Hotchkiss

A Chronicle of an American School

BY ERNEST KOLOWRAT

WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM

STEPHEN BIRMINGHAM
C.D.B. BRYAN, AND
JOHN HERSEY

New Amsterdam
© 1992. The Hotchkiss School.

dustcover information:

"A boy arrives in Lakeville, age thirteen, in the autumn of his prep year, knowing little or nothing of the world. What do we want him to know four years later ... and what do we expect four years after that, when the same child emerges from the university? Whom do we hope to meet on the afternoon of the last commencement? Do we look for a man or a woman who has learned to trust the unique and specific value of his or her own mind? Do we hope for an individual capable of wisdom and accustomed to submitting his or her life to the questions of conscience? Do we mean to discover individuals on the order of Thomas Paine or Thomas Jefferson or Archibald MacLeish, or do we want somebody who thinks that the sum and zenith of all human experience is a killing in the bond market and a house in Palm Beach?" --- Lewis Lapham '52, Editor Harper's Magazine

"The school does not encourage a sense of entitlement ... The students have to work to be who they want to be. If you're arrogant at Hotchkiss, you don't meet with a good response from anybody. You can't really get away with being a jerk on a regular basis at the school --- as can so many people in other areas of life. I don't mind admitting that Hotchkiss students are select, that they're the best students we can find. But what counts in the end is that they be real contributors to society." --- Katha Diddel Warren '75, Elected Trustee in 1987

"How has the Hotchkiss School managed to accommodate a hundred years of unprecedented change --- a century during which horse-and-buggy trails have become less familiar than the fiery trails of space-bound vehicles, and Victorian propriety has yielded to unabashed self-expression?

"The short answer --- carefully; certainly not without considerable tension and the constant need to mediate between the forces of tradition and innovation. Oh yes, also by following the golden rule: do not disturb the cherished memories of alumni --- and, more recently, of alumnae as well." --- Introduction to Historical Overview

Ernest Kolowrat '52 is a free-lance writer, documentary producer, and communications adviser. He has also been principal of a summer school in France, served as an aide in Florida nursing homes, and sold heavy-duty exercise equipment in Boston. Kenny: The Man Who Looked Like the Shroud is his previous book.

Stephen Birmingham '46 is a social historian and novelist whose twenty-five works include "Our Crowd," Life at the Dakota, The Auerbach Will, and The Rothman Scandal.

C. D. B. Bryan '54 is the author of P. S. Wilkinson, Friendly Fire, Beautiful Women: Ugly Scenes, and the centennial history of the National Geographic Society.

John Hersey '32 won the Pulitzer Prize for A Bell for Adano and is author of Hiroshima, The Wall, and other books; his most recent work, Antonietta, was published in 1991.

 

Contents

What Made Maria Do It? Stephen Birmingham '46
Kicked Out, C. D. B. Bryan '54

PART ONE

1. The Duke's Way: A Memoir
2. Minutes from the Past
3. A Paradise for Boys
4. The King's Domain
5. The Duke's Garden
Eulogy to GVS by John Hersey '32

PART TWO

6. In Transition
7. Privileged to be There
8. Approaching Year 2000
9. Fair Hotchkiss
Acknowledgments

APPENDIX:

Headmasters, Board Presidents,
Alumni Award Recipients


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