Miriam Mertes Hagstrom

I often marvel at the quality of the education
we got. The school board was way ahead of its'
time. The teachers were of the highest quality. We had graduates come back to our chemistry
class from Northwestern Univ. and thank Miss
Doherty for what she taught them; they spent their first year at college not haveing to cram or study too hard because Miss Doherty had taught them so well.ah,yes, Miss Doherty with her crackling gray hair and steel blue eyes shooting sparks when she got angry, but we learned!

Mr Davies taught public speaking and coached the forensic team. The first semester of public speaking we learned how to speak and deliver an address; second semester was Parliamentarian
Law. We each picked a state to represent and a bill we wished to enact into law, write the bill, and debate the bill with thw whole class; we then voted on it. Needless to say this involved alot of research at the library (hooray for the quality of the Public Library in Kenosha)! One day in class
John Robinson was on stage in the auditorium (the class met there) dwebating some bill. Ned Pennefeather went up to the balcony and shot him with a cap gun. John fell "mortally wounded" and before long he was hoisted on the shoulders of several classmatesd and carried off for his
"funeral". Mr. Davies sat in the auditorium observing all. Can you imagine what the news
would be filled with if that happened today?
The teacher would have been fired, Ned (and possibly John) expelled. We would havwe been interviewed forever and at least one student nationally would have become a "copy cat." Oh, for the return to some semblence of some naivette to the world of today.