West High School - EOS Yearbook (Aurora, IL)

Page 19 text:

X COOKING, DRAWING, AND ART ADD VARIETY TO REGULAR CLASSES FOR GENERAL STUDEINTS Household arts is without a doubt a practical course for high school girls. It offers instructions in the line art of homemaking, including the study of clothing and foods. Miss Ballard, clothing and home management instructor, prepares the girls for economic and intelligent purchasing of clothes, as well as for actual dressmaking. The study of foods in connection with home management is also included in her course. The general course is based upon the principle of requiring only a few specific units for graduation from the course, thereby giving the student leeway to make his own decisions as to whether he shall confine his training to preparation for college, a vocation, or both. The requirements are composed of four years of English, taught by llfliss Lane, lldiss Wood, lldr. Newman, and lldrs. Shepard: one year of general mathematics, taught by Miss Brown and hir. Apsit: two years of social science with instructors Mr. Ridinger, Miss Raymond, and lVIr. Nebergalg and one-half year each of physiology and general science, instructed by hfliss YVilson, lVIr. Hafenrichter, Mr. Grant, Miss Pease, and Mr. Jebens. In this course the student is able to choose for himself the subjects which he wants to take and which he thinks will give him the best preparation for his later life. The general division accomplishes a dual purpose by preparing students simul- taneously for both college and a vocation. By this training, acquired at an early stage of their education, they are ready to meet whatever the future holds for them.

Page 18 text:

MANUAL TRAINING, SEXVING, AND VVUUDVVORKING PROVIDE PR.-XC'I'Il'AI, EXPERIIQNFI4 FOR A GENERAL EDUCATION For the benefit of those students who are not able to decide on either a college preparatory or a vocational course, but prefer a happy medium between the two, VVest High has instituted a general division. In this day and age when we are bent on correcting and eliminating human waste and inconvenience, this division affords an opportunity for study suited to both college and a vocation. As part of the individualized plan of education at IVest High, three main subf divisions of the general course have been organized to afford a better acquaintanceship with the different fields. These divisions are technical arts, industrial arts, and household arts. The technical arts course provides training for boys interested in the field of engineering. A profession inevitably requiring further study in a school of advanced education and training, it is closely allied with the college preparatory course, differing only in the foreign language requirement. In the industrial arts course, studies in either manual training. taught hy IXIr. Tilly and lNIr. Koyl, or printing, taught by lXIr. Gee, may he pursued.

Page 20 text:

INIINIICRVIAI. S'I'I'lJICN'I'S LEARN 'IU MIMEUURAPII, 'I'U MAKE Ul I' jUB-APPLICATIUNS, ANI? TU TAKE lJlC'I'A'I FOR COMME RCIAL TRAINING Annually, june after june, lVest High graduates parade across the platform- all looking more or less alike. Hut there the similarity ends. lfither through necessity or through an impatient desire to prove their own worth, twenty-three per cent of these students chose the commercial course. Now, at graduation, they stand fully equipped to make their place in the husiness world. ln no other branch of learning does the opportunity for immediate advancement so present itself. l reshmen, launching into this new realm of training, find the initial courses reduced to mere stepping stones under the illuminating teaching of hliss 'l'hompson. ln her husiness fundamentals classes she acquaints the students with a general preview of the requirements for the forthcoming years. lVith the advent of their sophomore year, students in this course hranch out into commercial arithmetic, with instructor hlr. Apsitg commercial geography, with hlr. Smith as teacher: hooltlceeping, with instructor hlr. Peterson: and typing, taught hy hliss Fruin and Bliss Thompson. A general understanding of the field and its scope is hrought hefore the student hody. Its potentialities, as well as its difliculties, are discussed to make for a hetter understanding of the curriculum outlined for them.