth credit. The subjects prescribed in the various courses will be found in the exhibit of work given below. Four years arc regularly required for completing any regular course and a minimum ot thirty-two credits is required tor graduation from regular courses. Substitution in subjects in stated courses may be made with the consent of the Principal and Superintendent, but substitutions invalidating the college entrance or State Commission requirements will forfeit right to any but the Thirty Credit or Special Course Diploma. The daily program and courses arc so arranged that pupils so desiring it may with the consent of the Principal and .Superintendent do more than the regular amount of work, and thus shorten the time re- quired for graduation, or by wise selection may be able to complete all required work for graduation in more than one course during four years. The privilege of extra work will be forfeited, however, should the regu- lar work fail to be satisfactory. A credit represents one recitation five times per week for one-half year. Regular work requires so recitations of 4; minutes each per week, exclusive of music and general exercises. The various courses of the schcols are made up frem work selected from the nine departments. The English department is the last one organized, and was estab- lished a a separate department in 1897, with Miss Katharine Crane as teacher. Miss Crane still holds the literature work, while the composition work i in charge of Miss Karolir.c Klager. The course includes the reading of a college requirement list of classics in English and American Literature, together with a grammatical and rhetorical study of these works and a four years’ course in English Composition. It is the intention, as soon as practicable, to add to the work of this department one year’s work in the history of literature. This can be done by re-arranging the literature work in grades seven to eleven inclusive, without requiring any additional hours on part of the students. The Latin department was one of the first established in the schools, and i' now in charge of Mr. C. O. Nelson. The work of the Department calls for the following: First Year:—General principles of Grammar, laying stress upon con- jugation, declension and syntax. About fifty pages of easy Latin arc translated. Second Year:—Translation of four books of Casar’s Gallic War; the study of more complex forms of Latin prose, indirect discourse and the study of Roman warfare. Third Year—Translation of six orations of Cicero; study of prose composition; study of Reman life and oratory. Fourth Year:—Translation of nine books of Virgil’s Acneid; Geo- graphy of the Ancient World; essays on subjects suggested by the text; i ,000 to 2,500 lines of Ovid. The German department is in charge of Miss Karolinc Klager, and the course is arranged as follows: First Year:— Conversational exercises and reading. Latt.r par: of the year. Grammar. Second Year:—Grammar: Translations .'rum English into German; German into English. Reading easy German; prose and poetry. Third Year:—Continue Grammar. Write shor: German compo- sitions and translations. Harris’ Prose Composition. Read and discuss German classics: WjH-am Tell, The Song of the Be!!, Schiller; Mina von Barnhclm, Lessing; Short Poems; Goethe, c:c. Graduates of this department have entered the Junior German Classes in Ann Arbor, by examination. In the department of Mathematics, in charge of Principal F. L. Sims, the work is as follows: First Year:--Algebra, through quadratics. Second Yea:: -Plane Geometry. Third Year: -Solid Geometry; Lines and planes in span; Polyhedrons; Cylinders and Cones; the Sphere. Fourth Yea: : Second Semester, Higher Algebra, in charge o: Superintendent Wo. i; Radicals, (Quadratics, Ratio, Proportion, Progressions, Imaginary (Quantities, L ga- rtthms. Binominal Theorem. Throughout the course special attention is given to practical appli- cations of the work, much supplementary work and original demon- strations being required.

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The High School Departments j8T a system of schools (he size of LaPortc’s it is practically impossible to keep a clearly defined separation of the departments in High School work. Even if it were possible from a financial standpoint and practical from the point of class attendance it is still questionable if the genera] welfare and interests of the whole school could be so well cared for under a scheme when the departments were isolated and the workers in one department have no vital or necessary interest in the workers of another department. The fact that a teacher acts as head in one department and as a»i»:an: in another gives the teacher a double view-point of the school work and compels a social and co-operative spirit frequently wanting in the faculties of higher schools. Par-'y by necessity and partly bv plan the high school is so arranged, with, one exception, that each teacher serves as responsible head in some one line of work and as assistant in another, thus giving a double bond of unity and a greater harmony of action. The names of those who have served as departmental teachers in the city high schools will be found on pages 11 J and I t 4 Many of those who have served here as high school teachers have gone on in their professional careers to positions of influence and prominence in tate and national educational affairs. The attendance in the high school during the past decade has more •sn doubled, while the teaching corps ha remained practically the same in number. To keep pace with the educational progress of the country at large, course» have been modified and extended so that the work of the various iepartmen- -and.' accredited with that of the best schools in the nation. The La Porte City High School offer to its students four years’ work in each of the following lines: English, Science, Commercial Bran.he», l-atin. Art — Pictorial, Decorative, or Technical—and .Music, and offers three year courses in German, Mathematics and History. Teachers specially qualified by- scholarship and experience for each of these lines of work have been secured. Ample equipments in the way of laboratories and libraries arc provided, and opportunities equal to the best are offered to all wishing to do high school work. Entrance to the I-a Porte High School may be had upon examination and assignment by the Superintendent, or without examination on pres- entation of certificate of attendance in other high schools of good standing, upon evidence of satisfactory completion of work from the eighth grades of the City Schools, or on diploma from the Country Schools of Indtana. Advanced standing and credit will be given for work done in the Township High Schools of LaPorte County on presentation of certified copy of pupil’» record on entering the IjPortc High School. To meet the different tendencies and ambitions of students the six years’ work offered has been divided into three lines of four years each, named by the leading subject and entitling those completing any one of these lines to a diploma of Graduation. These courses are the Latin, Scientific and Commercial. The Latin Course admits to Literary or Scientific Courses of the leading Colleges and Universities of the Central States without examination. The Scientific Course admits to the College Scientific without examinations. The Commercial Course gives no Col- lege entrance without examinations. Those contemplating this course, however, have recently been admitted on all work done here, conditioned in University of Michigan in Iumguagc. In case students do not wish to take all the prescribed work of any course, a diploma may be earned by successfully completing elective work for not less than thirty credits, the minimum for which diplomas arc granted. This diploma docs not entitle holder to college entrance without examination. 16

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The Science department is in charge of Mr. C. |. Pojey, and ii equipped with chemical, physical and biological laboratories. The department otter.- one year’» work in Botany or Zoology on alternate •• ear.-. one-half year's w ork each in Physical Geography and Physiology, and a full year’s work in Physio and Chemistry. The laboratory equipments arc adequate, and throughout the course laboratory note-books arc prepared in connection with laboratory practice. The department of History has not vet been organized as a distinct department. The work is at present distributed so that first year work in Genera History is conducted by Miss Katharine Crane and Mr. C. O. Nelson. The work in English History, U. S. History and Civil Government is conducted by Principal F. L. Sims, who has charge of the history work. It is hoped that a special teacher of history may soon be appointed, and that a!! this w ork may be put under the care of one person, giving an organic view of the three or four years’ work which may be offered under such circumstances. The course in history needs extension, but steps in that direction are not advisable with the present limited teaching corps. The Commercial department is fast gaining favor with students and patrons, and is in charge of Mr. II. C. Noe, who also acts as super- visor in the grades. The extension of the work from two to four years has resulted in more than doubling the membership in the department, and has made it equal to the other departments in scholastic worth and training. As now organized the department offers two and one-half years in Book-keeping and Business Practice; one year in Commercial Arithmetic; one year in Commercial Gcographv , one-half year in Com- mercial Law and De-iriptivc Economics and one year in Shorthand and Typew riting. The enrollment this year in the Typewriting class is forty-eight, and the prospects arc for a greater attendance if a sufficient number of machines can he provided. The Art department for the past twelve years has been in charge of Mr. F. H. Simon-, who also acts as supervisor in the grades. He has done much to cultivate an appreciation of Art and to develop artistic ability in this community. The High School Art Course offers four years of consecutive work in each of the lines offered, namely. Pictorial, Decorative and Construc- tive. Both Decorative and Constructive work requires as a basis a familiarity with the principles of pictorial, perspective, light and shade and water color work. And so those desiring to enter technical classes arc strongly advised to elect the pictorial with the decorative or con- structive work. Several students and post-graduates take the four years’ work in the three lines. The department of Music is in charge of Miss Helen Poole, also supervisor in the grades. Each class has class instruction on the theory of Music and vocal exercises one period each week. In the class room the course furnishes work throughout the four years as follows; First and Second Years; — Elements of Mu ic, Solfeggios, Sight Reading, Two-part Harmony , Rounds, Theory of Seales, Vowel Prac- tice and Formation of Tone, Chorus Practice. Third and Fourth Years;—Transpositions, Modulations, Elements of Harmony, Intervals, General History of Music. Chorus Practice. The department of Physical Culture i in charge of Miss Nina B. I.amki», whose services have been retained by the High School Athletic Association. The gymnasium has been established in the old Third Ward School Building. It was remodeled by the Board of Education; the apparatus has been furnished by the Athletic Association. Each class receives instruction two periods per week under the direction of the instructor, with privileges of the gymnasium at all unoccu- pied periods during the week. The expenses of the department have been paid by membership fees and proceeds from athletic entertainments given during the past two years. In all the departments there has been an earnest endeavor on part of pupils and teachers to do honest work and to make the interest of each department subordinate to the interests and general welfare of the entire school. The best work in the departments can only be done when there is most pertect harmony and co-operation on the par: of those responsible for the various lines of work. The maintenance of these departments and the liberal patronage of them reflects great credit on the community, and speaks much for the educational sentiment of La Porte. -