Momence High School - Monesse Yearbook (Momence, IL)

Page 32 text:

PAGE THIRTY-TWO The Commercial Work The City of Momenee is entitled to threat credit for estab¬ lishing a commercial course in her high school. In no other department of the secondary school, is there a more attrac¬ tive field than that which lies open along commercial lines. We are in the midst of a marvelous industrial develop¬ ment. Many of our large manufacturers and merchants will be trained in the higher schools of commerce and busi¬ ness administration, but many more will become successful business men by means of the practical vocational courses in our public high schools. In the business world today, there is always room for a young man starting out in life. However, he must be efficient and prepared. One of the greatest advertising men of the United States recently said: “Preparedness is the secret of most successes in this world; fate seldom makes league with the unequipped.’’ The day has passed by for the man who travels in a rut. Modern business demands wide-awake, alert and efficient men and women. Of all our various systems of education today, a business education is of more common application, and wider scope. Then, in addition to training our young people for the business world, the high school commercial course does another great thing for certain classes. It keeps the boys and girls in high school, who would otherwise be tempted to leave and enter some business school, or worse still, desert school altogether. New England statistics show that forty per cent, of the pupils who enter school, finish the eighth grade and only eight per cent, finish high school. How necessary it is, then, to offer practical work in our high school to hold the pupils there. The high school commercial course has the advantage of “proving the goods,” so to speak. A pupil readily sees that he is not dealing with abstract values. It is to his advantage to get all he can out of the work, for he is sim¬ ply learning what is going to be of definite worth to him. A pupil cannot always sense what value lies in such a study as Latin, but he can always sense the connection between his commercial work and the world which he is about to enter. Best efforts can be put into play when one is stim¬ ulated by thots of definite accomplishment. Moreover, the standards of the actual social world; the standards of promptness, accuracy, definiteness and responsibility of the business world are not regarded as artificialities of the school room, but as a challenge of one’s real fitness to en¬ ter into the real order of things. The commercial course in our high school has proved very successful. Its keynote has been practicability. The course established is on an equal footing with the commer¬ cial courses of other secondary schools. The scope of the work includes touch Typewriting, Stenography, Book¬ keeping, Spelling, Grammar, Business English, Salesman¬ ship, Business Management, Commercial Law, Commercial Geography, Business Arithmetic and Business Practice. The enrollment in the commercial course has been very gratifying, which proves in itself that the work has an appeal to the average pupil of the high school. We were also pleased to welcome back six of last year’s graduates whose interest in the new commercial course attracted them sufficiently to hold them over one year in school even after graduation. Clare Terry-

Page 31 text:

PAGE THIRTY-ONE Home Economics. OT ' HE movement for establishing domestic science in - the schools should be supported not only by women HHli and girls 5 but also by the men, for will not they like to find a tastefully kept home, good “eats” and buttons sewed on? Does not Home Economics mean a “science of the home, an understanding of the home?” This year in our school we have only started upon this course by trying to teach the fundamental principles underlying the care and preparation of plain foods. This start should be followed next year by an advanced course in Foods, which would include a more careful study of the kind and amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fats, which we need in our diet, why we need each, and economy in the planning, preparation, and serving of meals. We must also remember that a course in Domestic Science or Home Economics, means not only the preparation of foods, but it also means a home which shows care in the selection and suitability of the furnishing and in the color harmonies. House Sanitation is a phase of this subject which will be taken up. Here we need an understanding of what good plumbing is, of what constitutes a good location for our house in regard to light, pleasant surroundings, etc. Another branch which it would be well to introduce into our High School would be a course in beginning sewing. The girls would learn to understand and use patterns, and to alter them to fit their needs; what colors may be combined to give charming effects, and why some people can wear checks, and others, stripes, to better advantage. One period a week might be very profitably spent in the study of personal hygiene. I think one of the greatest draw-backs to the putting in of domestic science in the schools is the fact that mothers say they can teach their daughters to cook and sew. They can -but do they always do it? - and are not they rather loathe to part with the methods they have always used, which their mothers used before them? And is there not something back of knowing how to prepare food? We are beginning to learn more and more thru the aid of science, which bacterial organisms are friends, and which are foes to the housewife in the care of food in the home. We are also learning, thru the study of the chemistry and composi¬ tion of foods, why foods which contain protein become tough when subjected to high heat, why cream puffs don’t always puff, why sherbets are of a more even texture when a certain proportion of ice and salt is used, and why —but I could go on indefinitely with the “why” of things. May I say in conclusion, then, that a course in Home Economics has this object in view, “the scientific manage¬ ment of the home?” M. HJERTSTEDT. .

Page 33 text:

ONK PAGE SEVENTY- Htteranj :§ nrU ' tu ' H.