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PAGE TWO
THE HEXAGON
JANUARY* 1975
Take Stock Of
Elbert County High
BY DONNA WILLTS
Many people don’t take ad
vantage of, or maybe don’t
even realize, the wide range of
opportunities that this school
has. T'o start with, we have
several special programs that
few other schools were select
ed for. The Comparative Po
litical Experiences, a curricu
lum study under the supervi
sion of Mrs. Sarah Vincent, is
available to seniors in Ameri
can Government. We’re par
ticipating in it with the Indi
ana University on a federal
grant. Mrs. Marlyn Smith has
been chosen to head two pilot
programs: intensive office pro
cedures, which gives in-depth
training for office jobs to girls
during fifth and sixth periods;
and Place packages, which
teaches the various office
skills in separate units. The
students can pick the order of
their units.
Our scholastic programs are
very advanced. Each major de
partment offers college-level
courses: 2nd year chemistry
and biology, Elementary Analy
sis, advanced senior English
and Social Studies. We have
the joint enrollment plan of the
University of Georgia on our
campus. In this arrangement,
seniors can leave school after
4th or 5 th period except on
Mondays and Thursdays, when
a professo rcomes to our school
and lectures on the college
course of their choice. A dif
ferent subject is presented each
quarter. The early admissions
plan enables a pupil to com
plete his senior year in one of
the following colleges: Gear-,
gia Tech, Tift, Athens Tech,
North Georgia Tech, and the
Elbert'County School of Nurs
ing .
The vocational program is
strong, It includes DB, DCT,
and VOT — where a student
can leave for his job after
fourth or fifth period.
Our ROTO department is an
honor unit with distinction,
which means that it’s in the
top 6% of the nation. The
band is exceptionally good too,
with fine marching and concert,
divisions.
The sports department is out
standing, with highly competi
tive team spirit. It offers foot
ball, basketball, baseball, golf,
and tennis.
Track is being built up, but
we need a home facility. The
chess, rifle, and drill teams are
also supported' by the athletic
program.
Elbert County High has
around 30 different clubs of
various academic and social in
terests—‘ranging from National
Honor to American Modern
Dance.
As for the faculty, over 50'%
have masters or higher degrees
which is unusual for a rela
tively rural school.
Finally, we’ll soon have a
brand new school.
Everyone just needs to be
aware of what he can use at
ECHS, and not take it all for
granted. All we need is school
spirit and interest from every
student.
The Problems Facing
the Young People
Today And Their
Reactions
BY K. BEE ATKINSON
Everyone’s sitting around
waiting for doomsday and it
has in fact already arrived.
Young people today are the
shocked survivors. Money
doesn’t make it; career doesn’t
make it; education doesn’t
make it; religion doesn’t make
it. Young people find most
traditional goals (the ones We
have been accustomed 1 to) and
discipline irrelevant.
For today’s young people to
really make it in this world or
this society that we now live
in, it is essential that they
grasp the nature of the crisis
that confront them; discover
the origins of the conflicts that
surround them.
Every time students read of
another oil slick destroying
ocean life; hear a retired Gen
eral urge the use of tactical
atomic weaponry; see a burn
ing black ghetto condoned by
the police; joined classmates to
challenge the school policy; ob
serve women protesting second
class status; condoned and en
courage low morality; they are
being rationalized, radicalized
by current events, not by mili
tants. It is critically important
that they understand the events
that change both the things and
the structure of their society.
Perhaps at no time in Amer
ican history have events so out
distanced our ability to put
them into perspective and eval
uate their implications. Stu
dents must ofen act and react
with insufficient information
and without examining . all
available alternatives.
The events in this society do
not present a question of pre
paring young people: how to
deal with nuclear weapons,
war, environmental pollution,
racial confrontation, student
dissent, disintegration and deg
radation of morals, drug abuse,
which all leads to the base of
reasoning why, instability, and
what is the individual goal for
each young person. These prob
lems are new and must be
handled today. Procrastination
will only prolong the inevitable'
of confusion and chaos, The
public schools today must face
these problems head-on in the
dealings With our young people.
All education, it seems to
me, is the development and re
finement of choice. The devel
opment of an awareness of al
ternatives and the need for
studying and mentally rehears
ing the consequences of these
alternatives before choosing
them. To choose wisely is to
live well, and the story of ev
ery man’s life lies in the big
and little choices that he has
madb.
We all make poor choices—
it is a consequence of living in
a world where there are many
options. If We make poor
choices, we ask: What went
wrong? Did we operate with
the best information we could
get, or did we choose hastily
and carelessly? The mature
person has learned that he is
responsible for his own choices,
hence the importance in an
educative environment of help
ing people become aware that
Thoughts For A New
Year
Write it on your hearts that
every day is the best day in the
year. He is rich who owns the
da\, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded
with fret and anxiety. Finish
every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities,
no doubt, crept in. Forget
them as soon as you can, to
morrow is a new day; begin
it well and serenely, with too
high a spirit to be cumbered
with your old nonsense. This
new day is too dear, with its
hopes and invitations, to waste
a moment on the yesterdays.
Band Chosen for Prom
BY JULIE MANN
The Chocolate Buttermilk
had been chosen by the Junior
class to play at the prom to be
held in the old gym on May 10.
The band consists of four choc
olates (blacks) and three but
termilks (whites).
The band can. play such pop
ular music as performed by
Chicago, A1 Green, Dobbie
Brothers,, and Kool and the
Gang.
The Junior Class will be sell
ing candy (chocolate bars with
almonds) to help finance the
prom. The class hopes to net
$ 1,0)00 from the candy sell and
the band is estimated to cost
approximately $ 6 0(0.
they are choosing-—by default
sometimes -— but choosing nev
ertheless.
Indeed, a central purpose of
a liberal education is to induce
students to stop and think
about their values. Let us see
what happens in a classroom
when there is time to think,
when there is a continuing con
cern about choices and values.
When we stop and think about
our values, we are in the realm
of emotion as well as that of
intellect. I contend . . . “to
teach values means to develop
within students the willingness
to commit themselves to new
values, and to reaffirm or to
reject the values to which they
find themselves previously
committed.”
I commend the Elbert Coun
ty Students for their interest,
cooperation, and willingness to
work for a better tomorrow.
^1 FORD
CLAUDE RAY
FORD SALES
WHERE THE DEALS
' ARE MADE EVERY
DAY.
Elbert Street
Elberton, Georgia
The Point of View
Is Up to You
I had no shoes and complain
ed—
Until I saw a man who had
no feet.
These lines speak volumes,
for we tend' to look upon our
own failings and sorrows as in
surmountable. As a result,
grief stamps its heavy mark
upon our hearts and faces, and
the world and the people in it
become more ugly with time.
Still, those who recognize
that ours may not be the- best
of all possible worlds also real
ize that we can strive to make
do, to bear our hurts as best
we can, to plan and look for
ward to a better future, and to
resolve that tomorrow will be
better if we prepare to meet it.
As for today, the realist
compares and contrasts his life
with those of others. Consid
er those without homes and
families, those without training
and education, those without
plans and hopes.
Yes, consider that you have
no shoes and remember the
man who has no feet.
Sour School Sounds
“Hey, Teach! Freddie just
clobbered me. May I return
the clobber?”
“My Aunt Betty,, she does
most all my homework, so
flunk her instead.”
“Joe and I are in the same
class, so we flipped for who
should do the homework.”
“I don’t care what they say.
Cafeteria food can’t be all that
dangerous to your health.”
“What makes you so sure I
did it?”
“Sure I know that cheerlead
er chick. Trouble is she don’t
know me.”
“The pass-fail system is real
ideal. Let me know for sure
just where I need to put in
some extra study time.”
“He’s so hip he thinks- hard
rock is for throwing.”
“Please . . . You can’t change
my seat. This is the only class
where I sit near her.”
“Don’t really need a coun
selor. I knew I’m going to
flunk geometry.”
“Turn over a new leaf for the
new year? Okay, but I ain’t
had much turning practice.”
COMPLIMENTS
OF
AYERS HDWE.
COMPANY
Telephone 283-7700
Lower Heard Street
Elberton, Georgia
“Every little thing counts^
Use your head.”
“Teacher said it was free ex
pression time, so how Should I
know there were them words I
couldn’t express freely?”
—School Daze.
Good Substitute
“If you couldn’t have wealth,
whiat would you choose?”
“Credit.”
For Superb Quality in
the Granite Industry,
SEE AND VISIT
Comolli Granite
Company
WHOLESALE QUARRIERS
AND MANUFACTURERS
Comolli’s Peerless Extra
Blue
Carolina Mahogany
Comolli’s Pink Salisbury
Carolina Emerald
Carolina Diamond Grey
P. O. Box 898
Elberton, Georgia 30635
Phone (404) 283-2313
GRANITE
CITY
BANK
“PIONEERING
IN
SERVICE
SINCE 1928”
MEMBER
F D I C
DAIRY QUEEN
IS THE
RIGHT PLACE
FOR THE
RIGHT FOODS
AT THE
RIGHT TIME
OR
ANYTIME
YOU’RE HUNGRY
FOR
DELICIOUS FOODS
OR
DAIRY TREATS
