Stoneham High School - Wildlife Yearbook (Stoneham, MA)

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC ity needed to cripple an athletic team in order to solve a classroom problem. No athlete should be given privileges or opportunities not offered to other students, but surely no boy ought to find his athletic position furnishing a club with which a belligerent teacher can drive him to standards not de- manded of his classmates or reached by them. A good teacher-coach can entirely eliminate this opposition between the purely academic teacher and the pure- ly athletic instructor. By appealing directly to the athletes, a teacher-coach can make them see that they owe to their team and school such conduct and scholarship as will make them worthy members of the group, and, for the sake of the team, the boys will main- tain standards that they never could be coerced into upholding. A quiet word from the teacher to the teacher- coach, informing him that a certain athlete is not doing as he should, re- sults in action by the coach on the grou2id that such misconduct, if con- tinued, will harm the team. Some- times a teacher-coach will suspend from play an athlete whose scholastic reports are not satisfactory, telling him that someone must be trained who surely will be eligible when the hard games are played. It never fails to produce an immediate change for the better in the classroom. The coach may perhaps tell the players that they are almost revered by the students in the lower grades of the school, that they are the idols of every small boy in the town, that their actions are copied and their attitudes mimicked, and that their influence is tremendous. This is flattery perhaps but flattery that will make the boys realize that they owe to themselves the setting of a worthy standard of conduct. Again, a teacher-coach may exert a powerful influence in the direction of keeping boys in school. Many a boy is held in school by the charm of athlet- ics when othei-Avise he would be drift- ing from one poorly selected job to another. Some people say that if ath- letics are all that he goes to school for, he would be better off at work. Many such boys, however, come to find them- selves during these athletic years, grow to realize what school really means to them, and finally make for themselves a place that they would never have attained except for the ex- tra schooling athletics made them ac- . cept. Usually their awakening dates from the time when their teacher-coach talked seriously with them of the future. Finally, as we study the question, it becomes evident that all of the advan- tages of schoolboy athletics depend on the personality of the coach. Athletics are probablj ' the most important single factor in the school life of the boys, and undoubtedly the most important influence in athletics is the personality I of the coach. He leads. His standards jare their standards; his example their i aim. He has a tremoundous responsi- j bility. In taking his place in school i life he is making more than his own ! reputation or even the reputation of ; the school; he is making the character I of youth. What type of man must ho ;be? What standards should we de- I mand of this man to whom we intrust I our boys in their most important ac I tivity ? j He must be morally clean. No list of victories, however long, no reputa- I tion for producing star players, can I balance in the slightest degree any im- i plication that his life off the field is not exemplary. He should not smoke. This is a much disputed question, but we are in- consistent if we expect our boys to at- tain maturity without using tobacco and the same time place them under the control of a coach who finds it necessary to smoke in public. He should not use or tolerate profan- ity. This is another disputed ques- tion ; men will argue that in football a coach has to swear in order to arouse his men to a fighting pitch, but expe- rience proves the contraiy. He should keep his temper, always, I have seen a football coach strike one of the players with his fist, and I heard the father of one of his opponents say, “That may be the way he won three city championships, but he never could coach my boy, for I wouldn’t let him play under him.” I have seen many coaches abuse otficials, but I have never seen one piofit thereby. Finally, he must be a gentleman, first, last, and all of the time. No matter what conditions may be, in vic- tory or defeat, in practice or games, under fair or dishonest officials, in the face of any circumstances, that stan- dard must be maintained. Sportsman- ship is a word to inspire, but all of its new meanings and applications are in- cluded in what men have always meant 19

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC An important cause of the failure of the teacher-coach system, either in teaching or coaching, is the schedule of classes assigned to each men. It is not uncommon to find a teacher-coach whose schedule is as full as that of any other teacher in the school system. In manj schools the teacher-coaches are given home-rooms and study rooms to look after, in which are to be found most of the difficult disciplinary cases because such men can usually handle the obstreperous boys. In other schools they are assistant principals and are expected to assume administrative du- ties. The excuse of the school board or superintendent for overworking such a teacher is that he is given extra pay for coaching and doing it outside of school hours, and the same school board or superintendent will either ac- cept criticisms from parents because the teacher was not able to give the students enough out-of-school help to enable them to keep up to standard or else accept the suggestion of the alum- ni that they hire a coach with energy enough to make the squad into an ag- gressive, victorious unit. Then peo- ple think that the remedy lies in hir- ing some popular athlete who needs a job, whom they think qualified be- cause he wears a college letter and is liked by the boys. The proper use of an able teacher-coach solves the coach- ing problem, but no man can teach and su pervise all morning, coach in the af- ternoon, prepare for his teaching in the evening, conduct games on Satur- day, and be the success that he is ex- pected to be in all that he is expected to do. As a teacher, the coach has an oppor- tunity to advance his coaching by use- ing his schoolroom. The best teachers of the academic subjects are constant- ly collecting pictures and reports of activities of their departments; the coach should be alert to secure any- thing of value to the teaching of ath- letics and display it in his room. For example, a teacher-coach was assigned to a small recitation room that was un- decorated, and he proceeded to make it distinctly an athletic room. He se- cured a number of photographs of a famous college football team in action, hung them conspicuously and used them in showing the boys how the game should be played. Winning balls and treasured bats helped to decorate the room. On a huge bulletin board he posted pictures and articles of in- terest taken from newspapers. Par- ticular blue-pencil emphasis was given to items that advanced the cause of good sportsmanship, and this bulletin l)oard was visited every day by so many students that it became necessa- ry to restrict them. That coach sel- dom preached directly to the players, but from the articles on that bulletin board they absorbed good sportsman- ship until it was reflected in their play- ing on the field. At a halt in a foot- ball game on a muddy field that man gave the members of his team a blanket on which to wipe their slippery hands. As they finished, the captain handed it to his opponents to use, and the coach led the applause that followed the act. Many people were surprised because the feeling between the teams was intense. Afterwards the coach ask- ed the boy wdiy he did it and received the reply, “You told me that Harvard and Yale swapped towels the day that they played in the rain.” In this same classroom were hung pictures of the teams representing the school. In one corner was a long shelf on which were kept a number of books about the different sports. Members of the squads were allowed to borrow them, and the information secured from such reading was used for the benefit of the school. The students liked to go to that room for classes, and a group could usually be found there in the afternoon discussing ath- letics. The room was used for meet- ings of the teams and for signal drills aud discussions, and on rainy days athletes might be found there who needed help of any kind, whether ath- letic or scholastic. The spirit of the room finally resulted in the forming of a club by the wearers of the school let- ter for the purpose of promoting bet- ter sportsmanship among the teams of the school. As a teacher, the coach has a great opportunity to assist in the discipline of the school. It is not uncommon to find teachers who rejoice over the chance to use interference with a boy’s athletic opportunity as a whip with which to beat him into disciplinary or scholastic submission. “If John does not stop whispering and do his home work, I will stop his playing basket- ball,” a teacher in English told a coach recently, and a serious split in the faculty was caused when that young man courageously replied that he did not believe any teacher of abil- 18

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC t)y the term “gentlemen ” Strongly in defeat, overpoweringly in victory, the coach leads our youth. His is the op- portunity. Great is his responsibility. And fortunate indeed is the school numbering among its faculty a teach- er-coach able and willing to assume his proper place in school life. Our Exchange List This is our final list, a sort of good- bye list, but we shall hope to see them (as well as new ones) in print next year Avhen instead of august editors, we shall be merely “gentle readers.” M. H. S. Keview, Medford High School, Mass. Broadcast, Jamaica Plain High School, Mass. Drury Academe, Drury High School, Mass. Early Trainer, Essex County Train- ing School, Mass. Eed and Black, Whitman High School, Mass. Boston University News, Boston Uni- versity, Mass. Boston University Beacon, Boston University, Mass. Le Petite Eanger, Kemmerer High School, Wyo. Blue and Gold, Malden High School, Mass. Eound Up, Eoosevelt High School, Iowa. Blue Pencil, Walnut High School, Mass. Aegis, Beverly High School, Mass, Eed and Black, Eogers High School, Ehode Island. Crimson and Graj , Mary E. Wells School, Mass. Alpha, New Bedford Hi gh Schoql, Mass. Argus, Gardner High School, Mass. Debater, Wakefield High School, Mass. This is our last number. At this time the last numbers of other schools are being published or have been al- ready published. It is deplorable in more ways than one that period- icals must pass so soon into the hands of succeeding classes. A year is after all so short a time in which to acquire experience and use it to the best ad- vantage. Still, if an editorial staff has much initiative at all, it ought to be able to accomplish something worth- while in its alloted time and hand it dowm as a worthy example for its suc- cessor. A Change A year ago the magazine form of periodical w’as much more popular with schools than the newspaper, but now some of our oldest exchanges are adopting the latter form. To w hat may the change be attributed? Perhaps to a desire to “feel out” and to try new ideas. It is in this desire to explore and ex- Ijeriment that advancement is due. A periodical offers a chance for just this sort of thing and many schools are making use of the opportunity. The Periodical and the Faculty The Eoosevelt High School in Des Moines believes that the relation of the faculty to the school periodical should be something more than merely that of a subscriber. Say they, “Why not have a faculty page or something equivalent to one?” Indeed, why not? What better way can there be to unite teachers and pu- ipils in one big family? Faculty pages, we notice, are becoming more and more popular every year. Commencement A beginning, j Of what a beginning? I Of the cold of t he reality of things, I Of failure and bitter disillusion ? Or the end. The end of the play of a child? M. H., ’ 25 . And What Would Have Happened Then? Macbeth : “What kill a nice old man like Duncan? See here. Lady M., you attend to your household affairs and don’t try to run mine.” Bassanio: “I’ll take the gold casket.” Brutus: “Let me tip you off, Caesar, the boys are planning to do you in on the Ides of March.” Cleopatra : “Oh-h-h-h-h, take that horrid snake away.” 20