Marist School - Guidon Yearbook (Atlanta, GA)

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History effect a higher union. They are manifestations of spirit to spirit, bringing into widest and subtlest play the whole mind of man and are therefore more insisted on. This is especially true of the Classics. which must always be kept in the foremost position as a means of education. XYith this distinctly in view, Marist College has the usual courses of studies and conforms fully to the standards now prevailing. CSce pages 13-22.5 The staff is composed largely of university graduates: men of learning teaching evcn the grammar grades. The profes- sors in the l-ligh-school grades use the departmental method -one professor to one subject and not to a class. The classes are limited to twenty-live pupils. generally having less than that number, and the teacher's attention is therefore neces- sarily given to each individual. llut the forming of the mind is to the Cath- 4. The olic the development of only part of the boy. Body. The body too has its sanctity, its purpose and perfection. The training of the body, but in due proportion, is as much the aim of education-taken in the full sense-as is the training of the mind. The fostering of it is as magnilicent in results as the neglect of it is bane- ful. Among the overlooked benelits arrived at through phys- ical training are: the development of the much needed pow- er of physical endurance: thc acquiring of erectness of figure and gracefulness of carriage Cgaiued in early rather than in later lifebz the improving of the powers of expression: the increase of executive intellectual activity. the strengthening of the moral nature. And as military drill is incomparably the best means for imparting these benelits. accomplishing its end without strain or spasmodic effort, but equally and gently, it is made the most important part of the physical training. Military discipline pervades the school day from assembly in thc morning till dismissal in the afternoon. Besides, three times a wcelc, a period of 45 minutes is given to military drill: and all under a Conunandant, exclusively occupied with the supervision of the military. Added to this is the gymnasium training given twice a week, for 45 minute periods, in a fully equipped gymnasium. and under another specialist exclusively engaged as physical director. This military and physical training is made an integral and an obligatory part of the Marist system, and is incorporated in the curriculum. Apart from the obligatory exercises, Marist College gives its pupils exceptional advantages for recreation and athletics after school hours. lt offers a large campus and a fully equipped gymnasium in the heart of the city, and with- in easy Peru-li of the boys of Atlanta. lt has apparatus for handball. baseball, tennis, basketball, etc. Tt provides an experienced coach during the afternoon hours, who sees that the boys observe other rules' in addition to those of the games. lfinally, members of the faculty constantly take part in the after-school recreations, and by mingling with the boys. surround them with the safeguards and the atmos- phere of home. Thus Marist College sees that both soul and sense are gradually cultivated to their fullest efliciency. lint this docs not suffice. The boy must be a 5. The Heart. gentleman, not stiff with the forms of eti- quette, but as Cardinal Newman suggests, at- tractive with an unceasing watehfulness to avoid paining oth- ers unnecessarily. Tele must he polite to all, to his masters. to his school-mates, to strangers always, he must be refined in manners, neither loudmouthed and quarrelsome in play, nor boisterous and disorderly in work.- Lastlv, but above all, the formation of charac- 6. Character. tcr, the increase of the sense of responsibility and the capacity for independent action, must be delinitely kept in view as a great. aim of all schooling. 8

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II. Educational System Dinh! FOR A CATHOLIC, Religion is the primary 1. Catholic element of life. Education, understood as an Education. enriching and stimulating of the intellectual faculties, has of itself little moral efficacy. As such it does not form the conscience, impress the will or mould the imagination, the emotions and the affections as subsidiaries for the great aim of life. The National Educa- tional Association gave partial expression and exemplilication of this truth when it said that there is in the minds of the children and youth of today a tendency toward a disregard for constituted authority: a lack of respect for age and sti- perior wisdom: a weak appreciation of the demands of duty, a disposition to follow pleasure and interest rather than ob- ligation and order: and this condition demands the earnest thought and action of our leaders of opinion, and places im- portant obligations upon school autlioritiesf, The Associa- tion did not lix the responsibility for this state of affairs, nor did it point out the only trtie and adequate remedy: Religion. A school system that totally ignores religion is not only unreligious but irreligious. Failing to teach the young the fundamental basis of the infinite, it puts their whole life out of harmony with the greatest fact of human environment, the primary and the most essential. Religion only can adequately teach that fact: it only can give the principles of morality, purify the heart and guide and strengthen the will. Finally- and this is very important-the principles of religion, and the application of them to conduct, must be taught gradually and continuously, from the beginning, that they may be the vital force supporting the whole of life. Governed by these ideas, the Fathers of the 2. The Marist Society of Mary have founded a college to College. guide the young men of Atlanta through all the years of school life. to start the religious, moral, mental and physical development toward the perfect man. The Marist College was legally incorpo- rated in 1902 under the laws of the State of Georgia, with the power to grant diplomas and confer degrees. The Col- lege, taking the Catholic religion as the very foundation of its work, teaches the dogmas, the moral principles and the history of the Catholic Chtirch to its Catholic pupils, trains them to her practices and informs their lives with her spirit. No student, however, is denied entrance, privileges or honors on account of the religious opinions he may entertain. No inliuence whatever is brought to bear upon him with a view to undermining his belief. ln fact, none but Catholic boys arc allowed to study or even inquire about religious matters. With reference to things mental, this only 3. The Mind. need be stated-and, amid the confusion of views on the ends and means of education, should be stated: the aim is formation rather than informa- tion, development rather than knowledge. And so, the studies, which are merely the instrtiments used, are chosen, limited and given prominence, according to their peculiar tisefulness toward this end. The Mathematical and natural sciences bring the sttident into contact with the aspects of material nature and exercise the inductive and deductive powers of reason. Language and 7 .

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Character has more to do with the boy's success and happi- ness now and in after years, and with his usefulness to oth- ers, than have the extent and adequacy of the school building and plant, bodily development or even intellectual training. By all means, these important matters must not be neglected, but due formation of character and the independence of the pupil are of more consequence than all of them combined. So, besides the usual constant instilling of the Christian principles of morality and the daily training in the practice of them, in the class room, on the campus even after school hours, as stated above, through the military, towards instruc- tors and fellow students, there are special conferences on politeness and on character several times a week. lint as education is the responsibility of the 7. Parental , parents, a responsibility which can never be C0-0pera- entirely delegated to the school, it is clear ation. that, even thus complete on the College side, it must inevitably fail, if it have not the con- stant supervision and co-operation of the parents. ' lint a merely passive, negative co-operation is by no means enough. lt is not satisfying their obligations if parents re- fuse to ask for their son unreasonable exemptions-such as, for instance, 'permission to leave school before the last class, in order to attend a matinee. lt is not living up to their duty to rest content with seeing that their boy does not miss school except for gravest reasons. arrive late, appear without uni- form or dress untidily. Parents are bound also to a lively interest in the boy's work. They should enquire about it, watch how it is done, notice the marks gained, the rank ob- tained, the punishments inHieted. etc., etc. They should keep before their son's mind the one general object of all his studies. They should see that he applies himself seriously two or three hours daily at home-the College strongly sug- gests from four to six in the afternoon, and another hour in the evening or early morning. And while abstaining scru- pulously from affording help in the written exercises, they should insist that these be completed. They are held even more strictly to deliberately back the efforts and approve the action of the professors, reserving for private explanations with the Vice-President of the College whatever they find faulty in character or method. Naturally. too, by word as well as by example, they will help the College to make character in their son's mind dis- tinctlv paramount to learning or to mere intcllectuality. Only thus. when the College and the home work hand in hand, can a just expectation be had of educational progress: nor is the parent who leaves the guarding and stimulating of a boy entirely to the College, who asks for excuses on the slightest pretext, or who condones what the College authority condemns, quite consistent in his surprise and vexatlon at a disappointment not altogether uncaused by himself. But if both school and home, with patience and self-sacrifice, assist the boy daily. who can tell the glorious results? The College urges upon parents the duty of coming frequently to the school during class hours. that through interchange of light upon the doings and the character and the hopes of the boys, these may be better helped by both teachers and parents. And here we would call the close attention 8. Homework. of parents to a matter, the importance and scope of which is oftentimes misunderstood. l-imnc work, written and unwritten, is an indispensable, ele- mental and integral part of' the Marist educational scheme. When principles. rules and theories have been explained in class, when analyses have been outlined, methods shown, models exposed. it is necessarv that the pupil tix them indel- ibly and practically in his intelligence. There is only one way to do this: bv himself working out the analysis, copying the methods, applying thc-'rules and committing to memory the valuable facts. This is the pupil's original contribution, the 9