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

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1935-The Swan Song Aria del Capo . The Birthday of lnfanta 1936-The Rival The Whiteheaded Boy 1937-The Late Christopher Bean The Romancers 1938-Admirable Crichton Twelfth Night 1939-As You Like lt The Playboy of the Western World 1940-Trelawny of the Wells 1941- 1942-The Inspector General 1943-Death Takes A Holiday 1944-Pride and Prejudice 1945-Devil's Disciple 1946-Two On An Island 1947-Flizabeth the Queen 1948-A Midsummer Night's Dream 1949-The Flies 1950-Crime and Punishment 1951-The Mad Woman of Chaillot Blood Wedding Special Chorus is also a student volunteer activity and is under the direction of the music department. The annual spring concert has consisted of such things as Elijah, and The St. john Passion. Two years ago, Kurt Weills Down in the Valley was given. We are proud of the fact that this was the first Chicago per- formance of the operetta. However, it is not to be supposed that Sports are forgotten at Parker. The football team, the basketball team, baseball, tennis, track, and swimming teams have all won honors for the school, Each year the sports department gives the father and son banquet-The Stag. The awards are given out here and a well-known guest speaker is often invited. The girls, too, have their extra-curricular sports which comes under a student department, the G.A.A. In the spring they hold the feminine counterpart of the Stag, the Stagette. Although this night of fun for mothers and daughters is comparatively new - this year is the third-it is already somewhat of a tradition, and a pleasant one at that. To keep its citizens informed as to all of these activ- ities, the Parker community has three publications: The Record, the Weekly, and the Prints. The Weekly has all that any good newspaper in- cludes-except maybe comic strips. But it is perhaps primarily interested in providing a vent for any com- plaints or revolutionary ideas a student or faculty member might wish to express. And there are plenty of these. The first issue of the Weekly was printed in one corner of the woodshop and in spite of some misgiv- ings, came out on February 20, 1911. The Prints is concerned only with the literary inter- ests of the community and includes compositions from all the grades. It is the outgrowth of the Recorder which was started in 1906, just 5 years after the school opened. At Parker it is quite an honor to be included in one of its issues. As for the Record, ever since 1916, when the first glimpse of its little blue and white cover was seen within Parker walls, it has been going strong-bring- ing pictures of the years events to brighten up the years end. But though the school strives to become a complete community, it is careful not to become wrapped up in itself. At Christmas of every year, the interest in out- side affairs and the desire to help others takes the form of a week long project called Toy Shop, where the school is turned into a sort of Santa's workshop. Rock- ing horses, doll houses, teddy bears, buggies and scrap books are created or given a new face by the Parker family. And when the work is completed, the toys are sent to various settlement houses around Chicago. Stu- dents, teachers and parents participate and the whole school is united in the knowledge that they are doing something useful for someone else.

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This same feeling of cooperation is put on trial every morning at 10:45 in what every Parkerite knows as Morning Ex. Morning Ex may consist of anything from a history of the Chicago Fire to a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, given by any grade from the kindergarten through the twelfth grade. Very often the subject is a direct outgrowth from the classes, a discussion by the biology class, or a French play written by one of the French classes. In all of these, each person must work with others in preparing and performing for their friends. In this way, both the audience and the participants gain by the Morning Ex. One graduate has said that Morning Ex. along with other activities at Parker have given him A greater appreciation of other people's values. Even outside of the regular school program, there are many things which help to make Parker a com- munity as well as a home. These activities are run by the members of the community-the students them- selves-and provide in part for the recreational, cul- tural and physical needs of the groups. Regularly during the year there are some eight or nine social events to which the whole high school is invited. Some of these, of course, are the four band dances, which have recently fallen into the pattern of: 11 The Autumn Football Dance, given by the Seniors. QD The Christmas Alumni Dance, by the juniors. 35 The February Turnabout by the Sophomores. 45 The final Spring Dance which the Freshmen organize. The Dramatic Association and the Special Chorus take care of the cultural needs. Gnly one who has an interest in dramatics or any phase of the theater can be a member of the D.A. and do what he is best qualified for in a variety of plays. The Dramatic Association is not the only means of dramatic outlet. Classes often give plays in Morning Ex. and there is always the senior play. The play is one of the really big things in the senior year at Parker. And one can never be sure whether it will be a musical comedy or a Shakespearian tragedy. But what could explain better than a list of the plays to date? 1916-Hamlet 1917--Shepherd 1918-The Burglar That Failed Cathleen Ni Houlihan 1919-Admirable Crichton 1920-Master Pierre Palelin The Old Lady Shows Her Medals Pipes and Dryad A Night at the Inn 1921-A Playboy of the Western World The Florist Shop Overtones Lonesome--like 1922-The Will Merchant of Venice 1923-Quality Street The Red Turf The Little Man 1924-Lucky Peter 1925-As You Like It 1926-Tillie of Bloomsbury 1927-Twelfth Night Turn of the Road Aria daCapa 1928-Admirable Crichton Cradle Song 1929-Dear Departed The Valiant 1930-The Old Lady Shows Her Medals O' Flaherty Nerves 1931-As You Like lt 1932-Death Takes A Holiday The Farmers Holiday 193 3-The Faraway Princess The Boar The Queenis Enemies Mac Beth 1934-The Shepherd Cradle Song A .ii1.

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AN EMBRYONIC DEMOCRACY Last of all, our school, the school which Col. Parker wished to be both a home and a community, strives to become also a democracy. Like our federal government, the school has incorporated in its principles the idea of basic freedom for all , freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right of initiative and referendum-free- dom, that is, but not license. The Parker student has a much more direct contact with his government than has the citizen of the Ll.S. with the federal. Perhaps a better analogy might be the United Nations-one large assembly for all mem- bers of the organization but the work is split up into various committees. ln Parker, these are the Social, Auditing, Budgeting, Library and Lunchroom commit- tees. Then there are, of course, the jobs of the various officers. ln other words, opportunity for participation is at its best at Parker and it is only up to the student to take advantage of it. Taking advantage of opportunity not only means running for an office or working on a committee, it means, too, taking a part in discussions with the fac- ulty about school problems. This is a very important part of Parker life and here, too, the smaller scale makes the democracy closer to the people themselves. When the students felt that they did not have enough control over their own finances, they went to the faculty and discussed it with them. As a result, we now have the student budgeting system in which all funds must be passed by a student committee and then the assembly before going to the various student bu- reaus while the records are kept by the student auditor. Probably one of the best remembered cases of student referendum in faculty decisions was in 1936 when the students became exasperated with the Two-inches- between-cheeks rule which the faculty enforced at all dances. When general protest and Weekly editorials brought no repeal of the law, the assembly voted to send a delegation to talk with the principal and some of the faculty. Says an alumnus who was one of the delegation: Each class sent its bravest, noisiest, cheekiest mem- ber . . . Our injured oratory won a trial for cheek-to- cheek. No perceptible sag in student morals resulted. ln comparatively recent years, Parker students have found a much easier way of discussing their problems with the faculty. This innovation is the Committee of 4-a council composed of students and faculty. Almost all important decisions come before the committee and through their representatives, the students make their opinions heard. As the Parker, student looks around him, he is proud not only of the democratic form of his government, but of the whole atmosphere of Democracy which sur- rounds him. His friends are from all races, creeds and classes. Out of the 452 students, 168 are on full or part scholarships. This is one of the things that makes possible the establishing of this democratic atmosphere in which one third of the parents are jewish, a slightly larger percentage Protestant and the rest Roman Cath- olic, Russian Orthodox, Confucian or unaffiliated. ln nationality, they are American, Armenian, Austrian, Canadian, Chinese, Czecho-slovakian, Danish, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, japanese, Latvian, Mexican, Norwegian, Polish, Roumanian, Russian, Swedish and Swiss. And of these there are 68 doctors, 36 attorneys or judges, 32 teachers, 135 busi- nessmen of various kinds, 29 clerical workers and 9 laborers. One can see that there is something special about Parker when one realizes that so many people from so many backgrounds live together in this home, learn together in this community, and work together