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bditor's Note: This is t/he third of a suries of. artic-les regard ig t/he. * lf'iitmette Public SchooI System prepared b3' I. cy Rogers Hawkis, ted? knoîvii t our readers a* t/w author of "'North Shore Personialities," a * regular feature of WILmETTe LhWE. WVriting froîn the standpoint of a laYian, Mfrs. Haïékins preseets a concise zvord pict:îre of! what shc actiially obserî'ed *ini a painstakisg study of just.w/sot happens lu the daity, rouiitne:o! our puic sehools.. Thesu articles are being prescedd ot in* any critirai sepise, but solcly, in t/e hope t/lat. thle3- till be enfiohtcniiig.ta ail residenis o!ft/îc coiin- lillunity, and of particular valide t 1h ose villa gers ivho haive beco nie established hure j»" recent years. Othëiieristaltue,îts iwill folli ii s(crcessive issules o! THE temporary switcb f rom er- sonalîty sketches to a special' assîgnment on schools bas mot been so, difficuit as I . feared. Schools have personalities too. For instance, take, the Howard school in Wilmette. It is a large, pleasanIt,.cheerful 1place iwbere the business of learning is carried ýon with vigor and informality. I reached the office of the' principal, Lowéll F.. Todd, about 1 o'clovk on the day of niy visit in Wilmette, scbools, and shortly after he came ini and had begun to explain the clubs of the school- siinîilar to those of Cenitral (described Iast week), but more numerousýlittle Patty. interrupted us to say that the assembly programu was nearly readyand would be like to cone anid bring bis' guest. After she left, Mr. Todd ex- plained that he sonietimes forgot about the assembly prograins, and little Patty -had been appointed bis officiai reminder. Art of Picking Books Patty had assured us that our conmnmg ini for a short'visit would flot incon-> fromý the' old fear of the principal,. I .tbought. Mr.'Todd explained that the. belîs were staggered so that theupper grades. wereflot. pa ssing in, the hall at thé satne timùe the lower grades' were. Employ flexible System, 1 makçe especial;note of the, routing of the .children- because Howard uses. a flexible, systemn of instruction. The" children do flot: stay in ont, room all* day. Tbey miove about- froni on1e ,ro(rn ores, and other productç, it will repre- sent the suni of the cbildren's knowlý edge of European coutitries. Realirtic Teaching The room was partly'filled, with the înap, whichwas laid out on a woodeni frame about two feet abové the floor. Tables. and .chairs -filled the rest of thge .space, and Mr. Todd.and I hadl to,re- i aini in'our stance by the door. The tea 'cher, mwitbout any- word from us, reached'across -the intervening.space and handeil Mr. Todd an envelopýe full of s'îapshots. Thèese proved to be pictures of, the eonipleted niap of last, year's class, and, one of themù showed a boy on bis kiiees on-top of the frame adding the last: markers and other finishing, touches, 1 could -sce why Mr. Todd allotted two hours to social science ini order to give the children a sense of continuity ini their map-building, and I could, also had gone out on -an errand-and chuckled The last visitor 1ià-F-waiit- ed to know what textbook 1 used, and 1 said, '25 -or 30.' See themn on thé table over there ?" I looked and saw'dozens, (f books, it seemied to mie. "Every tinhe à new book cornes out,- I'order haîf. a dozen copies,'Z' continued Mrs. Groves.ý "The, children« read themù and pick out. their own assignments. Then they -re-' port to the leader or write papers." 1. 1soon realizeèd- whM rs roe ineant.ý The girl, Katherine was leader for the day, and she. called on ber class- mates one- by one, naming those, wbo had given ber the topics' which %were writteil downý on the ooard. These' topics I copied off, "Quebec- founded 1w' Champlain," "Friendship >of Al gon- quin: Inidials" "Location of river routes," "Joliet and Mjarqut *te," et cetera. As ýeacli camfe up..to the front .for -i brief report, on bis chosen topic, Kath- erine or Mrs. Groves utirolled onie of the naps froin the. cabinet affied to the top of the blackboard and pointed uut. the p)ertinient,place.s under (liscuis- sion. Mrs.. Groves explainied sotto voice to ieé that the children wbo Nwere too; shy to speak before the class wvere allowcd to write their -reports and band themi ii. "I nleyer insi-ist on verbal. reports," she 'emphasized. "But usuall the shy ones warmn up after ýa while aiff begin the verbal work."' Beys Excel as Cooka, Leaviîig the reports to Mrs. Grovies, junior assembly was being entertained by the senior assembly. First the' offi- cers announced the prize winners in the poster contest, and then the show begail. Mr. Todd leaned over Patty's diminu- tive shoufders and wbispered to me that the. dramatic skits which tbe cbldrenl were pu4tting on were original. Te plan tbe ideas in advance, but the dialog is impromptu." 'he idea behind tb'ý day's program was the art of picking goôd cbildren's books. One boy took ana' s --scuffimng a littie and talking tneir project, which wsampo anuna*ýedly., Mr. Todd and I made 'a Europe, This map was to be a year- littie island fin the upper corridor arotmnd long undertaking. Made out of papier- which flowed, the traffic. Not a child mahe, p)ain ted,ianid. decorated withi aidany.attentioni to us. Quite different mresto indicate fruit, vegetable,l tilat the boys" çookïng tclub) was ver jproficient, too. The boys learti to make snch dishes as macaroni, Spanish rice., (One of the boys clainîs his- Spai rice is better thiait bis ýmother's),' and ,;é on.-The b oys, pltase understatid. chose cooking for, their club. just a'% s;')ne of. the girls t II wrIsclhool chloose mianual traiing fo(r their club. Ilowvard bas nmucb the saine hue-up) of clubs) that Cenitral lias, besides the boys' cooking club, trayel 1chlb, car- toouing and sketcbi ng club), -;îbIicit\' club, assembiv inlaiuiig club. innii UCI LV4%JingI metnocis. The class "I1f she finds suitable verses, she will was being conducted' by a girl, Who ýet tlh'ni to music and let t& children stood at the blackboard i front. On sing themi." 1 thought wbat funi the the blaekboard was a list of topics, children 'must have to write their o;wn presumabiy for discussion. prograni, sing their own songs, and Coaduct 0w,, Instruction~ chant the .responses which they -had Mrs. Groves rnoved ber chair around theniiselves 1prepared. the corner of ber, desk so that she Onie of the grade teachers asked nie coùld, whtsper to me--Mr. Tod1 a (Continued on page 20)