Abilene weekly reflector., 1916-02-03
''WHY ABILENE NEEDS
A LARGER HIGH SCHOOL"

prize in the contest promoted Dy an
Abilene business man,
/. We need a larger high school
because we have outgrown our pres
ent building.
When the Abilene high school was
built the enrolment was about 100.
1t did not seem probable that it
would ever exceed $50, and so the
school was built for a maximum
capacity of $50. This is evidenced by
the fact that there are $50 seats in
the chapel
But during the past nine years
the student body has grown beyond
all expectations. This year we have
2S9 students, or SO more than the
chapel was intended to hold. We
are using every available nook and
corner from the basement to the
balconies above the chapel, for class
rooms. The study classes, during
certain periods of the day, are so
large that the study hall will not
accommodate them. Consequently
the classes are compelled to move
to the chapel. The cloak rooms are
too small to hold all the overcoats
and wraps. These are just a few
facts which indicate how full we are.
We might possibly be able to get
along if we knew that the student
body would not get any larger than
it is this year. However, Supt. Stacey
places the minimum enrolment for
next year at 320 Mr.. French's esti-
mate is higher. You can guess what
the conditions will be when 800 or
$50 students are packed into a
building which was never meant to
hold more than $50.
II. We need a larger building
because the scope of high school
education has broadened.
Ten or twenty years ago, the chief
purpose of high school was to
prepare the student for college. The
course of study consisted mainly of
the so-called classic" studies
Latin, Greek, German or French,
English and it's related studies, AL
zebra, Geometry, and Natural
Philosophy" or Physics. Practically
all these studies were straight text
book studies, and required no spe-
cial apparatus or laboratories. But
the high school has undergone a
change. 1t has become more practi-
cal and has begun to offer courses
that will help the student to win in
the struggle of life.
The first new course introduced
was the Normal Training course,
Then, later, Manual Training, Do
mestic Science and Domestic Art
Agriculture, and this year, the Com
mercial Course, including typewrit-
ing, shorthand, penmanship, etc.
have been introduced. But to find
space for these new departments we
have literally had to use the gar
rets and the cellars of the build
ing. The manual training room can
hold only seventeen benches. This
limits the enrolment to thirty-four
as only two classes a day can be
taught. The Domestic Science de-
partment is handicapped in the
same way, and needs a dining room
badly. Both these departments are
housed in the basement. Practically
the whole Commercial department.
typewriting, bookkeeping, shorthand,
etc.-hangs on to the ragged edge
of nothing in the two small stuffy
balconies above the chapel. We are
able to get along this year, but next
year, when in all probability we
will have forty more students, and
the next and the next years-what
then?
III. We need laboratories for
the science studies.
Formerly science was taught
mostly out of text books. But today
educators have come to realize that
theory" and practice must be cor
related. Therefore the student to-
day gets into a real contact with
science through a laboratory course.
and learns how to connect and ap-
ply his theoretical knowledge to
everyday facts.
When the school was built, no
rooms were provided for laborator-
les. Supt. Stacey has improvised two
rooms for their purpose, although
they are pretty well equipped with
apparatus, the rooms are unsuited
for the work. The physics laboratory
is used for a classroom also and
consequently it is full of chairs. 1t
is so crowded that good work is i'm
possible. The chemistry room is