Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

Page 22 text:

SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR i8 To Readers of the Radiator:— Last August the editor invited me to write a letter to the High School students, giving them my views upon the changes in high school organ- ization which have occurred since the close of school in June. Since then the school has opened and has been in operation a month under the new plan, and every one has had opportunity to know more about the new order than was ap- parent when I was asked to write about it. Nevertheless, because I think it is desirable f r the students to be well-informed about the conduct of the school, its purposes, and prospects, I shall keep my promise by writing about our High School as it is organized to-day. In the first place, to the passer-by in the street no evidence is given of a radical change, flic physical plant is the same, and the throng of stu- dents passing in and out of the buildings is the same. As last year, there was no outward sign of division, so now there is no new sign of union. The physical aspect of the school has not been changed. Because of the nearness of the build- ings to each other the plant and the student body constitute a physical unit. From the standpoint of organization it seemed wiser to administer such a school under one system of control than to con- tinue a double system. Therefore the school committee united the Latin and the English High Schools, and by their union re-established the Somerville High School. Into this new school the constituent parts have merged their identity, no trace of either being left. With equal right, each of the former schools may with the other claim the establishment of the new school. Neither school has incorporated the other. Again, while the enrollment of the High School is now very large for a single school, it is no greater than would have been the joint en- rollment of the separate schools. In respect to numbers, therefore, it is probable that the change has had only the effect of providing an adminis- tration more efficient than formerly, because of its unified character. The overcrowding of the buildings, the morning and afternoon sessions are incidents in no way attributable to. or conse- quences of the union of the schools. They would have been equally in evidence this fall under the two-school plan. So much for the physical side. The new school having an enrollment of more than 1,800 pupils, an enrollment which will soon, in all probability, reach 2,000, is now one of the largest in New Eng- land. I presume it is the largest. The signifi- cance in this fact is twofold: First, Somerville sends a large proportion of its pupils to the High School: and. second, all of these high school pu- pils are now confided to a single institution. Once again the city places in a single school all of the interests in secondary education of all of its pupils. A great responsibility is thus thrust upon this institution. The responsibility is directly pro- portional to the number of students for whom it is assumed. How shall such a responsibility be met? During the last twenty years the development of high schools has been in the direction of pro- viding different courses adapted to the needs of different groups of students. Before that time the high school was conducted mainly as a fitting school for college, and the course of study in- cluded such subjects as were demanded for ad- mission to college or as would contribute to a so-called liberal education. With the growth of the idea that secondary schools should fit more efficiently for the conditions of life such pupils as were not to enter college, new courses were added to the curriculum. In this way came in commercial subjects, manual training, domestic science, and other divisions of manual arts. For the better teaching of these special courses many large cities established special schools. Such schools were named according to their specialty, as. Manual Training Schools, High Schools of Commerce. High Schools of Practical Arts, Business High Schools, etc. In places where a separate high school for a special course of study is not practicable it is the plan to conduct under

Page 21 text:

SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR 17 Hfcvantages anb EHsabvantages of TKHorkmg ©lie’s HtHaylXbrougb College B “1Ra ? 5 . By? ter HJi college student whose expenses are paid for him by his father, and W V) ’S at l lc sanie t me diligent in his studies and serious minded, may 'Jj naturally wonder how his less fortu- nate classmate can devote half his time to money-making work and still get the best results from his college course. The time so spent seems to him merely a loss. hat he fails to understand is the greater eagerness with which his classmate uses such time as he does have for his college work, and the greater value which the whole course assumes in his eyes. The man who has planted, hoed, dug. washed, and baked his own potato has a far differ- ent attitude toward it from that of the man who merely says to the waiter: Oh. French-fried, I guess. On the other hand, it can be argued that the work that the college vou-th of to-day docs in four years could be done in a much shorter period— perhaps one year—of such work as the student will do when he gets out of college: and that when, to obtain this holiday, the boy must earn his pas- sage. he is paying too hign a price. Hut it will be generally agreed that if a college education itself pays, it pays a young man to work his way. Again it may be contended that a college train- ing acquired by the man who earns his way is of less value than it would otherwise be because the advantages of athletic training, of social inter- course. and of fraternal societies are less available, and because college friendships and personal popularity must be sacrificed. I believe, however, that a careful study of col- lege life will not sustain this. The college com- munity is essentially democratic, and men are not rated by their classmates on a financial basis. W e often find the poorest men in college the most popular, the best students, and prominent in ath- letics. The tendency to become lazy, vicious, and lux- ury-loving is lessened when every hour is needed in legitimate work. Good hard work is always wholesome, always moral, always stimulating, and in America always respected. The man who has to work his way through college may already have had all he needs physically and morally for his col- lege course: but more will not hurt him. nor as a sell ilar greatly hinder him, nor socially stand in the way of his having a reasonably good time. More important still is whr.t he gets out of the work itself. Me is beginning already to do in col- lege the very tiling for which the college is sup- posed to fit him: namely, to earn his own living. It gives him an idea of the value of money and the hardness with which it is won : a knowledge of values—where to buy and when ; what is necessary and wise: and what can be dispensed with and dis- regarded. These are qualities that he will need when lie gets out of college and all through life. It is a gain that he can lay the foundation for them while he is in college. Xor is all the work he may do a theft of time from his studies. Tutoring another is the surest way of perfecting one's own knowledge. News- paper correspondence may help the formation of a good English style as much as the classroom daily theme. ------------------------------ B Gooh craintmi School for Bo s [Continued from previous pace .] sleeps at his work. The qualities named above make a splendid combination which produces re- sults both for the boy and for his firm. Under such conditions, where a boy is often placed on his own responsibility for sometimes a whole afternoon, he cannot help deriving some benefit from his work. As a result of such a training fifty-two days in the year, the boy has made himself better fitted for any work he mav undertake.

Page 23 text:

SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR 19 011c school management courses as various as the needs of the pupils dictate. Such a high school is known as a general or composite high school. Of this type now is the Somerville High School. It is proposed in this school to conduct the various courses which the needs of the high school pupils of Somerville require. In order that these courses may be well organized and thoroughly taught, there will be a head teacher in charge of each course, whose duty it will be to develop his course as efficiently as though he were in charge of it in a separate institution. Four courses have already been established by the school com- mittee. These arc the preparatory course, equivalent to the course formerly pursued in the Latin High School, an academic course, a com- mercial course, and a manual arts course. If ex- perience shows that other courses should be added to this list or substituted for any on it. such changes will be made. Every subject in every course will be developed in accordance with its importance in the course of which it is a part. In these ways the high school will seek to offer courses sufficiently differentiated to meet the needs of all the students and to give such instruc- tion in each of these courses as will best fit the student for the end he has in view. Our high school will have the benefit of cer- tain advantages which accrue to the general high school. Chief among these is the advantage which comes to the student through the possi- bility of sharing in all of the resources of the school. For example, students in the prepara- tory course may. under proper conditions, add to that course one n more subjects taken from some other course. Again, a student who has begun in one course and finds that lie has made a mis- take and ought to take some other course, can in a general school correct such mistake. In a way, the general high school, properly conducted, is to the student a place wherein he may find what life is to mean to him. Its variety of courses af- fords him an opportunity to so test himself that he may discover that for which he is best fitted. This thought should be uppermost in the minds of every pupil in our high school; especially prominent should it be in the minds of the mem- bers of the two lower classes. 1 he resources of a large school are open to them while yet there is time for them to revise the selection of the studies which they wish to pursue. To discover himself is the supreme task of a high school stu- dent. Such in brief is the plan and such arc the pur- poses of the organization of the Somerville- High School. A few words should be said con- cerning the two-session plan, which is a phase of administration due to overcrowding, but is not otherwise a part of the general scheme of the school. Certain consequences follow the two- session plan. One of these is the early beginning of the morning session, which necessitates a still earlier departure from home. Herein will be found the necessity for putting into effect a daily routine of conduct from which a habit most useful in after life will be formed. Let this thought be the present compensation for a present un- pleasant necessity. Probably more important than this hardship is the consideration which the early start from home makes it necessary for the high school student to give to getting an early morning meal. A corresponding consideration is required of the afternoon class, who leave home at varying hours, thereby losing the opportunity for a mid-day meal at home at a regular time. High school students should not neglect the care which these two circumstances demand of them. Good health and a sound body are the first essentials, to success. The youth who is planning hopefully and with enthusiasm for a career of usefulness must not neglect during the days of his high: school life the simple rules which, being observed,, will insure to him an adequate physical prepara- tion. In the school year opening before us the key word is opportunity. There is opportunity for the students to take advantage of the re- sources of a large high school organization, op- portunity for them to grow through the exercise of the powers of self-control and self-development. There will be opportunity also for the school to improve its processes and to give more effi- cient services to all its students. For the best, use of these opportunities students and faculty enthusiastically unite. Charles S. Clark. — JEpsilon Epsilon The Epsilon Epsilon Club, now entering upon the third year of its existence, is still a very active organization. Meetings were resumed on Friday, September 2 .). The girls have planned for a very interesting and enjoyable year. During the summer the club held a day’s outing at Xahant. Two teachers of the school and sev- eral other friends accompanied the members. All spent a very pleasant day—one which will be the cause of happy memory to the girls in the future.