As Cincinnati Country Day School celebrates its centennial year, we’re diving into the past pages of The Scroll. More than just a paper, The Scroll was how the CCD community knew itself in the school’s early years. Throughout this centennial, each edition will feature articles from years past, allowing the community to see how the school has evolved over time.
We invite you to travel back to January 1931, just five years after the school’s founding. Nationally, the U.S. was in the throes of the Great Depression, the Empire State Building was nearing completion, and the Star-Spangled Banner was about to become the national anthem.
What was happening at the all-boys Cincinnati Country Day School?
The school was preparing to introduce a formal rating system for its students. As a later article from June 8, 1932, explained: “A group of masters meet every two weeks to go over the reports handed in and put a boy in his correct classification: A, B, C, D, or E.” This system came with real stakes, as we can see from the development of “honor pins”: “There are certain penalties for those on D or E, and, on the contrary, rewards for those on A or B.”
Continue reading for the original 1930s Scroll articles that first introduced this rating system to the CCD community.
RATING SYSTEM
January 19, 1931
The general discipline of the School has improved greatly in the last year or so. There is a better spirit in everything that is done on the Hill. We were much interested, therefore, when Mr. Snyder announced at morning prayers on January 9, that a “rating system” was to be introduced. We went to his office to inquire further concerning it.
“Some of us” said Mr. Snyder, “have felt that while the general conduct is satisfactory, some definite system of discipline might be preferable. One fault with the present rather vague way of maintaining discipline is that there us no sort of reward for being better than the average, and the result is that no boy is especially interested in doing things for the good of the School unless he is told to do so. I think that the new system, with its privileges as a reward for the highest conduct ratings, will furnish an impulse for positive and instructive conduct. The results should be greatly improved conduct, and, more than that, better spirit among the boys.”
We learned that each boy above the fourth grade is to be rated each week by the faculty. The highest ratings will obtain certain privileges, some of which will be very valuable. As ratings become lower the privileges become less. If a boy’s rating is consistently far below the average, he will be in serious danger of being asked to leave the school.
DEPORTMENT SYSTEM
February 9, 1931
The conduct rating system has been running smoothly for one month.
The appearance of the school is much better and the classes think twice before becoming noisy and disorganized. Each boy has a chance to show himself efficient as well as deficient in his manners.
S. Sutphin
HONOR PINS
April 20, 1931
New honor pins, in the form of the School seal, have appeared. They are to be worn only by boys on “A” rating, who are well suited for the honor as the few who have received the pin show.
The rating that was posted March 16th gave “A” to three boys, Hinkle, T., Black, R., and Cooper; the next rating posted April 6th added Black, H. to the list.
REMARKS ON THE RATING SYSTEM
April 18, 1932
There has recently been quite a bit of discussion about how to raise yourself in the Rating System. The main way is by cooperating; that is, by being helpful and attentive in classes, by being quiet while passing through the halls during school hours, by being quiet in Study Hall and therefore thoughtful of whose who are working, by keeping your desk and room in order, and by doing other things which make running the School easier.
Above all work with the masters; they are not here to drive you like horses; they are here to teach you things which will be useful to you when you are a man. It is for your own good, so don’t see how little work you can get away with when doing your lessons. A good attitude in class will help you a great deal toward a higher rating. By a good attitude I mean paying attention, and listening all the time.
Your rating may also be affected by your attitude in athletics. Don’t be one of those fellows who misses grounders because he has to run to stop them, who doesn’t half try to keep his mind on the game, who is always “fooling around” and not hearing what the coach is saying. In other words, when you are out on the field, try to learn the game and play it as hard as you can. To sum it all up: be the kind of fellow who puts pep in his work and zip in his play. (T. Hinkle)
