High school secret societies

High school secret societies have a long tradition in the Midwestern United States. First with Chicago's upper class who sent their children to the city's elite, private college-preparatory schools, and eventually, also into the Chicago area's top-ranked public schools, such as New Trier High School and Hyde Park Academy, the latter within the vicinity of the University of Chicago. cite web |url=http://www.ihsa.org/initiatives/hstoric/fraternities.htm |title=Chicago High School Football Struggles, The Fight for Faculty Control, and the War Against Secret Societies, 1898-1908 |last=Pruter |first=Robert |work=Illinois H.S.toric |year=2003 |accessdate=2008-05-09]

Collegiate secret societies within America's universities have a long tradition, initially started within East Coast colleges, and eventually trickling down into what became the secret societies found at America's oldest boarding schools. Between 1898 and 1908, high school secret societies were a recognizable feature within the school system, and Otto C. Schneider, President of the Chicago School Board of 1908, took an active role in stopping their influence within secondary schools. Initial growth in the Midwest may have been fueled by competition with the East Coast. Boston Latin, the oldest public school in America, and Erasmus High School often had football matches with Chicago's top public schools, thereby spreading an influence from the East Coast to the Midwest. Many of Chicago's upper class students had East Coast connections, introductions could have been made to the "K.O.A" and "A.U.V." (Auctoritas, Unitas, Veritas) secret societies of Phillips Academy, of which Skull and Bones inductee George H. W. Bush was a member of the latter. cite web |url=http://www.pa56.org/andoverbush.htm |title=Andover |work=Skull and Bones |accessdate=2008-05-09] The most elite high school secret society in America was "Kappa Epsilon Pi", founded at Phillips Exeter Academy in 1891 and fashioned as the "Preparatory Order of Skull and Bones". It became the model for all high school secret societies throughout America. cite book |last=Echols |first=Edward |title=The Phillips Exeter Academy, A Pictorial History |publisher=Exeter Press |year=1970]

Between 1880-1915 more than 50 high school secret societies were formed within Chicago. Hyde Park Academy, alone, had 18 groups, and battles with secret societies within the village of Oak Park, Illinois were taken to the Appellate courts, ruling in favor of Oak Park schools to individually oversee all of their students' secret societies, rather than implement a general regulatory system across the board.

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