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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
I 1
ary work of the grade schools, and takes up the
more advanced courses that lead to graduate work
in college and university. It prepares a young man
to take up the professional studies peculiar to the
Holy Priesthood, Law, Medicine, Dentistry, Engineer
ing, Journalism and Teaching, as well as the mer
cantile pursuits and handicrafts. Hence the high
school curriculum must embrace the advanced grades
of religious instruction:—Dogma, Moral and Worship;
the Ancient Classics:—English and other modern lan
guages, Ancient and Modern History and Civics, Gen
eral Science, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, as also
Business Courses, and Manual and Physical Training.
Each department must have a special .professor en
dowed with an Academic Degree, as evidence of fit
ness to perform his allotted duties. Moreover, there
are also required a school library of reference works,
appertaining to the subjects taught; a good gymna
sium well furnished with apparatus, and an Athletic
Field with baseball diamond, football gridiron, basket
ball cage, cinder track, etc. Both these departments
for physical training must be under the supervision
of experienced physical directors and coaches to con
trol and direct the exercises, so as to secure the ut
most efficiency. The department of Physical Science
requires laboratories supplied with a copious array
of scientific apparatus to render the teaching of
Physics, Biology and Chemistry interesting and ser
viceable.
There now exist several grades of high school, such
as the Standardized High School, with its four years
of high school work, with appropriate laboratories,
Library, Departments and Professors. This grade of
high school is the one accredited by the State Boards
as deserving the title of Standard High School. Next
comes the high school with a three years’ course.
Then we have the Junior High School, consisting of
two years of high school, and the seventh and eighth
grammar grades; others again, can afford to carry
only one year of high school work.
The course of Religious Training pursued in the
Catholic High School is of immense value. It enables
the graduate to give an account of the faith that is in
him, and to explain the Church’s teaching and prac
tice clearly and exactly to such as, in good faith, are
seeking for the light of truth. With faculties keenly
developed and a capacity to acquire more exact
knowledge, the Catholic High School student gets a
firmer grasp on the meaning of the truths of Divine
.Revelation; herein lies an important phase of the
vital importance of the Catholic High School.
An endowed Catholic High School can no longer
be regarded as a luxury it has become a necessity;
if we can only realize the importance of bestowing
upon our heirs a wealth of culture that will place
them in the forefront, among the leaders of thought
and moulders of public opinion, whether in Church
or State, to be used for the enlightenment of their
less favored brethren. The more genuine culture our
Catholic young men and women possess the greater
power for good they wield, and the more lasting
influence they exercise over others in their various
communities. Many .of our Catholic parents, by re
trenching superfluities could afford to give their sons
and daughters the advantages of a high school course
which would be of more real value than would be
large fortunes bequeathed at death.
The most suitable age to enter high school ap
pears to be about fourteen. As most boys are then
too young to decide their future vocations and are
prevented from peering into the future to discover
the opportunities that await them, to influence their
future activities, it were well to fashion the high
school curriculum in such wise as to forestall those
contingencies. Two classes of boys enter high school
—the one class have some definite purpose and aim,
such as the Priesthood, the Legal Profession, etc.
The other class have no definite aim other than to
better their condition, to get an education and fill
some honorable position. That both classes may ob
tain the best results they should complete two years
of the high school together and then, those who do
not ambition professional life, should be given what
is known in educational terminology, as finishing or
vocational courses during the last two years. These
courses should consist of Business branches, or Man
ual Training. The other class should continue on
and complete what educators now designate as the
fitting branches preparatory to entering college and
university to adopt professional careers. Every
young man should make it a conscientious duty to
employ every advantage to improve and develop the
talents entrusted to him by Almighty God.
' If we wish the rising generation to become all
that we would desire to see them: The first requisite
is a certificate from a Standardized High School of
four years. Without this evidence of ability there is
no avenue of advancement open to the young man in
the learned professions. The State Boards are draw
ing the lines more tightly year-by year, so that now
it would be presumptuous to expect a college or uni
versity education if these boards withhold their con
sent. The sooner our Catholic people realize these
modern innovations and comply with them the bet
ter for ourselves and for our young people.
No Catholic School is suitably equipped unless
proper conveniences for comfort and accommodation
be provided for the teachers. In most cases the teach
ers who make our Catholic Schools a possibility are
selected from some one of the various teaching.orders
of the Church. Outside of class hours they have
duties to perform which require leisure, retirement
v and freedom from household cares and responsibili
ties, hence these necessary details must be considered
and furnished if we desire to show proper apprecia
tion of what our religious teachers mean to us, and
the beneficient results of their untiring devotedness.
We are so absorbed in our dear ones, and so contin
uously occupied in caring for their little wants that
at times we forget that the teacher’s requirements
are allowed to pass unheeded, or are entirely disre
garded. Unless the teachers are supplied with the
conveniences of home they are prevented from de
voting their entire energy to caring for their pupils,
and thus the efficiency of the school is impeded. In