Memphis University School - Owl Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

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Mr. AAcLaren muses over stu- Man ' s territorial imperative is subject dent ' s opinion. of Mr. Smith ' s lecture. Mr. Cooper discusses composition assignment. 17

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ENGLI9H ELECTIVE8 PROVE 8UCCE88 When classes began in September, Juniors and Seniors had their choice of eight elective English courses, most of them one semester in length. This innovation proved extremely popular as students could study what interested them most, studying under a different teacher each semester. Mr. William Hatchett, Chairman of the English De- partment, received his B.A. degree from Southwestern at Memphis and his M.A. degree from Columbia Uni- versity. Chairman of the Humanities Committee was Mr. James Russell, who received his B.A. degree from Tulane University and his M.A.T. from Vanderbilt University. Other instructors were Mr. Melvin Cooper, A.B., Columbia College; Mr. David Smith, B.A., South- western at Memphis; and Mr. Arch McLaren, Jr., B.A. Vanderbilt University, J.D., Memphis State University. Mr. Hatchett taught two elective courses Shake- speare and English and American Romantics . Shake- speare students studied Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night ' s Dream. The Romantics class studied numerous poets but concentrated on Wordsworth, Keats, Byron, and Shelly. Mr. Cooper taught a course entitled The Problem of Sin and Evil . The class studied in detail novels and plays examining the nature of evil, including works by Conrad, Dostoevsky, Hardy, and Dante. Man ' s Search for Utopia, the course taught by Mr. Russell, involved extensive study and discussion of the works and philosophies of Plato, Sir Thomas Moore, Sir Francis Bacon, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, B. F. Skinner, and C. S. Lewis. Mr. McLaren conducted a course in Modern Ameri- can Drama . Students studied the history of drama in America, but the emphasis was on extensive read- ing of plays. The class read three plays per week and studied one of them intensively in class. Among the plays studied were The Crucible, Death of a Sales- man, Desire under the Elms, and Who ' s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which one class saw performed at Front Street Theater. The course taught by Mr. Smith, Man ' s Search for Himself , required reading of both fiction and non- fiction. Some of the works studied were The Old Man and the Sea, Hamlet, The Gospel According to St. Luke, and African Genesis. Probably the most demanding and interesting course was the Humanities, a two semester course taught by Messrs. Russell, Hatchett, Cooper, and Mac- Queen, along with occasional assistance from other members of the faculty. This extremely challenging course was an intensive study of Western Civilization from ancient Greece up to the present. Students ex- amined the way man has used his intellect over the past two thousand years to articulate a philosophy, to expound a religion, or to express himself in writing, music, painting, or sculpture. Among the numerous works of literature studied were the Oedious Trioloqy, Dante ' s Inferno, Hamlet, Tartuffe, Candide, The Sun Also Rises, and the Stranger. 16

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Correct pronunciation is explicitly given by Mr. Saucedo to second year Spanish Students. Mrs. Chrisfenberry asks her first year French students to imagine a trip in the country. 18