Oxford High School - Ravelins Yearbook (Oxford, MA)

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THE RAVELIN'S, 1936 PROGRAM Processional March Invocation REV. JOHN J. LOFTUS Welcome and Essay Teaching as a Profession DOROTHY LOUISE BROWN Song-On Mountain Heights Ritter Essay Our Newspapers KATHERINE AUGUSTA CHAPMAN Song-Nightfall in Granada Bueno Essay Oddities of the Law EUGENE CHARLES SCHOFIELD Vocal Solo-The End of a Perfect Day Bond RITA MADELINE LYMAN Essay The Development of Jazz MATTHEW LINZEE SANDS Awarding of Prizes FRANK SANNELLA, Principal Awarding of Diplomas DR. ERNEST F. LeCLAIRE Chairman of the School Committee Song-A Dream Boat Passes By Lemare Recessional March

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THE RAVELIN'S, 1936 ANTOINE'IIl'E MARY VITKUS urronyn C1eanest of sports, best of friends. Activities: Basketball 1, 2, 3. 4CCaptainDg Athletic Club, President 43 Pencil, Pad and Key Club 3, 4. The great athlete . . . her ability on the basketball Hoor should get her a place in the Olympics . . . why does the school bus have to take her away so soon after school? . . . someday she hopes to be somebody's private secretary . . . we know she will succeed. MARY OLIVE WOOD Ci011y!Y Happy am I, from care I'm free. Why aren't they all contented like me? Activities: Honor Roll 1, 2, 3, 43 Dramatics 2, 3, 4, Dramatic Club 45 Junto Chairman 23 Commercial Club 3, 4 CPresidentJg Press Club 43 Junior Prom chairman of Refreshment Committee 3: Class Will 4. Olly's outstanding characteristic is jollity . . . she's never in a hurry . . . always ready to help . . . figures things out for her- self . . . we all look to her for executive help . . . a great pal and confidante. JAMES ZARR Jimmy For he's a jolly good fellow. Activities: Commerce High, Worcester, 1, 2, 3g Stamp Club 3, 4, Writeup Committee 4. Great philatelist and chess player . . . rather talkative . . . very impulsive . . . originates many ideas . . . doesn't like speak- ing before a group . . . has a great deal of leisure time . . . a friend of everyone.

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THE RAVELIN'S, 1936 TEACHING AS A PROFESSION By Dorothy Brown. Can you explain the reason why the ideal teacher can not be just a common ordinary person? Most people think that if a person has brains, possesses a good character, and a pleasing personality, he can be a success as fl teacher, but this idea is incorrect. Teachers are born, not made. Just anybody cannot become a famous author, and why could just anyone become a success as a teacher? The life of a teacher is not always as happy a one as some people think it is. In quoting Dr. Her- bert Palmer, he says that in teaching: Success is rare, the hours are long and fixed, there is repetition and monotony every day and the teacher spends his time among people who are inferior to him. The pecuni- ary gains are not considerable. There are few prizes, and neither in school nor in college will a teacher's ordinary income carry him much above want. On the whole, teaching as a trade is a poor and disappointing business. And yet, Dr. Palmer, who wrote this para- graph, said later on: Harvard College pays me for doing what I would gladly pay it for allow- ing me to do. Without education our nation cannot advance. Without good teachers, the coming genera- tion will fail as a nation. In the face of the great need of good teachers, some people say, Oh, I could be a success as a teacher because I just love working with children. This is not enough. What are the qualities that make a good teacher? One person has stated that, when out of the class room, the most efficient teacher is a fifty- fifty cross between a book-worm and a politi- cian. Teachers should remember that they are dealing with human beings, that the child should be taught to help himself, and that they fthe teacherj must be considerate and firm, but fair. The teacher should be open-minded and analyze the good and bad points in the opinions of the pupils. The instructor should always be interested in the subject matter so that a similar feeling in the children's minds will be drawn out. Every class period should be held in a definite manner and a particular goal should be arrived at. Each lesson of the day should be related to the lesson of the for- mer day in order that, in the minds of the chil- dren, each fact may be associated with some other relating fact. New ideas taught to the children should be associated or likened to some experience that they have had. The teacher should be the guide and the adviser. Every class period should create some prob- lem situation that the children can think about. Each question that is asked should be clear, thought-provoking, and asked with the child's view point in mind. The voice of the good teacher is well modulated and not expression- less. Teaching offers numberless advantages. It offers interesting personal contacts, contact with the youth of our country-the coming cit- izens who will rule our nation in the next gen- eration, contacts with other teachers, educated people whose culture and friendship are valu- able. Teaching offers opportunity for contin- ued study. Business men consult books, but the teacher must familiarize herself with the history of the ages as well as current events, or the pupils will despise her for their ig- gorance. The science and art of teaching chil- dren successfully challenges the power of the most intelligent. Teaching also offers an op- portunity for experimentation. As the science of education is very young, the possibilities for its advancement are unlimited. Few teachers ever become famous, but every teacher has an opportunity for training the leaders of our na- tion. Many a mother hopes that her son can become the President of the United States, but the teacher deals with many boys and her chances of training a leader are greater than those of the mother. The principal rewards of teaching are not financial but consist chiefly in the satisfactions which come from services ren- dered to the future generation. Teaching has been hampered a great deal by the remarks made about it by various maga- zine writers. Once it was stated in the Atlan- tic Monthly that only prospective failures go into academic work. This statement has never