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This reminded me of our tour at SPS - Our tour guide has told us that a ** fist fight ** broke out in her humanities class the previous day about the Civil War. When I asked her what it was over, she said “the Civil War” So I said “well, what about it” and she said “they were arguing over if the Revolutionary War started the Civil War.”</p>
<p>Harkness is a tradmark of Phillips Exeter Academy</p>
<p>wow. . .hard to believe</p>
<p>“Harkness is a tradmark of Phillips Exeter Academy”</p>
<p>How so?</p>
<p>the crazy answer to that fills many shelves of intellectual property law books!</p>
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<p>look at lower left [Harkness</a> Tables](<a href=“http://www.harknesstable.com/clients.html]Harkness”>http://www.harknesstable.com/clients.html)</p>
<p>mx uses harkness tables (in english and history classes). Obv. it’s not ALWAYS discussion, but we do and it really helps. this semester’s history class is my favorite so far (lots of opinionated people and a teacher who prefers harkness)</p>
<p>I think Harkness is one of the main reasons I want to attend Exeter.</p>
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If that was to me about the SPS “fight” - it’s not the half of it - it was the craziest tour we went on.</p>
<p>Princess’Dad, tsk tsk. Those poor people who own that business you linked are going to go crazy trying to figure out why their website has gotten so many hits all of the sudden! You should warn them before they start gearing up for an unexpected influx of orders. ;)</p>
<p>I think these boarding schools attempt to trademark the Harkness table is ridiculous. All someone did was take a teaching style that has been around for centuries, carve a circular wooden table, and slapped a name on it for boarding schools to use as a trademark. </p>
<p>Personally, I hate the round tables. It is hard to navigate and have a flowing class discussion with it. You can’t rearrange it, move around it, everyone is cramped and it makes it hard for people in the front to see when there’s a presentation on the board. This discussion method of teaching these schools flaunt is not very unique, nor so very special as people make it seem. And furthermore, what you get out of the class is based very much on the people in your class–which, in some cases, could mean a very boring class.</p>
<p>And the idea of Exeter having every single class with a Harkness Table is honestly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.</p>
<p>goldilon, are you an educator?</p>
<p>the “harkness table” or just student centered learning is an excellent concept and learning experience.</p>
<p>As a college professor I would love to be able to use this method to educate my students. When I have used it in the past, on a very small group the results we great, I loved it and most of the students loved it. But student centered learning is the method that required the instructor to do the most work, if done well we make it look effortless. Any type of student-centered activities take prep time you have no clue about. I will admit that it is not right for all students or all learning environments, if you have more than 15 it is almost impossible to make sure all students are involved.</p>
<p>As a parent of a profoundly gifted child it is her favorite learning environment, it is one of the main reasons why boarding schools interested me in the first place. Students not only have to come to class prepared but also most come “armed” with ideas.</p>
<p>It is much easier for everyone, students and teachers alike, to just come into a classroom, look straight ahead and let me “profess” to tell you what I know. Then in a few weeks you just “spit” it right back at me. In this class the teachers are not really teaching and the students are not really learning.</p>
<p>IMHO</p>
<p>The thing that makes me giggle about the schools that use the HARKNESS is the whole theory that it is THAT ACTUAL table that makes a difference. I knowit is a specific size,with students a certain distance apart…but really? Does THAT part of it matter? What matters is the teaching style and I don’t think you need a big table to do that. Desks in a circle works, but you know small classes in general works too - even in a “traditional” classroom set up.<br>
You are right Alexz825Mom - with a large class, discussion is difficult at best. With small classes (my son’s largest is 12 I think), I have watched discussion and flow of ideas - even while sitting in rows.<br>
For me, it is the class size and teaching style rather than the actual table that matters.</p>
<p>What school does your son go to Linda S?</p>
<p>At Andover revisit day a couple of years ago, a parent asked about Harkness. The answer was that they don’t adhere to Harkness as an all-encompassing approach, but used the appropriate teaching style for the subject, and that meant that many of the classes were indeed Harkness style. As for the tables, they said they have some but most teachers preferred the flexibility of desks that they could move around for small groups, or whatever. The table does seem to be somewhat of a cult object!</p>
<p>Watch for my new line of Harkness grass. Seeds available soon. Perfect for those sunny days when the table is just too cumbersome to move outside. Plant it under our special line of Harkness trees. Better yet, use our very own Harkness tulips in with the available template for the perfect size oval. Ideas are guaranteed to sprout in mid to late spring…just in time for finals!!!</p>
<p>Yeah, it does seem kind of gimmicky.</p>
<p>I am over a year late but for the sake of other latecomers to this very important topic: @goldilon - Your statement “what you get out of the class is based very much on the people in your class” pretty much nails the essence of the Harkness Method and all that is Exeter for that matter. Any thread about Exeter on this board discusses the great effort that the Academy exerts to ensure just that. Exonians are expected to come to the table prepared for discourse and analysis in real time. There may be no other place on the planet where the phrase “what can you bring to the table” is more apt. @goldilon I can appreciate your perspective on how the Harkness table might adversely affect some teaching methods. But Exeter is about learning.</p>
<p>Many educators believe that there is no one size fits all pedagogical solution because students learn in different ways. Some students thrive in a student centered curriculum because they learn best in the give and take of classroom discussions. Others excel in lecture-based courses because they enjoy learning from their teacher instead of engaging in sometimes tangential student discussions. And still others do best in courses that combine lectures and student involvement. </p>
<p>Equally as important, different courses may demand varying pedagogical approaches. Small literature or history courses may be conducive to student centered discussions or to some combination of lectures and seminar styled discussions. By contrast, hard science and math courses may better lend themselves to lectures, since many contend that it is more productive to instruct students than to ask them to discover the governing principles of math and science independently.</p>
<p>Given these varying educational approaches, it is not surprising that virtually every top educational institution in America employs a variety of pedagogical approaches. For example, Harvard does not limit itself to seminar styled classes any more than Yale restricts itself to lecture courses. Moreover the seminars at Yale and Harvard typically involve some lectures just as lecture courses at Yale and Harvard usually permit student questions </p>
<p>This diversity of educational approaches allows teachers at top schools the flexibility to tailor their courses to meet the educational learning styles of their students. Hence, a professor teaching a seminar may decide to lecture more if his introverted class prefers to listen to him rather than to talk to each other. By the same token, a teacher in a lecture class may elect to incorporate more classroom discussion if his extroverted class constantly peppers him with questions.</p>
<p>This does not mean that a particular style of learning is wrong or right. It does, however, emphasize the importance of fit when choosing a school that focuses on one style of learning to the exclusion of all others.</p>
<p>There is no such thing as an introverted or extroverted class. All classes have distributions of both types. Nice try though.</p>
<p>I am sure the tables are quite expensive and would not doubt that they become “antique” collectors’ items when they are retired LOL… </p>
<p>When I was at PEA (many eons ago), I found that the coolest things about the Harkness tables were:
<p>I wonder when all these other BS started to use them…
Do the new ones have those sliding writing panels? Are the tables still made of wood??</p>