Education: Children of the World, Unite!

On the platform of London's Kingsway Hall, eight teen-age boys & girls grinned and fidgeted in their chairs. Some chewed gum, others smoked cigarettes—and no one tried to stop them. It was a great day for the kids on the platform and for the handful down front listening: they were beginning a worldwide children's crusade, and they had nothing to lose but their chains. Their leader: bachelor Headmaster Robert Copping of Britain's ultra-progressive Horsley Hall.

Bearded Headmaster Copping had already declared war on discipline of the young by their elders. He won a skirmish...