North Shore Country Day School - Mirror Yearbook (Winnetka, IL)

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DEDICATION For his many long, hard hours of patient work trying to drive principal parts and first year stuff into our bony craniums ; for his stentorian tenor (?) bellows at opera time ; his prevailing good humor ; his beautiful array of neckwear; and his early morning cheerfulness, we. the class of 1942, gratefully dedicate this Mirror to Lieutenant Rob- ert F. Millet, USN.

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OUR SCHOOL To be truly happy is a question of how we begin and not of how we end ; of what we want, and not of what we have. If Steven- son was right when he wrote these words in his El Dorado , the founders of our school were truly happy. It was the winter of 1919. The Armistice had been signed, and the nation was in the process of absorbing back into its business and industrial life the thousands of soldiers that had left their homes and jobs some eighteen months before to help make the world safe for democracy by fighting its ene- mies, in France. At the time, very few schools gave their pupils any real experience in democracy as such. The so-called civics classes studied texts about democracy, and the history classes memorized the facts of battles and leaders in the struggle of various peoples for democratic forms of government ; but the students were not allowed to put these forms and theories into practice in their own lives. There were one or two exceptions to this type of school at the time, however. For more than fifteen years Francis Parker School had been basing its instruction on two fundamental principles of democracy ; first, it taught each pupil to accept a part of the responsibility for the welfare of the whole school, thus recognizing the import- ance of the individual ; and secondly, it taught each individual to guide his actions by whatever was best for the greatest num- ber of his school mates, thus inculcating a feeling of voluntary subordination to the best interests of the school community. Several North Shore families set up here in Winnetka a school founded on the prin- ciple which Francis Parker had formulated, and which the School and others could help work out in practice. It has ever striven to build up the convic- tion in its members — parents, pupils, and teachers — that democratic principles will work in practice if individual responsibility and group cooperation are accepted by all. It. therefore, gives as many opportunities as possible to parents, pupils, and teachers to practice the solution of any problem which may confront them by democratic rather than authoritarian means. The motive power in faculty meetings, parents ' committees, and, of course, in studies and the other stu- dent activities, must come from within the groups themselves, not from some authority above them. Leaders, not dictators, are what democracy must have, and this method, as practiced in the School has shown that leaders are quickly and steadily produced. Today we find ourselves engaged in an even greater struggle to save the democratic principles for which we have worked so long. We are, therefore, ready to redouble our efforts and throw every ounce of our energy into this cause. We have experienced in our own lives the true meaning of the aspira- tions which are now drawing together the whole civilized world in one great brother- hood. To be a part of this effort is our great- est hope and privilege. Perry Dunlap Smith