The bulletin (Augusta, Ga.) 1920-1957, October 01, 1920, Image 11

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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