Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

METAIRIE PARK
COUNTRY DAY
SCHOOL
NOTABLE NEW ORLEA-
NIANS: A Tricentennial Tribute
While the year 1929 was hardly propitious
for starting a school, Edith Stern and fifteen
families were committed to the idea that New
Orleans needed a school that was child-centered
based on what was called the new progressive
model. Daughter of philanthropist
Julius Rosenwald, and a prodigious civic
activist in her own right, Edith Stern envisioned
a nonprofit private school that would
serve as a laboratory for the public sector.
With this as the underlying mission it seems
perfectly fitting that Stern would choose Ralph
Boothby, a Vermont native as the founding
headmaster. Boothby graduated from Harvard
in 1912 with a degree in classics but he rejected
the traditional educational practice of rote
learning, opting for Plutarch’s dictum “The
mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be
kindled.” Inspired by the philosophy of John
Dewey as well as by the new pedagogy, Boothby
was eager to make Country Day a school that
served as a “laboratory and demonstration
station for promoting general educational
advancement in the community and beyond.”
What was this new education? When
Country Day opened its door to fifty-six students
in grades one through six in 1929, the
stated aims were to provide:
• Education to meet the needs of the individual
child;
• Teach the skills necessary to adapt to a
rapidly changing world;
• Emphasize cooperation rather than
competition;
• Integrate shop, weaving, dance, music and
play into the curriculum; and
• Prepare girls and boys for college.
The school did not give grades and instead
of individual subjects, the academic disciplines
were combined into “units of work.” Students
also took a battery of standardized tests as this
was considered an effective way to measure
growth as well as determine the appropriate
rigor for the individual student. By 1940, aspiring
teachers from all over the state came to the
campus to study the new education.
Yet from its inception the school never
wavered from developing an academic program
that would gain a student’s admission to the most
selective colleges. The exigencies of college
admission also fueled the rise of both Advanced
Placement courses and academic honor societies.
Nevertheless, even with roughly 730
students, the visions of Stern and Boothby live
on. Lower School continues the practice of
multi-age classrooms in K-1-2 and 3-4 with
instruction geared toward the individual child;
technology has effected new pedagogies in project-based
learning and creative design; and the
school is still committed to the proposition that
one size does not fit all when it comes to educating
young people for the future. The visual and
performing arts are still essential to the school
and even with a no-cut policy, athletic teams
have won over fifty state championships in both
girls and boys sports. Moreover the school still
encourages its students to take a challenging
academic schedule, compete in multi-season
sports and participate in the fall Shakespeare
and the spring musical performances. The
notion of learning through a myriad of experiences
is the essence of a Country Day education.