Main Avenue High School - El Sombrero Yearbook (San Antonio, TX)

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 The Department of English INASMUCH as English is the only prescribed subject in the curriculum of the Main Avenue High Sehoool, six credits in English being the minimum requirement for graduation, this department is the largest in point of numbers in the school. More than 90 per cent of the students take English—many by compulsion, not a few from choice. The course of study has been altered from time to time in order to keep the work of the department abreast with advanced ideas in education, and will compare favorably with that offered in all but the more richly endowed high schools of the country, where greater library facilities and a larger teaching force in proportion to enrollment permit a differentiation of courses and a closer adaptation of the work to individual needs than is possible with us. The work of the department covers eight terms. In addition to the usual course in rhetoric and composition, a rich course of reading is offered in each class, including the chief English and American classics. From five to six plays of Shakespeare are studied—nearly all of those on the list for college entrance. English 6 is a course in American literature, with an extensive list of supplementary reading, and English 7 and 8 give a preliminary view of English literature, in which the student gets a first-hand introduction to the more important writers. A course in business English and one in argumentation have both been'the subject of serious consideration and cannot be much longer postponed. For students who can afford to disregard university entrance requirements, a course in nineteenth century and recent literature will prove highly attractive. But for such a course the library will have to be supplied with so many of the newer books that a special endowment fund will be required. Every two weeks the teachers of English confer together on the needs of the department, and lay plans for improving the course and for making the instruction more efficient. Various types of educational tests arc given, and the results of these tesls will form the basis of changes as soon as they can be applied. A beginning has already been made in English 1, where the students entering the high school in February were assigned to differentiated sections of the class as a result of a reading test held at the close of the preceding term. A course in library training is now being formulated, and when completed will be a valuable adjunct to the study of literature as well as to the other activities of the school. Sixteen

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 The Department of Mathematics OHE department of mathematics of our school offers two year’s work in algebra, one in plane geometry, one term in solid geometry, and one term in plane trigonometry. This term, we have twenty-nine classes, taught by eight teachers, five of whom teach nothing else. These classes are full, some to overflowing. Our aim is to lay a secure foundation for the advanced mathematics necessary to all scientific work, to use and train the reasoning powers, to develop habits of accuracy and mental alertness, and to permit the mathematical elect to enjoy themselves in this kind of thinking. While all serious work becomes irksome at times, anyone observing our students at work would be convinced that but few of them are unhappy in it. To be sure, we are favored, in that mathematics is not required. Those whose talents be along other no less useful lines, and who would suffer too acutely, let it alone. While we know there are bright boys and girls that do not take mathematics, it is undoubtedly true that our advanced classes are picked groups, above the average in intelligence. Eighteen