The Development of Urbana's University Laboratory High School

Nicola Bunick
University Laboratory High School, Urbana

University High School or "Uni," as it is also known, is a five-year laboratory school for academically gifted students from Champaign-Urbana. It began as a small college preparatory school and now flourishes as one of the premiere laboratory schools of the midwest. Its exciting history tells of struggles and triumphs.

The idea for the school can be traced to 1876, when the University of Illinois faculty requested facilities for remedial schooling, especially for students from rural areas. In 1882 the University of Illinois Preparatory Department opened to students who were at least fifteen years old and who eventually wanted to attend the University of Illinois. The Preparatory Department was located in the basement of a campus building where the Illini Union now stands. It cost five dollars per term to enroll in the school, and students were required to pass tests in English, arithmetic, grammar, geography, and United States history equivalent to those required for a second-grade teacher's certification.

In 1896 the University of Chicago opened the nation's first laboratory school, headed by philosopher and psychologist John Dewey. Dewey's philosophy for education was centered around each individual child's growth. His lab school philosophy downplayed "authoritarian methods" and urged experimentation and practice as the means to understanding. The goal was for students "to integrate culture and vocation efficiently" in a democracy with voting rights and freedom of speech for all.

The University of Illinois was not far behind. In 1901 the president of the university, Andrew Draper, changed the name of the Preparatory Department to the Academy of the University of Illinois. In 1910 the University of Illinois Faculty Senate proposed that the University Academy should be closed and replaced with a laboratory high school controlled by the College of Education. The Senate wanted the laboratory school, in the words of the university's board of trustees, "organized to resemble the typical high school as closely as possible." There the College of Education would be able to train new teachers and experiment with different teaching methods.

Andrew Draper was president of the University of Illinois from 1894 to 1904. During his tenure, the Preparatory Department was renamed the Academy of the University of Illinois.

By 1918 construction of the new school was well underway and so was World War I. The school had only one of the three wings finished, and the university turned this building into an army training hospital; it served as such until the end of the war.

Finally on September 12, 1921, the single wing opened its doors as a school building. University High School had a total of 63 students and 14 faculty members. It cost $25 in fees per year, the same tuition as for the university. English, mathematics, social sciences, science, foreign languages, music, art, home economics, design, and industrial education were the courses offered. The school also offered advanced algebra to prepare students who wanted to study engineering in college.

By 1926 Tuesday mornings were reserved for assemblies during which students, faculty, university professors, and local experts instructed and entertained on topics from music history to proper diets. A new gymnasium was also added to the school in 1926; until then Uni's athletes used the school attic.

Many happy years followed for the school. Initially the school accepted students who ranged from eighth grade graduates through age twenty-one. In 1926 citizens petitioned the president of the university for a junior high program to be added to

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University High School. The thirty-eight petitioners were rejected at first, but they were eventually successful. In 1932 the first seventh and eighth grade class was offered at Uni. The new class, called "sub-freshman," was composed of some students from seventh and some students from eighth grade; at the end of the school year all the subfreshman advanced to ninth grade. This five-year curriculum that allowed academically talented students to progress faster than at the usual pace has been referred to as "the oldest continuing experiment of gifted education in the world."

In 1981 disaster struck. The university was undergoing major budget cuts, and the College of Education was forced to phase out University High School. No more students were admitted to the school, but all the current students were to continue until they graduated. It seemed as though Uni would close. The possibility received much media attention, because the very same day the closing was announced, it was also announced that Uni alumnus James Tobin had just received a Nobel prize for economics. He joined two other Uni Nobel laureates, Philip Anderson for physics, and Hamilton O. Smith for medicine.

School administrators learned that laboratory schools could receive state funding. Uni administrators looked into the matter and found that an amendment to the Illinois School Code from 1980 stated that laboratory schools were entitled to state funds. Even so, the school still needed more money to remain open. Parents donated more than $100,000 to keep the school afloat, and Uni was saved.

Now the school is under the administration of the University of Illinois's Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and continues to be funded by the state as well as by contributions from the university, parents, and alumni. Among its most influential laboratory projects in education are the New Math of the 1960-1970s, the Center for the Teaching of Japanese, and historical simulations computer software. Agora Days in March continue the experiments in student and adult teaching. Uni continues to inspire the work of hundreds of very talented young students to shape their own futures.—[From Lawrence Lo, et al., "University Laboratory High School, 1921-1996"; student historian's interview with Paul Marty (computer director, Spurlock Museum of World Cultures), Feb. 16-18, 1998; The News Gazette, Oct. 13, 1981, May 5, 1982; Lex Peterson, "State Rules Apply to Uni High School," The News Gazette, May 5, 1982; "Recommendations of the Senate, April 18, 1910," Proceedings of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois; William F. Renner, "Perspectives of Decision: An Organizational History of the University High School of the University of Illinois," (Ph.D. diss., 1981); The University High School Alumni News, Winter 1993.]

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