Sonora Union High School - Green and Gold Yearbook (Sonora, CA)

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Edu cation For Efhciency The purpose of secondary schools is not primarily to train students for colleges, but to train the major portion, who do not expect to go to college, to live efficient lives. One author says: To live socially efficient one must be able to earn, to maintain happy domestic relations, to participate in civic affairs. This very nearly gives the true pur- pose of secondary schools. The elementary schools teach the use of tools of education, it is our business to master knowledge both cultural and technical-that the student may have a knowledge of the arts and literature as well as of the special line that he cares to follow. We are constantly striving to make our schools more efficient, but we sometimes forget that the best way to accomplish this is to work to make each individual effi- cient. Parents could do much by cooperating in placing students in proper courses, by looking after their physical welfare, by giving moral training, by holding more heart to heart talks with their children about the future. Too many times it is left to the school entirely. There should be a planning for a life and not a year's course. The school is frequently asked to recommend to an employer certain young people. We must base this recommendation on habits formed during the adolescent years. If the habits of industry and good attitude toward his fellows have been developed, the boy cr girl usually gets the position. Frequently this has been neglected with the opposite result. Good habits make for good character. Young people are imitators of those they admire. For that reason a vital element cf success and efficient living is good friendship and social environment. Right ideals of successful living can thus be instilled. Reading of good books give the same effect. Pupils are prone to accept moral precepts as a matter of course and they do not absorb them. There must be true character if the plan of life is to be efficient. Theodore Roosevelt said: In the long run, no brilliancy of intellect, no perfection of bodily development, will count when weighed in the balance against that assemblage of virtues, which we call character. The parents must direct the way. The adolescent youth is sure he understands. The parent must be in constant touch with the schools if the life intrusted to us is to be efficient. If one fails, neither can undo the harm. Let us cooperate for efficiency in lite planning. V. A. DUNLAVY, Principal. T41

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Tiff if 1f 1fAj-7 I. Self Expression The value of the individual is coming to be recognized more and more in educa- tional circles as well as in the fields of business and of art. In the public grammar schools of today, children are not considered as a herd of sheep into which the three R's are to be poured, but as potential citizens who will later govern the nation. In the high school, initiative, originality, executive ability, and a sense of responsibility are fostered by participation in such activities as student body government, plays, and school publications. Everyone carries within himself potential force and ability that should be expressed. No matter what line one follows, one should express himself and his personality. Per- sonality is but an expression of one's inner self which acts as the incentive for the creative spirit. If in the smallest thing one does he puts himself, through it he will be allied in spirit with the greatest works of art and of literature that the ages have pro- duced. The good artist and the good artisan are both held together by one common de- sire-to express in their work the best that is within them. A sense of humor works as a saving grace at times. One is Rpt to become atfected with a suffocative sense of one's own importance in the general scheme of affairs. The individual is essential to society, and he owes to society the expression of himself but he is only a link in an endless chain-and the other links are as important and as essential as he. Be convinced of your own importance, but do not take yourselves roo seriously. Here, after our years of participation in school activities, we have learned a few of the essentials of life in a democracy-the importance of the individual as a part of the whole, the value of expression, and the essential necessity of keeping one's sense of values and sense of humor clear and open. The world outside is much as it is here. Let us say with Browning: 'Strive and thrivel' cry 'Speedy-fight on, for ever there as here.' -VIRGINIA BURTON, '27, lfl