McKinley High School - Nugget Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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THE SPIRIT or AMERICAN EDUCATION wiglzgjgen The dlblflil' of Q1 merzkwz gducafion When we speak of the education of a country, we must go much deeper than its course of study, its methods, and its administrative machinery. To thoroughly appreciate the growth of education in the United States, we must know the history of the people, their temperament, their traditions, and the spirit of their institutions. Education is the outcome of all these. It is the embodiment of the genius, the aspirations and the compromises of a people. No adequate idea of Greek art or Greek literature could be obtained unless there were known the characteristics of the Greek people, their intense love of freedom, and their passion for physical beauty and development. We must look, therefore, to historical beginnings. The United States has been particularly fortunate in this respect. It has had no legacy of ignorance and stupidity bequeathed from the Middle Ages. The very fact that the settlers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries must have had keen minds and stout hearts to lead them to brave the dangers of the ocean and the wilderness, precluded the forming of the stolid, inert mass of citizenship, which every older civilization inherits. The United States have never been burdened with blind allegience to precedent or servility to a creed. Whatever nation of Europe you may choose for an example, whether we take France, or Prussia, which for nearly a cen- tury have been engaged upon the problem of education for the masses, or England, which has been engaged upon it for a lesser time, or Russia, which isjust making a beginning-they have all had first to penetrate down through the ignorance, the superstition, and even the antipathy to culture developed by centuries of mental apathy. They have had first to awaken a responsive spirit-a problem which the- United States has escaped. In fact, our educa- tional policies, like other administrative features, have sprung into being in response to the demands of the people and the spirit of the times. Education is a broad term and means not only the mechanism of instruction, but the national life outside the schools, and that vital intelligence of the people which maintains its institutions and establishes its ideals. -NELLIE BoswELL S6fl0Ol ISl0z'rz'z' You probably hear people talk about school spirit, but do you know what it means? You might think that it means attend all the athletic games. Yes, it means that and more. It means that you put forty minutes of study every evening on each study, this means at least two hours. There are but few who do this. It also means that we pay strict attention in class. We talk about raising lVIcKinley's standards. We can never accomplish this without these things being done. Continued on Page 128

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--agfazjgiw T H E 0.4 R NA TI o N what the 55FT6flZZ'65,, T-772.726 of Us l VVhat was your first opinion of this high and mighty edifice the first term you were here? Could you honestly say the things that many of our new juniors are saying? But you will ask, What do they say? That is just what I am going to tell you. Frances Truelove has instilled in herself the true spirit of McKinley. She says, McKinley is a very wonderful high school, I think one of the finest, and its principles and teachers are of the best. What more could we ask. Laurine Wittendorf said that she thinks it great here. They surely do know how to make things pleasant for the new pupils, and that's what I likef' ' Then Marguerite Farley told me that she thinks high school much more enjoyable than grade school. To be sure, that is saying a great deal, for, as I have heard from many pupils, Marguerite had a very lively time at grade school. Fine, replied Corine Kerner, Marie Moran, Mary Ross, and Charlotte Stiener to the standing question. They even added Uscrumdeluviousf' I hardly know where they found the word, but if its derivation were given it would mean more to us than this preposterous word. However, by the time they have attained the honor of being seniors, such words will vanish from their vocabularies. However, Alice Aeissle seems to know more about it than the rest, for she says, We have many more liberties here and we can do many things not permissible in grade school. Be careful, Alice, don't take too many privileges now, you had better wait awhile. A group of girls including Vera Mertin, Charlotte Valentine, Helen Marie F ruth, Celeste East, Georgia Flower, Margaret Murry, and Ruth Augustine, when asked if they liked it here, answered in a chorus, Well, I should say so, it surely is '.vwe!!'. But best of all are the answers of Cecilia and Monica Halloran, our fresh twins. They said that McKinley to them is beautiful and they want to enter into every activity they can in order to be known throughout the school. We love the principal and teachers here, then, too, we enjoy having the honor of attending McKinley, broke in Cecilia. Here's wishing every new junior all the success in the world for his remaining years in High School and I sincerely hope that all of you may have a taste of every activity of the school. No matter how insignificant you may seem now, remember that some day you are going to be the leaders of the school so prepare now for the steps that are sure to present themselves. ' -MARVEL BA RNETT

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apiiii.. THE CARNA Tzoiv Tru zffiml 5a'zzm!z'01z The history of education in the United States, for the last century, has shown it to be eminently practical, and peculiarly responsive to public de- mand. Its close relation and responsibility to the people preclude its taking any other form. It is not a thing apart from the public and for the benefit of the few as in the days of the Egyptian priesthood, but ratherit is the instru- ment of the people in shaping the destiny of the country. Given, then, the trend of the development of this country and there follows as its corallary, the tendency of its education. The twentieth century is the scene of the struggle for commercial and industrial supremacy. The rivalry of nations has become intense and their activities are turned toward the thousand-fold phases of commerce and industry, each requiring special training, and each dependent on the Hexibility of mind and adaptability to conditions of its followers. The United States has entered this world conflict, with all its energy, and the successes it has gained have startled its competitors. The kind of education, therefore, of value to these changed conditions, and best likely to train our citizens for their future work, will be the kind of education to which our schools will perforce adapt themselves. This falls naturally into three divisions: education for commerce, education for trades and other industries, and education for agriculture. The educational leaders of the country are busily engaged upon the problem of how to adapt sufficient training in these lines to meet the demands of the age, and, at the same time to retain, the balance which has been maintained in our curriculums with the more clearly cultural subjects, the broad and liberal training in which has been the source of our past strength and present power. This must not be sacrificed in the adjustment which must inevitably come, for to do so would be to remove the cornerstone of the edifice. The education of a democracy determines its duration. We are engaged upon the greatest experiment in popular government the world has ever seen. Our remarkable progress should not blind us to the inherent danger of a republic. The advancing tide of socialism, the destructive doctrine of anarchy, the theories of Utopians, and false principles of government can only be met by making our general public familiar with true economic principles. To bring economic science within the reach of the masses is the vital problem of a democracy. There is only one machinery that can effect- ually do this-education. Education including a continuous and extensive drill on the rational principles of political and social economics, during the formative period of the minds of our future citizens. It is an old saying that every artisan philosophizes in his own way, but it is a responsibility of the state to teach them the right way. The strength and promise of our great country depend on the correct education of the boys and girls of today, who are to be the citizens of tomorrow. -NELLIE BOSWELL