Kindling a Fire: “The Way Things Were”

By Cincinnati Country Day Head of School Rob Zimmerman ‘98

With summer settling in, many school administrators turn their focus to the next school year: new initiatives, new classes, new ideas. I suppose I’m no different – at Country Day, we are always planning exciting new ways to innovate our program. 

But this year, amidst our centennial celebration, I thought it might be more fun to look to the past rather than to the future. What did we do in the days gone by that we no longer do? Which relics from our past might serve as interesting inspiration for our future? And which past practices might be better left in the past? To that last point, here are a few:

• Coat and tie required – While we still have a uniform in Lower School and a dress code in Middle School and Upper School, these days I’m usually the only person in the building wearing a tie. But for most of our first 50 years, the older boys were required to wear coat and tie. Before you think this resulted in a polished appearance at all times, I am told that it was customary for the ties to be tied once, at the beginning of the school year, and then left in one’s locker at the end of each day. So, while I prefer more formal dress than what our students typically wear, this level of sartorial hygiene does not make a great case for bringing back coats and ties. 

• Boxing and riflery – In the early days, the school was committed to developing a sense of manly virtue. Accordingly, boys were expected to compete in activities we might flinch at these days. One early school program touts that “special attention is paid to boxing instruction and practice” culminating in a school-wide boxing tournament. And until the late 1950s, the school maintained a rifle range in the basement. 

• No homework – This example is occasionally brought up by current students, often with a tone of righteous indignation. How can they be expected to have hours of homework when the school’s founding document declared that it would “eliminate homework completely for all the boys in the School?” Alas, this idea did not even last the first decade, and by the 1930s the school handbook indicates that students should expect up to two hours of homework per night. 

• Deportment system – In the early 1930s, Headmaster Herbert Snyder introduced a ratings system to improve the school’s sense of “discipline and general conduct.” Boys with the top behavior rating earned an honor pin – a rare distinction reserved only for “A” ratings. Schools were definitely less concerned about public shaming in those days. 

• Woodworking and leatherworking – While our hands-on learning today looks more like AI sensors and 3D printing in our makerspace, in the early days, Lower School students focused on leatherwork. Before long, shop class was a student favorite, with David McDaniel running a popular shop for many years. 

• Junior paper – The junior paper, introduced by Lee Pattison in the 1960s, quickly became a milestone – and a bête noire – for generations of Country Day students. Famously rigorous and grueling, it required in-depth research, meticulous attention to detail, and elegantly persuasive writing. As page counts began to reach 100, the junior paper was eventually limited to 20 pages. But its totemic importance to the CCDS experience remained. Although many alumni groused about it, most came to appreciate the intellectual growth this project fostered. And nearly everyone came away admiring Mr. Pat as perhaps the greatest teacher in Country Day history. 

Which of these past traditions is most likely to return? Probably not a boxing tournament. Perhaps I could see a slightly tightened dress code (though far from coat and tie) and a de-emphasis on homework (especially given artificial intelligence’s impact). 

But most of all, the junior paper seems primed for a comeback. It has the right mix of tradition and relevance – a rite of passage that formed character and still has the potential to impact students today. In fact, perhaps inspired by the junior paper, we are already exploring new signature projects for each grade level in the Upper School. Mr. Pattison may not be with us anymore, but his influence lives on. 

Ultimately, as fun (and funny) as many of these “blasts from the past” are, it’s also clear from investigating our history that one thing has never changed: great teachers who know and nurture talented students on the most beautiful campus in Cincinnati. That’s a tradition that never goes out of style.