Manchester High School - Somanhis Yearbook (Manchester, CT)

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c SOMANHIS EVENTS a By the middle of the eighteenth century the people realized that the classic curriculum was inadequate for the needs of the American youth and that a broader form of secondary education was needed. Thus, developed the academy which offered a larger range of subjects. Meantime the older education of home and community still continued. Children learned by taking part with their parents how to manage the daily routine of life; most of them receiving in the home the necessary preparation for the moral and practical side of life. Our growing industrialism, changing conditions in the community, the needs of society to be served, the character of the individuals to be educated, demanded a new form of institution and in answer to this demand has grown our modern high school which has three fundamental aims: first, the preparation of the student to become a good citizen of the community ; second, the preparation of the individual as a good worker and producer; and third, the preparation of the individual to utilize leisure and develop person- ality. These three aims taken together constitute the social aim of the high school. The high school realizes that the entire development of the student depends upon his physical well being and the establishment of good health habits. In former days students received exercise through manual labor or by walking long distances to and from school. Today, because of the changed social and economic conditions, the student has not the opportunity to receive indirect exercise and he must be provided with some sort of physical training; otherwise he will fail in health. The forms of this exer- cise vary with the school. It may be given by military drills, formal gym- nastic exercises, athletics, and games. In our own school the effort is made to establish good health ideals through gymnasium work and sports for all classes. We are well equipped with a good gymnasium and swimming pool, although the growth of the high school has been so rapid that already the gymnasium has proved inade- quate in size to meet all the requirements of physical training. There is also a need for outdoor fields near at hand which can be easily reached by our athletic teams. With a larger gymnasium and outdoor fields near the school we would be equipped to give a splendid foundation of physical soundness to our high school boys and girls. With the establishment of physical requirements attention may be drawn to the social interests of high school. They are accomplished through var- ious studies, social activities, and the general environment of the school. Although all subjects should contribute to good citizenship, the social studies—geography, history, civics, and economics, have this as their domin- ant aim. History emphasizes the growth of institutions so that their pres- ent value may be appreciated. Geography shows the interdependence of men and their common dependence on nature. Civics directs attention to the informal activities of daily life that regard and seek the common good. Through clubs and social activities the student receives the actual experience in social intercourse. The preparation of the individual as a good worker and producer is accomplished through study and actual training in a chosen profession. The various curriculums are so planned as to equip the individual to secure a livelihood for himself and those dependent on him; to serve society well through his vocation; to maintain the right relationship toward his fellow workers and society; and, as far as possible, to find in his vocation his own Hest development. The trade school and commercial courses are very good examples. In the trade school course the student goes half time to the high school and half t ime to trade school where he receives the actual experience in some trade. In the commercial course he receives his training in high school, pursuing such practical studies and actual practice in them as fit him for commercial and office work,

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238 SO MANUEL LS. ver NDS SALUTATORY—THE HIGH SCHOOL The class of 1926 bids you a cordial welcome to its graduation exercises. School officials, teachers, parents, under-graduates, friends, all of you who have contributed to our opportunities and pleasures for the past four years. We are glad that you could be here tonight, to enjoy, we hope, the last cere- mony in which we may play a part as members of the South Manchester High School student body. We have had visiting days at which time large numbers of you have come to the school to see the work of the classes and to inspect the running plant of the school. During the last three years these visiting days have been evening occasions, and we have come back to our reg- ular work and you have come to school with us. The favorable comments which this practice has received made us feel this year that you might like to hear and know something more about the type of work we are doing in high school. We believe that the high school should mean something to you, should be not simply a big brick building with rooms and desks and the persistent clock that makes bells ring. It has meant something more than that to us. It has meant the involving of new world’s knowledge, the devel- opment of new fields of activity; the appreciation of learning as science, as an art; and above all it has suggested to us the various channels into which we shall steer our vocational desires. Tonight then, our program will be a sort of demonstration. We shall show you something of the actual work which has been done in our classes. We shall take snatches of class room experiences and weave them into a pattern which it pleases us to call our high school life. The musical part of our program, the orchestra, the choruses, and the instrumental numbers will indicate to you that we have not lost the appreciation of the fine arts. In this respect our art department will demonstrate a practical lesson of interior decorating. Art and music are the finer elements of our life and through our work in these courses we develop results for the proper use of our leisure time. The science department will perform experiments for you and give you a glimpse of what a class might be doing in one of our laboratories where experiments which stimulate still further things and cause us to build up theories and laws which explain the wonders of science, are made. Mathe- matics, will be demonstrated with practical applications. Latin, the founda- tion of the classical department, will be defended, if indeed it needs a defense, with a literary exposition. We shall show something of the work of the French department by means of collected posters which will give opportunity for French conversation. The direct method of French instruction is utiliz- ed in this school in such manner that all conversation wherever possible is conducted in French. With the social science you will get a practical illus- tration of how important a part knowledge of government and history may play in our every day lives. The commercial department, perhaps the largest of any in school, has combined its forces into an office scene created to give an opportunity to watch the application of some of our lessons car- ried into an actual business office. And as we are taught the right and to avoid the wrong way of doing things you will notice the characters of this little sketch represent these principles. The cooperative department which brings us in touch with the trade school will give a laboratory demonstra- tion of some of the work carried on in the technical field and will indicate the close relation which exists between the academic training and the techni- cal theory. After listening to the program tonight you will have a clear conception of what the modern high school is trying to accomplish. The high school of today is not a very old public institution. In colon- ial days the Latin grammar school modeled on the Latin grammar school of England, with its curriculums restricted to the study of the classics, was the only form of secondary education,

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SOMANHIS EVENTS Today working hours have been shortened and wages increased and the worker is in possession of more time than formerly. But how shall he use his leisure hours? The unworthy use of leisure impairs health, disrupts home life, and destroys civic mindedness and therefore secondary education strives to show the individual how to secure from leisure the re-crea tion of body, mind, and spirit, and the enrichment and enlargement of personality, through the enjoyment of music, art, literature, drama, and social intercourse. Through the accomplishment of these aims is the thoughtful high school of today trying to adapt itself to the new situation. Its task is great. It has yet much to learn; but it is alert both to the demands and to the dangers. It begs your sympathy, for without your help it cannot be. Svea Lindberg THE VALUE OF A HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS COURSE Many people take the study of mathematics for granted, as though its presence on the curriculum of High Schools in the past justifies it at present. But the past does not always justify the present, therefore let us consider the value of mathematics in the High School today. The aims of education are two fold: the acquisition of knowledge, and the cultivation of intellectual activity. Then how does mathematics measure up to these standards? Mathematics, which in High School consists of arithmetic, algebra, plane and solid geometry and trigonometry, is a science of necessary conclusions. It is not isolated but connected with other sciences and is interwoven with them and our everyday life. It has a practical value for it is used by carpenters, plumbers, and craft- men, business men, and engineers, ship builders, astronomers, and all other scientific men. In its simplest forms it can be used in every day life, for as Prof. J. W. A. Young of the University of Chicago says, “There is no subject except the mother tongue which is so intimately connected with daily life.” To the student who has not yet decided upon his life work the study of math- ematics has a call, for he is sure to meet it in every field that he enters. But nine tenths of the pupils who study mathematics in its higher forms never use it for practical purposes.. What then, can be gained by these students? Is the time spent in this study wasted? It is not wasted for there is specific value in the training in higher mathematics which is on a level with that found in any other subject. The most outstanding lessons learned are neatness and accuracy in work, and reasoning, for without these mathe- matics is impossible. Then follows training in attention and concentration on which a pupil’s success is largely dependent. A student must also learn to analyze and to observe the smallest reasons and statements and to shape them into a com- plete proof. By axioms, laws, and propositions, simplicity of language is taught. Independence is also emphasized, for no pupil can get the best there is in this course if he is dependent on the work of others. The training in the use of symbols can be compared in a small way to the study of shorthand. In geometry there is a study of the fundamental types of reasoning by which a student may develop a logical mind, and appreciation for correct reasoning. It is in this branch of the course that many lawyers and ministers have had their start. ;