Petersburg High School - Missile Yearbook (Petersburg, VA)

Page 24 text:

20 THE MISSILE. But what of the physicial training? Is not this also very important? Go talk to almost any father or mother about their children and they will almost invariably say, I would rather my child keep strong and well than lead his class.” We need a gymnasium dreadfully. Boys in the coun- try get exercise enough raking hay and chopping wood, but city boys, who are in large majority in our school, need just the exercise that a gymnasium offers. They need too a manual training course. Other places, smaller and less wealthy than Petersburg, have it; why should not we ? Our girls need a domestic science course. They who are to be the future house-keepers and home-makers of our city certainly ought to have the best possible means of preparing themselves to grace this position. The gymnasium is impossible without a new build- ing and, while we hope to introduce into our curriculum next year domestic science and manual training courses, we can only do so on a very small scale because of the inadequacy of our building. Furthermore, the school is growing each year. More are coming in from the seventh grade than are being graduated, and more room is needed. New graded schools have been built from time to time, but we have never had a new High School building. We call the attention of our School Board to these matters in an earnest attempt to help them see the neces- sity for, and benefit to be derived from, a New High School building.

Page 23 text:

SOME THINGS WE NEED. Is Petersburg, the aristocratic and historic center of old Virginia, to be left behind in the pursuit of modern ideas and raise her future citizens with the handicap of inadequate education? Every city that has at heart the well-fare and happiness ol her citizens is endeavoring to bring the educational advantages that she offers up to a higher degree of perfection. To this end she erects large and well-equipped buildings, she arranges the course best suited to the needs of her young people, she gets the best prepared and most thorough teachers possible; and is always especially careful to insure com- fort and sanity. Is our city, which in population ranks fifth in Virginia and which certainly desires and aims for the very best for her youth, reaching up to this standard ? In the education and training of the mind our High School is above the average. The pupils who go from us to other schools find themselves thoroughly prepared for their work and glowing accounts have come back to us from schools to which our graduates have gone, Sc

Page 25 text:

M, Francis Drewry, - - - Editor. We extend a hearty welcome to our new exchange, The Blue and the Gray., a magazine which reflects ample credit upon the students whose talent and work have thus been combined to establish so worthy a memorial of their school days. In accordance with your own con- ception of the value of literary criticism, we take this opportunity to suggest that you arrange your excellent material in a more systematic manner. Certainly, none of our exchanges was enjoyed this month more than The Blue and White, an exceedingly bright and clever magazine throughout. The interest- ing stories, the practical editorials, and the originality and humor that shine on each page lead us to wish that this paper were published more than four times a ses sion. We have but one fault to find in this instance: the athletics are not made sufiiciently prominent. In most schools athletics occupy too important a place; yet no school should ignore them. We trust that in your next issue this failing will be corrected by placing the athletics nearer the editorials. Every department of The Lowell is exceedingly well balanced, full, and interesting. From the lengthy and excellent literary department to the humorous joke