Murphy High School - Mohian Yearbook (Mobile, AL)

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. . . Variety In Ti m e, Place, Interviews . . . practice in plying a guest speaker or artist with pertinent questions and care- fully noting the answers . . . Pictured is Senator John Sparkman with a group of Core students. Other obliging visitors were Howard Butt, evan- gelist; Henry L. Scott, pianist; and Madame Rose Palmai, from the Mobile Opera Guild. Research . . . and the first all-important step is to prepare a bibliography. Equipped with pen or pencil and a stack of three-by-fives one camps in the library for hours searching for book titles in the card catalog and tracking down magazine references in the Reader’s Guide to Periodicals. Then — and only then — is one ready for the real work! Exercise . . . through calisthenics — originally the whole of a physical education program, still a major part—to keep body and mind equally alert. . . . Football and baseball players also know the value of stimulating sleepy muscles with such lim- bering-up exercises as jumping jack, deep-knee bend, wind mill, and rotation. Blackboards . . . Future' teachers soon learn from experience that the homely blackboard is a magic device. The quick manipulation of a piece of chalk can instantly clarify, emphasize, or enter- tain. A brief after-school survey discovers a Thought for the Day, statistics, an outline, a calcndar-for-thc-month in colors — and a Charles Addams cartoon. Maps . . . indispensable visual aids, whether one is following the Confederate Army from Hull Run to Richmond, to Shiloh, to Vicksburg, to Atlanta— or trying to find a place for such strange names

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Key note Of Learning At Murphy Training on the job . . . appeals to practical- minded Murphians who find it expedient or ex- citing to enter the business world while still in high school . . . This salesman of photographic supplies and his boss” represent a relationship be- tween business man and student that is repeated many times over in Murphy’s extensive Diversified Occupations program. Experimenting ... the heart of scientific re- search . . . that absorbing preoccupation with test tubes and bunsen burners, with a gram of this and a cubic centimeter of that . . . Result? The thrill that comes from probing nature’s secrets and —after all, who knows?—perhaps a lifetime of use- fulness that had its inspiration in a high school chemistry lab. Listening . . . and “His Master’s Voice may be the colorful music from “Carmen,” the plain- tive notes of La Golondrina,” or the boisterous gaiety of “El Rancho Grande.” “Ole!” shout the enthusiastic Spanish students. Similar groups are fount! in many classrooms, where today the record player is a conspicuous part of standard equipment. Sewing . . . the final exciting stage in the mak- ing of a casual spring cotton, preceded by a care- ful study of how to select materials, how to choose a pattern, how to cut with accuracy and economy, how to baste and fit. New Home Economics courses allow more time for background study and less time for acquiring skills by working on projects. Discussing . . . interchange of ideas on topics that range from “Teen Age Problems to “Three Great Religions . . . development of tolerance for ideas that are not one’s own . . . progress in expressing one’s own ideas with exactness and force . . . first-hand experience in learning what makes Democracy’s wheels go ’round. • 2i •

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Manner, Purpose, Degree. as Hanoi, I,aos, Viet Nam, and Dicn Bien Phu— or planning an imaginary trip around the world. Crafts . . . help Murphians to develop artistic ability and to build a finer appreciation of beautiful art objects. Students express themselves by cre- ating from their own imaginations. Their wallets, purses, belts, bookends, jewelry, bowls, and clay sculpture always attract crowds when on display in the main hall trophy cases. Field trips . . . give biology students “time to stand and stare” — here at a Liriodcndron tulipi- fera or tulip-tree in full bloom on Murphy’s South Street campus. The teacher points out the green- ish-yellow flowers marked with orange and ex- plains that the tree is really a member of the large Magnolia Family. SKETCHING ... in charcoal, water colors, penal, or chalk. . . . the tortoise and hare at the auditorium entrance or a cluster of brilliant lavender azaleas. Films . . . most modern — and most popular — way to learn. With nine out of ten teachers mak- ing use of films, trained student assistants show an average of forty films a month. Inside the Atom,” “Jane Eyre, Modern Baseball,” and “Tuberculosis were prime favorites with 1954 classes . . . Here a health class watches a film on good health habits. • 25 •