Mondovi High School - Mirror Yearbook (Mondovi, WI)

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country, where the greatest president we ever had came from a rude log cabin, we see none of this servility to worthless titles. There is a change for the better, however; but it will be a long time before the nobility and peasantry meet on a common footing ; when the only distinction will be the abilities and inherent qualities ot men. You will probably not hear from me again until I am ready to start for the Continent. I intend to go through Ireland very leisurely, as it seems to attract me more than any country I am going to visit. YOUR OLD FRIEND. S. F„ ’13. THE HIGH SCHOOL OF TO-DAY While the taxpayers generously appropriate large sums of money at annual meetings for the maintenance of their public school systems, and ■■specially of their high schools, a feeling of dissatisfaction with the present day high schol is often manifested by them. Have they a reason for this dissatisfaction? It is my intention in this shoit article to view the situation from the practical standpoint instead of from the side of the high school principal. Our children,, after spending eight years in the grades, and after receiving instruction in Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, English, both oral and written, Geography, History, Spelling, and other common school branches, enter the high school. Here they spend four of the best years of their lives, as well as the four most important as regards their future position in the world. During these four years they take up Latin, Algebra, Physics, El. Science, History, Ancient, Modern, Mediaeval and United States, German, English in all four years, Geometry, Plane and Solid, Botany, a little Arithmetic, and eighteen whole weeks of Bookkeeping. Commencement day approaches with its class activities, class play, etc. The day finally arrives and amid happy scenes the diplomas are awarded. Then what? What can our high school graduate, both boy and girl, do for a living? How much better is he equipped now, bai’ring of course his four added years of life, than he was at the end cf the eighth grade? It is true that he can enter the state university or other higher institution of learning .vith the credits he made at high school. But is it fair to the 90 per cent If,

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London. London is the center of England for government, architecture, politics, learning and influence. It is situated on both banks of the River Thames and is connected by numerous bridges, the largest of which is the famous London Bridge. The city is very dirty and a pall of black smoke hangs over it all the time. One day I visited St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is a great structure, built in the form of a cross. It is in the heart of London, and if one goes up in the dome, he can see all over the city. Probably the most famous building in London is Westminster Abbey, in which the great men of England are buried and the kings and queens crowned. There are small chapels built into the main building; some of them are very beautiful and cost large sums of money. There are memorial inscriptions and tablets by the score. These are about men who took part in all the great enterprises of England, and carry one back to all the landmarks of English history. Near the Abbey stand the Houses of Parliament. They correspond to our Senate and House of Representatives and contain a large number of rooms, lobbies, porches, etc. In another part of London stands the Tower, built by William the Conqueror to overawe the Saxons after the conquest. It has probably witnessed more scenes of cruelty than any prison in England. Most of the political prisoners were kept there. It is now used mainly as a store-house, the crown jewels and valuables of the king are kept there; also firearms, ammunition, etc. The British Museum is another place I visited. In it is a great collection of curios and valuables gathered from all parts of the world, and it is said that a person could not even glance at them all in a year. The h brary connected with it is the largestin the world. It contains over a million books. Some of the original manuscripts of the greatest English writers are shown there, and a constant stream of people go there to avail themselves of the books and treasures. People may talk of the slums of our cities, but the conditions I saw in London were simply unbelievable. I was told that conditions were being bettered, but I never saw such utterly wretched and degraded humanity. The people are crowded together in dirty, unlighted houses. They have not a thing to call their own. Their earnings are insufficient to maintain life, and, as a result, they have to beg for a living. This probably accounts for the great number of beggars and paupers in England. I went to Birmingham to see the great manufacturing works of the town; there are a great number of factories that manufacture mostly iron, steel and brass goods. The town hall is very beautiful, as are also the University and the Cathedral. There are many statues and quite a few large public parks. But the thing that impressed me most in England was the great distinction existing between the nobility and the common people. In our own

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who do not go to a higher school? Is it right? Do we not owe something to those who cannot afford to go to school beyond the ordinary high school? Is it not oui place to give them something definite along with the present high school cultural education? Should we not train them in some special line of work? Is it not possible for us to give them something that they can use upon leaving high school? I am sure that this can be done without detracting one iota from the present day cultural and mental discipline training. Would it not be a great thing if we could give our boys and girls a lever with which to pry out a college education; a weapon that they could use to make money with, with which to continue their advanced studies? Would it not be wise to give our boys and girls something practical, something that would make them see the true value of the farm and farm life? Would it not be well for us to give our girls a true idea of the actual conditions existing in the home relationships? Would it not make for better homes to train the girls to be intelligent buyers of food stuffs, buyers who will know the economic reason for the buying of food? At the present time we have only one course in our high school which has for its purpose the training of the pupils in some definite line of work. This is the teachers’ training course which was put in this year. The students who take this course are not deprived cf the cultural or mental discipline studies. Could this not be done with other courses? This would not be in the nature of experimental work for these things have been worked out in other places. We must not however deceive ourselves for one moment by thinking that it will be possible for us to go over to the other extreme at once. And would it be best if we could? It must be remembered that it has taken years to work out our present system and so, no doubt, it will be a long time before we can expect to see the altogether practical high school. But is it not time at least to take a step in the right direction? The state of Wisconsin has seen the necessity of vocational tiaining and has created tn industrial committee to further this work. It has even gone further and provided special state aid for industrial schools. But do we want an industrial school? Is it what we need? Are we large enough to maintain it? But there are things we can do. We can take advantage of the large state aid now offered and put in Domestic Science and Agriculture. It is a fact that if these two courses were added to our present course the actual cost of maintaining our schools would be less than it now is. The ddition of these courses would not solve the problem of a practical high school training but it certainly would be a step in the right direction. Do you not think it time to begin to look into the matter? Is it justice to our young people to let things remain as they are? Study the question and see what you think of it. 17 P. F. NEVERMAN.