Rensselaer High School - Chaos Yearbook (Rensselaer, IN)

Page 15 text:

OlltemiBtry anil piysirs Elizabeth B. Hume, A. B., Western. In the spring of 1909 the apparatus which the Physics department then had was moved into the Chemical laboratory and, for two years now, the Chemistry and Physics classes have shared in harmony Boom 5. Having the two classes working in the same room has proved a great advantage, since in many cases one set of material has served for both classes, and, with the new equip- ment, which the Board has purchased each year, the classes have been able to do good work. The Chemistry class started the year with an enrollment of sixteen. The text-book used was Brownlee and Others’ “First Principles of Chemistry,” and manual by the same authors. It is a comparatively new text and up-to-date, giving its users not only a thorough knowledge of the general princi- ples of chemistry, but als o its relation to manufacture, agriculture, and everyday life. The Physics class have used Carhart and Chute’s “Physics,” and there were thirteen courageous enough in September to attempt the course, in spite of warnings from classmates, “it is awful hard, don’t take it.” And all remain to testify that their classmates used false testimony. Since the aim in both sciences is to give a practical and useful knowledge of the facts concerning them, it is probable that the Physics text will be changed in Septem- ber, 1911, for a new one, emphasizing the everyday side. The aim is to give to those in these classes the truths in the most interesting and beneficial form.

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Ippartnuntts Etujlifili EDITH E. SHEDD, A. B., Northwestern University. Edith E. Leonard, A. B., Western, Assistant. Louise Kiefer, Assistant. Three and one-half years of English are required for graduation. An eighth semester course is elective. In the Freshman year, the time is nearly equally divided between the study of classics and that of composi- tion and rhetoric. One original theme is required per week. The classics chosen are different in different years. “Silas Marner” is usua lly read first. In addition this year, “The Lady of the Lake,” “The Ancient Mariner,” and “The Merchant of Venice” were read. Oral com- position, to which one recitation a week is devoted, is based on the study of the “Odyssey.” The Sophomore work is divided about as is the Freshman. The classics this year were “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Ivanhoe,” and “The House of Seven Gables,” together with a volume of Old English Ballads, the almost childlike simplicity of which makes them suitable for early work in poetry. The Junior English includes a study of the history of English literature. The classics used this year were “Macbeth,” Chaucer’s “Pro’ogue,” Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities,” and Milton’s “L ’Allegro,” “11 Penseroso,” and “Comus.” Lyrical poetry (Palgrave’s collection) is used throughout the year. The rhetoric and composi- tion work consists chiefly in the study and writing of exposition, and argumentation. The Senior English (first semester) includes a study of the history of American literature, together with representative American classics. This year, Franklin’s “Autobiography,” Emerson’s Essays, and representa- tive poems from the great American poets were studied. Themes are written twice a month, are longer than those required in the earlier work, and are of the four kinds : description, narration, exposition and argument. Also a hook review of one novel is usually required. The elective course of the second semester of the fourth year is designed to meet the needs of those who wish to have more English work preparatory to entering college, and of those who desire a grammar review preparatory to teaching. Accordingly, the time has been equally divided between a study of classics and of grammar (Wisely). The classics used this year were one drama, “King Lear,” one novel, “Cranford,” and selected poems from Brownin g.

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ittatlmuatirs C. F. BRADSHAW, A. B., Indiana University. Elizabeth Hume, Assistant. Wm. Lee, Assistant. Power to think and to do is one of the ultimate ends of education. The Department of Mathematics of the Rensselaer High School contributes to this end in the training it offers to its students. There is no subject, except the use of the mother tongue, which is so intimately connected with everyday life, and so necessary to the successful conduct of affairs. Wherever we turn in these days of iron, steam, and electricity, we find that mathematics lias been the pioneer and guarantees the results. Mathematics is a venerable subject, that has been included in every curriculum designed for the instruction or punishment of youth ever since primitive man first learned to count on his fingers, thus fixing the basis of our notation at ten. In very recent times, however, distinctive progress has been ' made in the subject of elementary mathematics, both in subject matter and in methods of presentation and it is the ambition of this department to keep abreast of the times. We are opposed to divorce as a general principle and especially opposed to divorcing the closely related divisions of secondary mathematics from each other; hence, in our teaching, we correlate algebra, geometry, and arithmetic at every opportunity. Nor do we neglect to keep the work in close touch with that done in physics, drawing, and manual training. We scarcely hope to develop a second Sir Isaac Lewton. We do not even guarantee the graduates of the department to be completely trained and infallible business men and women. We do strive to acquaint our students with the best business practice of the present day, to give them a glimmering of what constitutes a proof, to develop in them a little, the power of careful inference, to give them some insight into the mathe- matical march of nature, nor do we fear lest they reach the extreme position of attempting to model their whole lives upon the deductive syllogism or the algebraic formula. To obtain a certificate of intellectual health, com- monly called a diploma, every student of the High School is expected to take the entire prescription of seven semestral doses in this department. Without weakening any of their active ingredients, these mathematical tablets are chocolate coated by the instructors, in the hope that the boys and girls will acquire their facial development in some other way than by making grimaces over their “math” assignments. Some fail in their mathematics, but it is our fond desire that none ever leave the school with an unreasoning hatred for this subject. During the Freshman year elementary algebra is the core of the course, with most of the work grouped about a study of the simple equation. Plane geometry, along with considerable related algebra, is studied during the sophomore year. A half year of advanced algebra fol- lowed by a semester of solid geometry constitutes the Junior mathematics. The Seniors take a half vear of advance arithmetic, planned to meet the needs of these who desire to teach arithmetic in the public schools and those who elect to continue their training for a business career.