Directed by the Board to “tone up” the school, Morgan Bowman defined the academic and “commercial” programs of study. More lectures on subjects of interest were offered, cultural aspects of literature and music received new impetus, and common preparatory school terms and rituals came into use. Within his first year, McDonogh’s fifth principal had effected a “higher standard of ambition on the part of the boys.”
Athletics became geared to interscholastic competition, and the rivalry with Gilman School became more entrenched. Religious instruction took on a wider moral scope, and John McDonogh’s Rules for Living were hung in each dormitory. He introduced a new schedule of classes, a new order of worship in the chapel, a new look to the landscaping, and a new gentility to the dining room. Morgan H. Bowman, Jr. resigned in 1921 after seven years.
