Sunset Hill High School - Sundial Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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4141 'l N'F'5' U4mRU11v+ .K pf,'wf?uuh VJ'A V mm- Progressive Schools. The following summary of the purposes and ideals of the new school movement will perhaps prove helpful in interpreting the work of our own school: Progressive schools have been established in various parts of the country for over a generation. It is therefore possible to study in the concrete their aims, methods and results. However much they may differ in plan and in practice, all have certain outstand- ing characteristics in common. They are: 1. A greater freedom for the child in school. 2. An identification of the child's school life with his en- vironment and child outlook. 3. The recognition of the part which education must play in democracy. , The first-freedom--is both physical and mental. Physical freedom is made possible by spaciousness oi the school rooms and comfortable, easily moved furniture and equipmentg at- tention is given to health, rest and nourishmentg and the bodily activities of playing,,dancing, sports, making and doing have their place in the school program. Mental freedom is assured by giving the child opportunities for experimentation through self-initiated projects, by cultivating independent choiceiof activities, and by offering a wide range for the expression of ideas, in language, music, dramatics and the fine arts. The second--identification with the chilcfs outlook--is realized by constantly using the natural instincts and impulses of children, not for mere amusement, but for genuine educative growthg by taking advantage oi these instincts and impulses to reproduce on the child's plane the typical doings and occupations oi the larger mature society into which he will go forth, by securing and clinch- ing valuable knowledge through his inborn desire to create and reproduce. The third-education for democracy-is evidenced by the S0- eial life within these schoolsg the personal participation of the pu- pils in the affairs of the school, their discussion and solution of community problernsg forms of co-operative governmentg free ex- pression of opinion, freedom of choice controlled by the sense of responsibility toward the whole group. The school life is so plan- ned that there is constant opportunity to realize both the pleas- .....IO.... ure sel+ tioi chi the ful am A ti-3 ide ex ed S111 su to: art in eq of pr its ed re th tic of is sc ar th .hz tli 1- 21- . -. - ' es-:ve - ., -- '-r - -- V - '- - -an --.-1 . .- -- ...et--...--... -- , -- -- ----- 4- fem- -- fLf11 A '.,.,-..-ar e ' fg,,,,, M, ' ' f'-- Is e , - V - -'

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.K .,. .41 , -- ' .-'.i'T SQL 'Q' -- - ...-..-1' --... 3 , ' ' r- -: 'fc' :!.Y1?1' .. - raining 1 HS3.d lead Madrid. cs and rsity of of the Lower FOREWORD The subject of education is in the foreground of the thought of the day. Public attention is focussed upon schools and educational methods. The excerpts quoted below express the judgment of men who have had wide experience in varied fields of education and who have made valuable contributions to educational phi- losophy and progress. 1 Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard Uni- versity, in an address at a meeting of the Harvard Teacher's Asso- ciation at Cambridge, April 29, 1921, made the following state- ment: I realize to the full the formidable characterof the campaign on which the progressive schools have entered. It is much more formidable than that upon which I entered sixty years agog because the teaching profession at the elementary and secondary stages is even more conservative, even more tied to traditional practices than was the teaching profession at the University stage sixty years ago. The campaign for freedom and attention to the powers and rights of the individual child is difficult at this moment in the legislatures and boards of education of this country. I admire the courage with which advocates of progressive schools and colleges are today attach- ing their formidable problems. I believe that these pioneers are acting on principles which alone can make elementary and srecondary education in the United States the firm support of political and industrial freedom, and the true safeguard of democracy. In a letter to the Progressive Education Association Conven- tion 1922, Dr. Eliot Said, The progressive school movement is, in my judgment, without exception, the most promising movement now going on in regard to American education? I james Harvey Robin-son, the eminent historian, Writes in his introduction to a recent bool! on education: Mayhap when future generations look back upon the days.in which we happen to live they will assign to us the. proud distinction of having discovered Childhood. 4' 'X lf' Perhaps this will prove to be one of the most overwhelming advances in the history of knowledge. if 4' li I f human intelligence is to be raised to a point where it can cope successfully with the burning problemsnow facing mankind it can be done only by revolutionizing the minds of the young who must grow up differently from us .with the happy chance of seeing what escaped us and acting upon lt. ...Q-. I 1 1 I 4 1 1 1 E 1 1 i F 1 1 1 1 l 1 l 1 1 1 i 1 l 1 l 1 1 1 1 l 1 1 i l 5 1 1 1 1 P 1 1 i 1 l i 1 1 1 1 I N 1 1 N N 11 J '1 1 1 i 15 l '1 1. 1 i 1 1 I 1 Q 1 1 z I A 1 41 ! E k 1 I 1 1 ig l A is V V - - A' 4--K - 1--4-I-1-L- -- . . Y .L - Q Y ' -Y - Y V i Y f,,,, i I Q?,Dp:,g':1'Qg'L1ShgaiE??g, zS 1 1

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--D ilii . I -Gif -H he new Lng the warts of J study r much tstand- his en- 1 mu-st hysical rooms 1t, at- bodily 'e their giving iitiated ind by iguage, ealized nildren, thg by uce on larger clinch- te and the so- :he pu- tion of ree ex- :nse of or plan- pleas- i n V F i 41 i Q f - -.-...,.,,, M., mf... .,....s-..,,.....,.. ures and obligations of democratic life---to gain knowledge in the selection of leaders and followers--and to form ideals of co-opera- tion and comradeship. In brief, these new schools are endeavoring to cultivate the child s whole being, physical, mental and spiritual, by creating in the school an environment in which he can be trained to carry his full part of the burdens and privileges ot citizenship. Life is the great thing after ell, the life of the child in its time and in its measure no less than that of the adult. -John Dewey. A STATEMENT or THE EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES or SUNSET HILL scfnooi. The Sunset Hill School is one of many throughout the coun- try founded for the purpose of giving concrete expression to the ideals and methods oi progressive education. The school is not an experiment but puts into practice the findings of psychologists, educational and health specialists and other experts-, who have studied childhood and adolescence under all conditions and have subjected each new theory to severe and prolonged tests in labora- tory schools established for the purpose. While public schools are constantly modifying their methods to embody these findings in their curricula, their problems of securing adequate space and equipment and a teaching force large enough to meet the needs of the enormous numbers of pupils are so serious as to retard progress. It is the privilege of the private school, therefore, with its smaller numbers, greater relative teaching iorce and less crowd- ed physical conditions to put into practice more rapidly the best results of educational investigation. -Parents who have faith in the new education will find in the Sunset Hill School those condi- tions a.nd opportunities which they desire for their children. The plan of the life in the school is based upon the principle of the right of every child to the highest development of which he is capable. It is the purpose of the school, throughout the entire school course, to train its pupils to worl-r happily, whole-heartedly, and intelligently to their own maximum capacity. VV e hold that the school has fulfilled its obligation to its pupils only when it has stimulated them to their best effort. We believe that self-actuated work causes the greatest gain to the pupilg that training in initiative is the child's great needg that ...Ila-