FORTY YEARS AT SCHOOL

Told by its headmaster of forty years, this is the story of the Choate School in Wallingford, Conn. Founded in 1896 by Judge and Mrs. Choate for a family school Choate had, by 1908, an enrollment of 51 boys when George St. John left a teaching position in Tarrytown to become headmaster. By this time Judge Choate was retired and the school was run by his three daughters, a situation which, at first, made the chain of command difficult to determine. Eventually, at the Judge's request, the school was given permanence by incorporation and there began that steady growth -- the headmaster was convinced that to meet fairly each boy's needs there must be larger numbers in order to place each boy according to his knowledge and capacity -- which the author records with obvious dedication and loving care. There were setbacks, mainly financial, but always heartening rescue and a renewal of what St. John calls the ""genius"" of the school. Finally in 1947 he retired at 70 having maintained Choate as a family ""old line school"" instilled with a vigorous educational philosophy. He was succeeded by his son Seymour.