The public schools in the city of Paris in 1900 were under the management and control of a Board of Education, composed of the school directors of the city and of the First School District of the county, which for tuition purposes was included in the city (Green, 1900, p. 23).

The curriculum as set up by the city schools in 1900 which covered only the ninth and tenth grades on the secondary level, was as follows:

This outline seemed to form the backbone for the subjects which eventually went to make up the curriculum for E. W. Grove High School although the latter was under county jurisdiction. The curriculum as set by the Joint Board, composed of the Boards of Trust and Trustees, for the initial year was:

The Board further recommended an addition to the above regular course of studies. It was their feeling that a regular business course to teach stenography, bookkeeping, and telegraphy should be included in the curriculum (Board of Trust Minutes, September 17, 1906).

"The courses of study at first were those of the conventional preparatory school, laying special stress on the languages and mathematics." Due to E. W. Grove High School's desire to be of "greater service to the boys and girls of Henry County, other departments were organized" (The Grove Comet, May, 1913).

"The first department to be added was music; then came expression, agriculture, domestic science and last, a review course for the common school teachers of the county" (The Grove Comet, May, 1913).

"The establishment of an Agriculture Department in connection with the high school had for its aim the accomplishment of a two-fold purpose, " namely: (1) to train the students in the fundamental principles of improved agriculture, so that these principles might be made of practical value when the student has returned to the farm and (2) to meet the demand of the farmers of the county for demonstrations relative to various agricultural practices (The Grove Comet, May, 1913). This new addition to the curriculum had its beginning in 1909 (Visiting Committee, 1950, p. 11).

That the school had a Domestic Science Department was due to the generosity of Dr. Grove. Upon seeing the need for such a department, the noble benefactor made an appropriation for the training of "those who make our homes more comfortable, pleasant and attractive" (The Grove Comet, May, 1913). The course now known as home economics was initiated in 1909 (Visiting Committee, 1950, p. 11).

In addition to the regular curriculum a Teachers' Course was inaugurated March 18, 1912, through the efforts of Mr. Robinson, the principal, and the High School Board. The course was added in hopes of filling a long-felt need in the county. The teachers of the county usually finished their work by the middle of March, but the time was then too snort to attend a high school and receive any material benefits. Even though the review course was short, many felt it might do an immense amount of good (The Grove Comet, May, 1913).

About forty teachers and prospective teachers took part in the feat course offering. Encouragement was offered to the movement by County School Superintendent Joe Routon, who announced that in assigning places to the teachers over the county a preference would be shown those who had attended the Grove Teachers' Course (The Grove Comet, May, 1913).

In 1913 Grove High School had in effect two programs or coffees of study which were similar in nature. They were the Latin course and the English and Science courses. Although both courses were on a more or less set pattern, the students were permitted to choose two years of history in lieu of two years of German or Greek in the Latin course. Also in both the Latin course and the English and Science courses, history or Pedagogy could be elected instead of the mathematics in the senior year (The Grove Comet, May, 1913).

The Latin course consisted of the following:

The English and Science course included such subjects as:

Also in the year 1913 and at the beginning of the second term, the Sub-Freshmen Class composed of eighteen students was organized and it was regarded as a successful experiment. It was initiated due to the fact that the City Public School had a class that finished at the middle of the term. Thus it was too late to enter a regular high school and unwise to attend no school at all until the beginning of another term. For these reasons, the principal, Mr. Robinson, and the Grove School Board instituted the preparatory department. It was not only an accommodation to the overcrowded Public School, but it was of benefit to county students who finished their county school about the middle of the year and felt a half year's preparatory work in the Sub-Freshmen Class would be beneficial in enabling them to enter upon regular high school work (The Grove Comet, May, 1913).

In 1916 the course of study for E. W. Grove High School was:

E. W. Grove High School claimed in 1916 that it prepared the boys who wished to make intelligent farmers in Henry County, and with a farm of thirty acres for experimental purposes, no high school in the state was better prepared to teach the best methods of agriculture (Post Card, 1916). In 1917 the school's claim was strengthened by expansion in the Agriculture Department. The change created a more desirable course both for the student and the community.

"The National Vocational Education Act, which has come to be known as the Smith-Hughes Act, was approved by President Wilson on February 23, 1917" (Ivins and Runge, 1951, p. 30). This act "established the principles of Federal financial aid and cooperation with the states in promoting public vocational education. " It was effective in schools of less than college grade in agriculture, trades and industries, and home economics for persons fourteen years of age or older (Good, 1945, p. 374).

On March 1 or two days after the above mentioned bill was passed by Congress, Or. Albert Williams, State Superintendent of Education, came to Paris and established the first high school vocational agriculture department in the state and in the nation. Mr. D. M. Clements, later a Grove principal and Director of Vocational Agriculture in the Southern Region, Washington, D. C., was agriculture teacher at the time (Visiting Committee, 1950, p. 11).

The curriculum approached a state of stability with no more major changes being made. This situation remained for several years, but as the community needs began to change the school officials changed the curriculum to meet them. No longer was the academy style curriculum the order of the day, but instead a more liberal one became prominent. With the coming of the latter, more vocational courses began to creep into the curriculum. Such courses as building and trades, and those courses related to business soon took their places along side agriculture and home economics.

The greatest blow to the academy style curriculum came to the foreign languages. During the transition period in which the curriculum was broadened French, German, and Greek appeared and disappeared. French eventually outlasted the other two, but it too vanished. Spanish also made an appearance, but met with its final dismissal from the curriculum in the early 1950's. This left only Latin among We foreign languages as a survivor. Even at that it started as a fourcourse subject, but dropped to two courses before the re-addition of a third course around 1956.

In the 1930's Paris and Henry County began to depend more on businesses and somewhat less on agriculture. To fill the needs of the community, several courses were added to the curriculum to train students for this type of work. In 1937 the first step was taken as E. W. Grove High School offered for the first time both typing and shorthand (Dunn, Interview, 1960).

During the principalship of Mr. Earl Routon (1937-1941), a new attempt was made for training students wishing to go into the business world. This endeavor was the inauguration of a course of study entitled "Diversified Occupations." The course was of short duration and terminated during the principalship of Mr. J. A. Barksdale (1941-1943) (Dunn, Interview, 1960). The occupations available in this type of program included all occupations pertaining to the fields of industry, agriculture, and business suited to the secondary level of education and which were not in the line of distribution or office practice (Ivins and Runge, 1951, p. 30).

In 1944 a course in building and trades was added to the curriculum (Hudson, Interview, 1960). This course was designed to teach students to work with wood and metal, thus preparing them for jobs of semi-skilled labor in which college or other formal training was not necessary.

Another first appeared in 1949 when E. W. Grove High School began offering band for credit. At first the students were given one credit per year with the maximum number of years for which they could receive credit held at two. Later the program was changed to allow one half credit per year for four years, however, the maximum number of credits obtainable remained at two (Crosswy, Interview, 1960).

In the school year of 1954-1955, E. W. Grove High School joined many other high schools in the nation by initiating a program in distributive education for their seniors. Distributive education was a cooperative effort of the school and community to bridge the gap between the period of termination of school and the usual time a student entered his chosen field of work. The distributive education student received classroom instruction relative to the on-the-job training, which counted as his laboratory work. It was classed as a vocational education course and the student received two credits (E. W. Grove High School, 1955). The success of the program was hinged upon the ability of the school to work well with interested merchants in various types of distributing businesses in Paris.

Speech or expression as it was referred to during the earlier periods in the history of E. W. Grove High School has been included in the curriculum at least as far back as 1913. The course, however, has never been set up on a credit basis. Instead the student elected the subject at a study hall or other free period during the day, and ordinarily met the class twice a week (Crider, Interview, 1960 and The Grove Comet, May , 1913).

In 1957 E. W. Grove High School had a program broad enough to prepare a student for college or university training or for one of the vocations not requiring college preparation. For the girl who did not intend to enter higher education, home economies as well as business training was offered, while the boy with like intentions could specialize in agriculture, business, or building and trades.

The courses offered in the 1957-58 school year were:

In order for a student to graduate he must have met certain requirements set up by the school, which in turn have met those requirements assigned by the State of Tennessee. They are:

A major consists of 3 units from the same subject matter field.

A minor consists of 2 units from the same subject matter field (Registration Form, 1957).

This is the 5191st time this file has been accessed since 03/15/97.

The University of Tennessee at Martin is not responsible for the information or views expressed here.

A History of E. W. Grove High School Home Page

mfield@utm.edu

Last Modified Wednesday, 13-Jul-2005 13:44:20 CDT