Francis W Parker School - Record Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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A.M!MQBlAL,IBlQ!1E DeWitt Talmage Petty Born April 27, 1888 Died April 16, 1942 On April 16, 1942, the Francis W. Parker School lost, by sudden death, a valued friend and teacher - DeWitt Talmage Petty. He had given the school unselfishly nineteen years of devoted service. He will always stand in our memories as a man of simple dignity - quiet, u assu ing - fortified from within by high courage and ethical strength. Perhaps the most dramatic moment of his teaching life at Parker came as the result of his success - in an experiment in the field of mathematics. In the 1920's seven superintendents and principals of schools in the Chicago region set out to investigate and to improve the teaching of mathe- matics in the elementary grades. Mr. Raymond W. Osborne, of Parker, was secretary--vice-chairman of this Committee of Seven. lr. Petty came to Parker in 1925 as head of the mathematics department. He enthusiastically cooperated with this Committee. In one of its studies in problem solving ability and methods of teaching, Mr. Petty volu teered himself to teach the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in order to study at first hand the needs and difficulties of Parker children in the use of this important tool Qmathe- matics, so useful to everyone in daily life and essential in doing a major part of the world's work. After a period of instruction the Committee gave a comprehensive test to the grades included in this experiment in all these schools. The Francis W. Parker School rated first on all three cou ts covered in the test I shall always remember lr. Petty's first remarks when he said, 'I am surprised and, of course, pleased! But we have only just begun to make essential changes in the curriculum. We must go onl I shall not be satisfied until we know how to get every child up to the standard of his grade. We must arouse the desire and best efforts of each pu il. There should be more scope for children with special aptitudes and interests in mathematics'. This attitude of lr. Petty made a lasting impression upon me. It ranked him as a truly 'progressive teacher' who would seek always better ways of educating children in accord with certain accepted educational principles and major objectives of the Francis W. Parker School. In this one illustration of Mr. Petty's work which I have chosen'I have omitted interesting details which give further evidence of the loss which the Francis W. Parker School sustained in his u timely death. An adequate story cannot, of course, be told here. Those who knew him well will not forget him - as a man, or as a teacher. -Flora J. Cooke

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In April, 1775, the Headmaster called together the boys in my own old school and made them a short but historic speech: WWar is begun and school is done. Deponite lihgggln Study was over because those boys were needed in battle if we were to have a country. For more than 150 years no such words were spoken in an American school, and then on the morning of this last December 8th we gathered in the auditorium and heard Presi- dent Roosevelt say that our cou try is again fighting for its existence. Whatever else has happened to the seniors who are leaving us, what- ever else happens to us who stay in this same school, that was a morn- ing and this is a year which we shall never forget. We have been togeth- er at one of the great crossroads of history. For my part, I feel that I have met history in good company. What you are having to do is in a way harder than to throw down your books, as those Colonial boys did, and march off to war. Knowing that the country is in danger, hearing from every radio and seeing in every movie the stories of danger and disaster, you have had to go quiet- ly about the steady, unexciting business of getting yourselves fit. In such a time anyone can put books aside: the hard thing is to study them. Perhaps the best thing about the year is the way in which the school has gone steadily on with its business. But it certainly has not been Wbusiness as usualn. Stu- dents, as well as faculty and par- ents, have added to the quiet per- formance of their old tasks the assumption of new ones. The var- iety of these tasks, your ingenuity in finding useful services, and the energy given to performing them have shown the finest kind of school spirit. Securing the right tr roll surgical dressings and giving up the recreation room for a place to roll them in, bringing in and baling tons of paper, adopting a Chinese child, going without dessert and buying Defense Savings Stamps with the money saved -- these and a dozen other un- dertakings have brought the school together in using time and imagina- tion for a cause greater than any of us and dear to us all. So whatever lies ahead, we can face the future all the more secure- ly for having met the first onset of war in a fellowship of people whom we know we can count on, res- pect, and trust. That by itself is enough to make of 1941-42 a memorable year. nwacf WLM