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75 Years of Children

by Frederic R. Walker

184 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-1240; ISBN 1-4120-3412-4; US$16.75, C$21.00, EUR13.65, £9.46

A small private school in a big Victorian home survives and continues to succeed after seventy-five years of children coming...learning...leaving. A success story of an educational institution that did what so many others could not...thrive as a small school in the current age.

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About the Book      About the Author      Catalogue Information

About the Book

A former teacher who was considered unemployable because she was married starts a small private elementary school. The school went from two rented rooms in 1927 to the downstairs of one private home in 1930 to another in 1933. To this day it remains in that same building as a highly successful small school. Virginia Garrison Williams began what was to be the Williams school with twelve little children. The enrollment grew rapidly and increased even during the depression. There were other similar schools that organized during the first half of the twentieth century, but nearly all have closed. Others have reorganized and become large learning institutions. One of the unique features of the Williams School is that it has remained a small school in an age that feels bigness in all things is better.

The history of the Williams School is not without some major upheavals. In 1980 the school came very close to closing, but the love of this neighborhood school by so many parents kept it going. Those who attended the school remember the emphasis on respect and the fundamental education that was taught so thoroughly. They were the ones who rallied to the cause and contributed so much in so many ways. The enduring success is summarized in a comment made to the teachers by Mrs. Williams at the beginning of the 1966 school year

We want to make this school outstanding. As you know, we have a lot of competition. When we get criticized we must not mind it, but try to profit from it. I always try and never hesitate to admit things could be better if it is true. So let's keep open minds and get new ideas. Of course, in our dealings with our students we never criticize a child before his classmates, try to be careful not to hurt any feelings. Children, especially some, are extremely sensitive and don't stand up under either criticism or ridicule. I believe so much in the positive, not the negative approach to any problem. I am also a great believer in different potentials and requirements for each child, as long as they do their best, or put forth their best effort. That is all some are capable of doing. We want all children happy in their school life. Without happiness in any one field, one cannot do his or her best work.

This history is an account of the life of the Williams School under the leadership of its four directors and presents its remarkable success in the twenty-first century.

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About the Author

Frederic R. Walker was born in Buffalo in 1933 and raised in Lewiston, New York, and Niagara Falls, New York. Although he attended public schools, he became acquainted with private schools when his younger brother, Alan, attended the Episcopal DeVeaux School as a day student. He graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics and later earned a Masters in Education at Lehigh University and a Doctorate in Education from Teachers College at Columbia University. He taught seventh grade in Sayville, New York for eleven years and then became a teaching principal in a small Christian school for three years. During the 1960's he co authored several publications with Don H. Parker in connection with the SRA Reading and Spelling Laboratories. He taught Teacher Education for three years at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and then moved to Massachusetts for nine years to assume the headship of a private school, Cape Cod Academy. In 1981 he was employed by The Williams School where he stayed until retirement in January, 1998. The Walkers have four children, who are all married, and eight grandchildren.

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Catalogue Information

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