In 1971, Choate and Rosemary Hall Coordinate Education
By Grace Ann Marrinan '08
News Associate Editor
On September 24, 1968, The Choate School and Rosemary Hall announced that the two schools would join together to begin providing their students with “coordinate” education in the September of 1971. The schools’ decision to merge the two single-sex institutions pioneered the trend of coordinate education and coeducation in college-preparatory high schools, and was motivated by many factors—both financial and philosophical.
Each Board of Trustees “judged that among several possibilities its school might meet the educational needs of students most effectively— both now and in the future — through affiliation with another school.” After the affiliation of the two schools, students would have access to a broader academic curriculum. Through coordination, the curriculum of the schools would expand, because the schools would now share courses previously taught by only one of the two institutions. Allowing these specialized courses to be coeducational, the schools could afford specialists in areas such as art, Chinese, economics, and advanced physics. Additionally, the administrations of both schools agreed that coordinate education would expose the students to a wider variety of viewpoints that would enhance their education. Similarly, the schools believed that the affiliation of Choate and Rosemary Hall would allow the students to form “natural personal relationships.” Overall, Seymour St. John and Alice McBee, the heads of Choate and Rosemary Hall at the time of the decisions’ announcement, explained, “The principal reason for the decision to combine the two schools is a conviction shared by both schools that coordinate education is academically desirable, and that boys and girls benefit most, both intellectually and personally from closer association in study, the arts, and recreation, prior to reaching college.”
Financial benefits also provided motivation for the affiliation of the schools. As a result of the combination of the two institutions, both schools could benefit economically through the sharing of many resources, including facilities and faculties. Alice McBee explained, “Every independent school in the country is feeling the economic pinch. It is an old adage that two can live as cheaply as one, particularly if both partners are working.”
Through “coordinate” education, the two schools would continue to “retain their separate identities”: each school would maintain its own board of trustees and would be led by its own head. The schools would also possess separate campuses joined together by a new arts center. Each school wanted to uphold its own specific traditions simultaneously, and coordinate education allowed the schools “to function as separate institutions,” the administrations explained, “expcept in those areas where a shared experience is clearly beneficial to both.” The Board of Trustees of each school believed, “The concept of coordinate education upholds the vital right to privacy.” Students would participate in coeducational classes for some specific subjects, such as art and other specialized areas, but the schools would continue to teach the remaining courses to boys and girls separately. “In the beginning, which is all we can predict now,” Seymour St. John noted, “the faculties will overlap, along with selected school activities, and what this will lead to remains to be seen.” After the Choate School and Rosemary Hall began providing coordinate education in September 1971, the institutions gradually moved toward complete coeducation. In 1973, Charles Dey became president of Choate Rosemary Hall and oversaw the actions of the heads of both Choate and Rosemary Hall. Then, in 1974, the first joint Board of Trustees emerged. Finally, the first joint graduation in June 1978 completed the transformation of The Choate School and Rosemary Hall into one coeducational institution— the Choate Rosemary Hall that exists today.
Seymour St. John and Alice McBee meet to discuss the advantages of coordinate education. PHOTO/Archives
