Venango Christian High School - Saga Yearbook (Oil City, PA)

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JOCUS: A CURRICULUM School is still school. Kids, and even teachers, are remarkably ad- justable these days. In some as- pects, the nongraded approach in- troduced to Venango Christian just three months ago seems no different than the traditional method of teach- ing. Classes are still held six hours each day, and attendance is compul- sory. Teachers continue to teach, and students spend leisure hours doing homework. But apparently, something about it is different. By nongraded, it is meant that the school operates a multiphased approach to learning where the achievements of the stu- dent rather than the grade level is the determining factor. VC scholars are free to choose the phase in which they want to stu- dy a particular subject. The school offers advice as to which level the individual is best capable of work- ing in. But the final choice lies with the student. Quest phase is open to those who have a deep and extraor- dinary interest in a subject. Partici- pation in this phase is permitted only by special application. Phase 5 offers advanced research and study above the normal high school level to students with exceptional ability. Phase 4 is not as challenging as Phase 5, but it still presents depth courses. The average student desir- ing traditional high school presenta- tion finds it in Phase 3. The basic skills are emphasized in Phase 2,

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Illustration by Rosemary Coyne Thus, I live in a constant fear of falling to my death. This phobia is bud enough without the guilt complex I have concerning my friends. My con- stant apologies and their patient, “It's O.K., or, Forget it! are getting to me! But even worse is the humiliation I suffer. After I had slipped at the soiled dish table, I heard some girl say, who was the clumsy girl who did that? My feeling of insecurity concern- ing motivation in general turned to panic during our annual style show. I walked the long ramp and up and down the stairs without tripping or or falling. The only thing is, I went in the wrong direction. This is unim- portant because I now no longer trip. You can tell anybody that has a bug on promptness and punctuality in this school. They’re walking through the halls shaking and muttering to themselves. It’s happening to everybody. Right now I am two weeks late for a class, and I don’t even know which one be- cause they switched rooms on me. All I’m completely sure of is that I wasn’t someplace where I should’ve been, not unusual, however. There was one poor freshman who walked into the boiler room by mis- take and because he was so terrified to go back out and look for his class (it’d happened to him before), he sat there talking to the boiler because it made noises back at him. Do you know what finally happened to that poor boy? He got two Saturday de- tentions for skipping classes. Vhat really unnerves you is, when walking down the hall, you meet a drooping, half-starved figure. The story is sobbed out and it seems he’d been lost three days. The poor kid couldn’t find history class, and when he got off the elevator on the third floor it took him that long to get back. Yep! He’ll be here Saturday, too. There’s one girl I know of who hasn t eaten since school started. Shall we ever forget that lovely folk song, Black is the color of my true love’s hair? Unfortunately my lament is not quite the same, Green is the color of my guy’s hair (sob!) Through a schedule mix up of some sort she had a POD class scheduled for eighth and ninth modules. The whole thing wasn’t straightened out until she applied for an application to go to the health room to see what they could do for malnutrition. Need- less to say, when she was carried in, they discovered the error and cor- rected it. Now all she’s got is wri- ter’s cramp from fixing schedule cards. This system has left no one im- mune. When there’s a P.A. announce- ment calling for a misplaced class, you know it isn’t the class that’s lost, it’s the teacher. It must be a rather insecure feeling to know that after teaching in different schools for years, you aren’t capable of find- ing a whole class. But, cheer up! When we’re all neurotics nobody’ll seem different. Illustration by Rosemary Coyne He is the toughest guy and his name is Joe. Until recently, his hair was bright red, and I really loved to tease him about it. So Joe decided to surprise me by dying his hair black; the trouble is, the black didn’t take on his red hair— now it’s a horrible green! As a matter of fact, it’s the same color I turned when I saw it! So I said You have got to be kid- ding me, Alice (which is my most regularly employed phrase). But that’s too good to be true, he wasn’t kidding, it was that really cool green color and that’s the way it was going to stay—his reply to my question was , . . and it won’t wash out!’’ Not too neat, just what I’ve always want- ed. I mean, granted, green is my fa- vorite color but this is carrying things too far! Naturally, optimist that I am, I tried my best to see the good points of dating a guy with green hair. First of all he has a new' madras jacket in which the main colors are navy and loden, so the hair looks pretty sharp with the jacket. I have still another consolation, there’s a circus coming to town next week and I am getting a free pass, they want Joe to be in it; and no wonder they want him—he really does look cool, with freckles yet! Well, at any rate, it won’t be too bad. I won’thave to look at that neat- ness green in my classes. Father just expelled Joe from school this morning. So now the only time I'll have to worry about seeing him is at the out-of-school dances and the lights are usually pretty dim there anyway. Ask me if I’m going to miss him. I give up, am I? Lough Awhile: Where Have All the Classes Gone? by Christine Cartwright 7

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DESIGNED WITH YOU IN MIND Photos by Ted Szalewicz and students in Phase 1 are given special help in meeting the require- ments. The grading system is ar- ranged so that the higher the phase, the more a mark is worth in grade- points. Those unphased subjects, such as home ec and language, are graded on the Phase 3 level. Schedules and assignment sheets are made available to the students each week. In general, the material by Diane Wilson covered each week consists of two large group lectures and a number of small group discussion and indepen- dent study modules, which are de- signed to give time for additional research in depth subject Remember the fairy tale about the man, the boy, and the donkey? It’s difficult to please everyone. :»t most of the students will agree that it would be even harder to return to the old system. Term paper time is here, and Karen's making good use of Room 215. Karen takes advantage of lingual supplies made available in the library. Free modules may be spent in the library studying or doing research. 9