Pomfret School - Griffin Yearbook (Pomfret, CT)

Page 22 text:

POMFRET'S CURRICULUM Pomfret's attempt at college-type elec- tives in its curriculum has jelled into what we now call half courses. The upper forms feel some freedom of choice in their full courses, but most non-required classes re- main creditless, meeting only once a week. journalism, radio, social psychology, navigation, mechanical drawing and many others are unable to stay on the curricu- lum as half courses for more than a year. lt is feared that these only interested- admitted type courses will not grab a foot- hold and thus they fade in and out as the tide. Yet they have the potentiality of val- id permanence in the schedule. Often they have, as in carpentry, an accepted course, plans to shape students' interest into a project useful to the whole school community. Our major subjects supply all that a good preparatory school can, and then some. Our class discussions compare very favor- ably with other schools. Yet a certain type of schedule exists at Pomfret. lt is formed by tacking extra- curricular activities lparticularly singing l 8

Page 21 text:

Ulibe untefract The Pontefract's purpose has been de- fined as an organ to direct journalistic skills and as a contact with alumni. In the past, these two goals have been mutually hostile. It seems to us that this should not be the case. Any good newspaper should be a reflec- tion of the community it serves. The fact that The Pontefract is occasionally a poor reflection of the school community can be traced to a well known boarding school dis- ease: we-live-here-all- the-time-itis. Private jokes and schoolboy rivalries turn up again and again in the pages of The Pontefract, particularly in the columns. No consistent- ly informational or seriously critical treat- ment is given to vital school problems for the out of touch reader. At times The Pontefract did a superlative job in catch- ing what the school was thinking lthe Eisenhower issue for examplel, but more often it missed the point entirely. As a medium for entertaining the stu- dents, The Pontefract is more successful. The newspaper finds itself in the silly po- sition of telling students news that they already know, and so the feature articles contain much of the interest for school- bound readers. Of these features, the best idea has been the poll. Pomfret students have been polled in politics, definitions, taste in songs, actors, comic strips and sun- dry other itemsg but all of this has gone into The Pontefract with little attempt to extract real meaning from the results. The Pontefract is a fine activity in teaching journalism, lf you are lucky enough to be one of the three editors or the faculty advisor, you will live, eat and sleep Pontefract for a respectable number of days per month. This practice in the or- dering of chaos is perhaps one of the most exciting educational opportunities at Pom- fret. --N. Polsby PONTEFRACT STAFF Left to Right-below: Morris, Polsby. right: Howard, Bingham, Bartholet

Page 23 text:

groupsl onto a straight tour course plan, Or, those not interested in large activities that are used as half courses have a true half course thrusted upon them. This creates a personal antagonism towards the field, that will kill, rather than foster sin- cere interest. l-lalf courses should never become schedule fillers. lf Pomfret's function as an institution is to prepare students tor the time when they will follow up and polish their inter- ests, at college, it follows that Pomtret should initiate such interests as it is able. The potential tor stimulation at this edu- cational stage is tremendous at Pomtret. Perhaps the toughest curricular problem is the one of maintaining interests in re- quired courses. Sincere experiments have been made in courses such as History, Eng- lish, Sacred Studies and Algebra to expand the study plan into daily human experi- ence. This is a significant and encouraging move from just classroom principles to the realm of principles and practice. Another answer to this problem seems to lie in individual projects. The Biology course and history projects have led the way in encouraging students to seek in- formation themselves, to employ basic re- search techniques. ln many cases these in- dividual projects have led to the richest educational experiences. -Rodman Davis and Gilbert Chapman -..... I t