Thornton Township High School - Thorntonite Yearbook (Harvey, IL)

Page 30 text:

Everything from how to measure ingredients for cake, and how to place the fork on the late after using it to how to act as hostess at one ' s own table is taught in the homemaking classes which have to do with cooking. Clad in neat nets and aprons, the girls are busy little- bees as they learn through actual experience the do ' s and don ' ts of food preparation and consumption. Each girl in the advanced classes takes upon herself the job of planning, preparing, and being hostess at a dinner to which several guests are invited. The girls completing this course have an excellent start toward becoming good homemakers. The conservation of material and the recon- version of old garments to new is especially important during wartime. That is what the other half of the homemaking department, the sewing classes, is learning to do. Each year those girls have the opportunity of showing their efforts at the annual Mother- Daughter Tea and Style Show. The girls model the clothes they have made. Since the Homemaking Department, which is headed by Miss Wilma V. Reed, is affiliated with the Illinois Board for Vocational Educa- tion, it is necessary for each student to take at least one related subject, such as general sci- ence or biology.

Page 29 text:

A Tale of Two are still widely composition are Harris ' Trumpets at Dawn. Other popular books that the students enjoy reading are Irving Bacheller ' s A Man for the Ages, Marjorie Rawlings ' The Yearling, Jim Davis, by John Masefield, and Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Charles Dickens ' Cities and Great Expectations read by many students. Essentials of grammar and taught during the second year. Students learn how to express themselves clearly and accurately in written compositions. Using proper grammatical construction, students learn to speak well, another mark of an educated person. Literature and speech constitute one semester of third year English. Forms of business communica- tion, letters, creative writing, and composition are stressed during the other semester. Although students having an A or B aver- age their first three years are not required to take fourth year English, many of them take one of the elective courses: radio workshop, creative writing, dramatics, or journalism. The journalism class includes the publishing of the newspaper and yearbook. All students who receive less than a B average during their first three years ' work are required to take the fourth year English course, which offers English literature and further work in composition.

Page 31 text:

UPra The Social Science Department, headed by Mr. J. F. Zimmerman, with Mr. C. C. Stegmeir taking charge of the history section, includes civics, commercial geography, commercial law, economics, and history. These subjects are important to the person who wishes to have an accurate understanding of the events which are now taking place and which will affect human life from this point on. To become more familiar with future respon- sibilities as voters of this nation, a mock gen- eral election was held last November, at the same time the general election was held through- out the nation. Students were taught the funda- mentals of voting by actually taking part in an election which was run according to law. In planning for the future, the wise person looks to the past to see how other people did the job and how he can improve upon what was done. In this way the several histories offered Thornton students play an important part in their lives. The pupil learns, among other things, how people lived in the past, and thus he may have some idea as to what to expect in the future. Economics and commercial law students learn the more intricate mechanism of state and na- tional governments. Economics help teach pupils how the governments use, collect, and make money, while commercial law explains common law to students so that they will be familiar with the laws used in coping with common occurrences. Commercial geography explains to pupils the advantages and disadvantages of each kind of territory, its natural resources, and its influence. Together, these subjects help the student un- derstand why and how he can make this world a better place in which to live. z- ■j:t