Virginia Episcopal School - Vestige Yearbook (Lynchburg, VA)

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ment in our colleges-the depart- ment of educationeseem to be ex- tremely reticent regarding any prac- ticable plan covering this field. Probably, then, there is no one spe- cific program which will make a student out of a pupil. Yet there are some tonic hints that might be suggested. These hints, as they occur to me, indeed seem simple ones, but most good plans are at bottom simple. There- fore, rather certain that not all of our boys have learned yet to make use of them, I here suggest some definite ideas, which I think will apply in most cases and which, if followed honestly, will perhaps re- sult in improved study methods for preparatory school boys. Ten Rules 1. Listen in class. If your sub- ject is worth studying at all, your knowledge of it will be enhanced by your attention to what your teacher has to say. But this is impossible for you if you grant only the ap- pearance of attention. It must be genuine. 2. Mark your textbooks merci- lessly. When you read something that strikes home, underscore it then and there; you will not remember to do so later. And in this connection, remember to mark your assign- ments when they are given. The very boy who has trouble studying is too often the boy that fails to take down his assignments and forgets them. 3. Take notes without instruc- tion, to do so. Do not wait for the teacher to tell the class he is about to give them notes. I have always noticed that those boys who are con- tinually taking things down volun- tarily are the ones who can be de- pended upon to retain ideas for long periods. 4. Keep a record of all quiz questions. No teacher objects to this, and if you practice it, you al- ways have at hand a fair beginning for review. 5. Review a 0117's ilrzmodiately after taking 'it. Unless you have made. a perfect grade, there are mis- takes which need correction at once in your mind. A student will not be caught napping twice on the same material. 6. Milieu. going out to get help from a teacher, be sure you. have THE. METEOR nrst put forth real efort. Have real questions to ask him if possible. Just trotting out and in is not study- ing, even though you spend several periods 50. 7. Refuse to be disgruntled over every apparent injzrtstice. For your own sake, accept a certain amount of seeming unfairness. Do not feel hurt at every failure on the teach- erls part to appreciate your eiforts. Snap back into a recipient mood and be ready for whatever is coming next The quibbling mind loses half of the important things going on in class. 8. Try first to grasp the general idea 'zu'zderlying a lesson. Frequently some principle or some basic theme, if looked for and discovered, clarilies the whole lesson, gives it form and reason. Then look for the details and consider these as they relate to this general principle. 9. Take time to conmarc one days work with another, and what you learn in one course with what you learn in another. Too often we' get certain information but we leave it in the raw state. Unrelated ideas are hard to remember. Often these same ideas, properly linked with what has gone before, will be almost equally hard to forget. 10. Rmnember that too much has been said about 711.cmal inferiority. Many boys allow themselves to think they are deumbli when in reality they are simply excusing a streak of laziness. The chances are good that you are as bright as many whom you have thought superior. Your so-called ltdumbnessl, will usually disappear when you learn to put into practice some concerted plan of study. But of course do not hope for too much at first. It will be necessary to practice these ideas for some time before you can expect great results. Important things are not achieved at one trial. Now the question still remains, can one person actually help another person to learn to study? Probably he can at most do no more than make suggestions. If these sugges- tions are accepted and incorporated in the other person's daily habits, then very likely a real benefit has carried over. I am quite aware that the ten rules given above are incom- plete and in some work hardly ap- plicable. But my purpose is to give, in concrete form, something which boys who are having trouble may understand and may use. The first seven items answer this purpose. The last three are more vague, though equally true. I suggest that the boy who honestly wants to learn to study give a fair trial to the first seven rules. Use them. Practice them every day, in every class, every time you study. If you find them worthwhile, then add the eighth and ninth and try to apply these in your more general subjects firstehistory, English, R. I. But when you have done' this consistently for a time, you will find they apply quite as well in the more specific subjectse science, language, mathematics. The tenth is hardly a rule; rather it is a warning. But it is true and most of us need to realize its truth. As unsatisfactory as this article is in many respects, I believe it may help some boys. Dr. Axel Munthe, himself a renowned physician, says, 0You cannot be a good doctor with- out pityfi Quite as true is it that you cannot be a good teacher with- out sympathy for the fellow being taught. I should like to call your attention to the fact that your teach- ers, whether they shout it from the housetops or not, do have a sympa- thy for the boy who is failing though trying-failing and not knowing what to do about it. For years I have seen this sort of human waste and have felt that something should be attempted to help just this kind of boy. In this article I have only touched the matter. Maybe an- other will carry on the subject in a subsequent issue and do it more helpfully. In this hope, I strongly urge the editors to welcome such another article and offer the space for advice that may benefit many of the readers. IN LYNCHBURG ITlS n1: SHOPDING CENTR: e For All Your Shopping Needs lMillner Quality Cost No Morel

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Ellie mptvnr VOLUME XXVIV OCTOBER 28. 1944 NUMBER 1 Issued by the students of the Virginia Episcopal School, Lynchburg, V a., monthly during the school year of 1944445 except holidays. Subscriptions. 25e per copy; $2.00 per year EDITORIAL BOARD JOHN HENRY PARROTT, II Editor-in-Chicf FRANCIS GWYNN TOWNES ..................... RALPH HOUSTON ALEXANDER .............. ROBERT ISAAC LEE ................................. MR. JOHN D. FOLLETT.... ..................................... Managing Editor ...... 4 ssociate Editor ...... Sports Editor ....................................... Famlty Adviser Reporters CLAY THOMSON jAMES BALLOU DAVIS RIANHARD PERRIN GOWER WILLIAM LONG ROBERT ARTHUR HENRY TREVATHAN CHILES LARSON Photographer DR. GEORGE L. BARTON. JR. BUSINESS BOARD FRANCIS GWYNN TOWNES ...................................................... Business Manager JACK WELLFORD .................................. ....Assistant Business Manager JOHN C. WILLIAMS .............................. Assistant Business Manager L. RAY RICHARDSON .............................................................. Circulation Manager Entered as second class matter September 28, 1928, at the Postoffice at Lynchburg, Virginia, under the Act of March 3, 1879. SCHOOL DIRECTORY Honor Committee Robert Isaac Lee, Head Counselor Charles Francis Hileman Frances Gwynn Townes John Cross Williams John Simmons Wellford, Jr. General Athletic Association John Cross Williams. President Robert Isaac Lee Henry Clay Perry Davis Rianhard The Meteor John Henry Parrott, Editor-in-chicf F rancis Gwynn Townes, Business M anager Mr. J. D. Follett, Faculty Adviser V-Club John Cross Williams, President Henry Clay Perry, Vice President Robert Isaac Lee. Secretary William Gray Long, Treasurer James J. White. Sergeant-at-arms 4 OPINIONS Bishops OFF to Good Start W ell the middle of the season has rolled around, and finds the Bishops with a good record. Last year's famed passing combination of Lee- toePerry, has again proved deadly to all opposition, so far this year. Lee has passed to Cant. Perry to set up or score all Bishop touch- downs. The team has proved to be a good one, having beaten Miller School 26-13, and Hargrave 13-0. But it really showed as it came near to defeating Woodberry Forestls famed T formation, only to have the Tigers score in the closing min- utes of the game to deadlock the score. However, despite the record, there are still some tough games on the slate, with Fishburne, E. H. 5.. R.-M. A. and last but not least, the e x p e r i e n c e d St. Christopher's eleven. The team has shown excellent spirit, and with the passing of the season will show the preparatory schools of Virginia a real fight for the state championship. Magazines Across the Sea With this issue THE METEOR be- comes an international publication. It is being sent to four English, two Canadian, a n d two Australian schools? Of course we realize 'fully that war conditions and paper shortages may prevent regular publication of some or all of the school magazines to whose editors THE METEOR is on the way. At least one of the Eng- lish schools, the County School for Boys at Beckenham and Penge, has been repeatedly bombed with re- sulting casualties and deaths to members of both school and faculty. But we hope that these represen- tative schools of allied, English speaking nations will reciprocate as often as possible by sending us their publications. If this .is impossible. we will understand. Mr. Banks Writes It has not been the policy of THE METEOR to court a great deal of writing on the part of members of the Faculty. Now and then, how- ever, something worthwhile has been contributed by a master and, I think, has been enjoyed by the read- ers generally. It is more than pos- sible that other masters may add to the few ideas here and bring before the boys of Virginia Episcopal School other salient items to help them in that hardest of lessons4 learning how to study. We often hear it said of a boy: He doeSIft know how to study. Other boys say it; parents say it; and teachers are continually saying it. I wonder how many who make this habitual criticism could give the unfortunate one any idea of how to correct the trouble? Do any of us really know how to study? Applied psychology courses and innumerable courses in that-so-popular depart- tThe Meteor is indebted to Miss 01- lie Gardner, faculty adviser of Fairleigh Dickerson News, Rutherford, N. J., and to Dr. Iona R. Logic, liaison officer of Books Across the Sea , Columbia Uni- versity, New York, N. Y., for the ad- dresses of foreign publications. THE METEOR

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STUDENTS Fall Is Election Time at V. E. S. Also One night last month, all the old boys in school were sum- moned to study hall to perform the annual task, the election of the Hop Committee and the Gen- eral Athletic Association. Head Counselor Lee mounted the plat- form and was promptly greeted by a chorus of jeers, catcalls, whistles, and several assorted textbooks. Lee announced the purpose of the meeting: and the election was underway. Perry Proposes Perry Then the meeting was ad- journed for a five-minute cam- paign session. W. Pryor Perry announced from atop a desk that he was a candidate for G. A. A., but showered the desk with tears when he learned that a varsity letter was necessary for qualifi- cation. You vote for me and PH vote for you? was the watch- word of the meeting. The ballots were taken up, and the next morning it was learned that ttLightfoot Lee, Lil Aln Wil- liams and Jack VVellford were elected as the Hop Committee. while Lee, 'Williams, Mole Perry and Davis Rianhard made up the G. A. A. The Duties The Hop Committee has the job of completing every arrange- ment for the dances, including decorations, money and trans- portation. The G. A. A. has the job of helping the coaches decide on the boys who make letters, and they help decide on all other matters of athletic importance in the school. 0 They Issue Demeri'ts Last year, shortly before the close of school, the student body was asked to vote on the boys to be counselors for the 1944-45 session. After these ballots had been studied by the faculty, the counselors for this year were appointed, the fac- ulty following as far as possible the outcome of the student vote. This year, for the first time in the history of the school, the honor tThe announcement was quite un- necessary. Everybody knew before hand the purpose of the assembly. 6 committee consists of five boys, in- stead of the former three. With Robert 1. Lee, Raleigh, N. C., as head counselor, the committee is made up of John C. Williams, Raleigh, N. G, Charles Hileman, Millboro, Va., Gwynn Townes, Charlottesville, Va., and John S. Wellford, Jr., Covington, Va. Counselors returning from last year are Graham Koch, Arrington. Va.. and James White. Lexington. Va. The other new counselors this year are Robert M. Arthur, Wash- ington, D. C.; Dan Bell, Dublin, Va.: William Field. Roanoke, Va.; William Long, Garysburg, N. C.; Thomas Maddux, Warrenton, Va; Jack Parrott, Roanoke, Va.; Clay Perry, Virginia Beach. Va.; and Jesse Waller, Forest, Va. 0 Doin's During the Summer As school ended last year, each boy leaving V. E. S. went with two thoughts: le glad to go home, but I sorta hate to leave. During the parole period from June to Septem- ber these V. E. S. inmates were re- ported to have engaged in the ac- tivities set after their names: Down toward Virginia Beach, Mole Perry changed girls, and to make the summer a merry one is said to have made $500 picking up coins dropped through cracks in the board walk. Graham Koch turned down a football scholarship at Notre Dame in order to work for Uncle Sam. then came hack to V. E. S. when the Army found it could get along without him for a few weeks. Down in North Carolina, Mr. Gannaway reported seeing ltRockli Lee knock two home runs in a base- ball game as hundreds of school girls swooned and fell out of the bleachers. It is rumored that Edgar Betty, who was a life guard in Raleigh, let three children drown while he helped a charming young lady find her compact. Edgar also reports he pulled Lil Al out of the pool three times with Absorbine, Jr on his breath. George Withers was reported to have tried to drown himself, but, sadly, he was unsuccessful. When asked who pulled himiout, t'Wuf- fers replied, Bob Scott was the hero! Seneff and Hammett, after argu- ing over which one of them liked Mr. Follett best, had a fight which resulted in Hammett shooting Se- neftr in the leg with a .44 pistol. Hammett said that the light was poor, or held have hit him in the head. Mr. Follett tried to get married. but was dismayed to learn that two people have to give their consent. He now contents himself by hav- ing dates for football and dinner. HGutsl, Larson went up in Yan- kee Land, and together with Rian- hard, gave those northern belles a chance to see how a real ttsouthern gentlemann works. 0 V Club The Varsity Club started its sea- son last month with Williams as president; Mole Perry, vice- president; Lee, secretary; Long. treasurer, and Waller, sergeant-at- arms. The latter office is chiefly con- cerned with keeping Rocky quiet. Number Pleaseh Last years war casualty was the telephone which had ornamented the WP, Club room. In spite of the main use to which it had been put, before its departuret, Mr. Gannae way convinced the ration board that the telephone is a war time essential and another was installed during the summer, much to the despair of Uncle Phil. Last years baseball and track ugoat? have already started gloat- ing over the future initiations of football heroes. These rough and tough individuals will be whittled down to average size if present plans go through. Serious Aims On the more serious side, the V Club members have announced their intention to continue to work for the betterment of athletics from both the physical and sportsmanship angles. With this will come the bet- terment of school life in general. :3le smoothing of the path to true love to Carolinels door. Come In and Look Over the NEW FALL STYLES WlLLS-CAMP CO. 8!? Main Street SEE WELLFORD THE METEOR