Independent School is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. The official starting date for the magazine was in 1941, under the leadership of the Secondary Education Board, one of two independent school associations that would merge in 1964 to form the National Association of Independent Schools.
Perhaps because the magazine got its start on the eve of the United States involvement in World War II, the tone of the early issues was deeply serious — fueled with arguments that we might recognize today, but under different context. Back then, many of the debates centered on how schools best prepare students for citizenship. And while there was a lot of support for the war, there was also plenty of pushback against the notion that the primary role of schools was to prepare students with the skills they needed to serve the war effort — as well as to help build the American postwar economy. Many educators, in fact, argued for a strong liberal arts education as the best way to serve a free nation and to prevent the rise of the sort of blind nationalism that led to Adolph Hitler’s power.
I’ve spent time over the past few months reading through back issues of the magazine. I started the project out of a sense of duty to this issue. But I quickly became absorbed in the trajectory of the education debate over the past 75 years. What struck me in particular is how so many of our contemporary concerns mirror those of past generations. Along with the tension and anxiety of each era were the issues that seem to hold the attention of schools of all eras: the balance between liberal education and job preparation; the keen awareness of the necessity of a public purpose (as nonprofits); debates over the independence of teachers; questions about public relations; concerns about equity and justice within the school and the society; discussions about how best to engage students in their learning; and the head-scratching conversations about the role of technology in school — from the radio to the television to the Photostat to passionate debate over mainframe vs. personal computers.
Throughout this issue, we are offering some short excerpts from those early issues. We tried to include pieces in the print magazine that echo the theme of this issue: Time, Place, Path, and Pace.
We’re running more excerpts on our website for those who are interested in a fascinating walk through the past seven decades of independent school life. Overall, what impressed me the most is the thoughtfulness of each and every writer — and the writers’ willingness to push the question of how we shape our schools so that our graduates can reshape our world.
More than anything, it makes me happy to be part of this amazing community of caring, thoughtful, hardworking people who want nothing more than to improve students’ lives and the communities they will join as adults.