Scarborough High School - Four Corners Yearbook (Scarborough, ME)

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Jfaur (EnnirrH Vol. XI May, 1922 No. 1 iCttrrarij THE MERITS OF HIGH SCHOOL. High School spells two words;— progress and privilege. It means prog¬ ress because of the advantages one has in the world with a good High School education. Think of the difference be¬ tween getting forty or fifty dollars a week as an office man, or in some other excel¬ lent position of responsibility, and being a “ditch digger ’ coal heaver, or in some equally unpleasant and unremunerative position Think of the assurance of a steady occupation in preference to the feeling of the ordinary day laborer who is liable to have little or no work, and in times of labor crises often is compelled to see his family face want if not actual starvation. Reason out the difference be¬ tween scantily getting along or laying up something for the inevitable rainy day. The argument is often used that High School means four years of working and earning money forfeited because the training that might be obtained in those four years will not actually help earn

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Skhirattntt To our dear Mothers and Fathers, ?ho by their cheerful sacrifices for us, their deep interest in us and by their hearty co-operation tfith us, have proved their loyalty to the school, this number of the Four Corners is lovingly and respectfully dedicated.

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FOUR CORNERS one’s bread and butter. There are ten to one arguments and even more against this kind of talk. First, people from the ages of twelve to nineteen are much better off learning how to work than they are out at it, at so immature an age, un¬ less it is exceptionally necessary. These times occur a great deal less often than there are people who keep their child en out of High School with ' that as an ex¬ cuse, As for the years being lost, just read up a bit on the wages of High School graduates as compared to those of the grade schools. The statistics may be readily found, and if you are at all easily convinced, you will be compelled to acknowledge the truth of this state¬ ment. As to their being unnecessary years of schooling, a sensible person would never take his children out of school on that excuse. In the develop¬ ment of a child’s body he must do a thousand things that may seem foolish and unneccessary; nature demands it; much more so in the development of that higher part of his make-up, the mind. Years spent in the creating of good friends among the master minds in sci¬ ence, literature, and history, are years invested. If children of these ages nat¬ urally turn to some form of activity, why not give their energies a chance to be put to the best account? In the second place High School spells privilege, because all the above is nothing more nor less than a privilege. Educa¬ tion is not a mere duty. The government provides the school and everything hut the student ' s personal property to work with. Years ago when every child, de¬ sirous of obtaining an education had to meet all his own expenses, education was most emphatically a privilege; it is none the less now. Some may say, “Do away with the High School; it increases our taxes. ’ There are many things whose value cannot be measured in money, and education is one of these. A student should not have to he urged to go to school; rather than be urged to go, it should jequire urging to get him to stay at home and lose valuable time. You may say that seme of the things taught in High School are unnecessary, wasting time, cou ' d be taught at home, etc., but just name one and I’ll gua.antee to see some good .eason either why the course is given, or why it could not be successfully undertaken at home. Take Mathematics, for example; think of the numberless uses to which it may be put. Take a glance at languages; of what use are they? Latin is the ground¬ work for a number of other languages, to say nothing of the fact that half of our Fnglish words are of Latin origin, either directly or indirectly. French and Spanish are the key to many desirab ' e commercial and social positions. On the whole, languages have a tendency to give people a wider familiarity with other nations, and to broaden their views. No one will doubt the actual money value of a thorough acquaintance with the Fnglish language, and few will call into question the broadening influence of History. No patriotic person wishes to grow up with an incomplete knowledge of his own country and that of his mother count:y. No more does a person wish to be ignorant of the topics of current history that are a part of every History