"Restructuring will lose the culture that CRLS teachers have worked hard to create," says Emily F. Gregory '00, a 1996 Pilot graduate. "What we liked about our school was how different it was."

The styles of teaching are distinct and obvious, students say.

"It takes something out of the education to make all of the houses the same. A class in Pilot is very different from a class in House A," says one senior in House A.

Moreover, CRLS' varied offerings appeal to the heterogeneous student body.

"Cambridge is so diverse that people are looking for different types of education," says Kaya R. Stone '00, a 1996 Leadership graduate. "That's why the house system works so well."

Yet the worry about homogenization may be a moot point: While the plan erases the personalities of each house, each school will eventually take on equally distinctive personalities.

"The houses will eventually develop identities," says Helen Jacobson, dean of the Pilot program and one of the many administrators who supports the plan.