<p>Actualy, blairt, Deerfield is one of the exceptions to that rule. Many of the first attendees were local children who worked on their familes' farms--not quite "blue blood".
I disagree with you that the other schools don't declare their pride for their history and traditions; look at every website, and they all have a history of their school. Nor do I think it is a bad thing for them to be proud of their history. There were some parts of them that were bad, of course, but you must take into account the year and the ways then. I also disagree that "Be worthy of your heritage" implies that you have "noble" blood. It means that you should work to be worthy of what it took for your ancesters to bring you the earth, and what they did. It means that you should be worthy of the greatness that you family has achieved--the greatness in any form--instead of just taking it for granted.</p>
<p>Deerfield Academy was founded in 1797 when Massachusetts granted a charter to start a school in the town of Deerfield. The academy quickly established itself as one of the finest schools in the new republic, drawing boys and girls from prominent families across New England.</p>
<p>"Just an opinion"</p>
<p>Could you explain more about the campus and the "snobby atmosphere?"</p>
<p>I don't know about snobbiness, but when I went there, I felt as if the kids weren't happy. They weren't very excited about their school - from the few I talked to - not as much as they were at other schools. They also did not say 'hi' to each other in the halls and my tour guide only talked about the campus and not about dorm life or her friends. She did not express a love for her school.</p>
<p>blairt, have you actually visited Deerfield Academy?</p>
<p>"JUST AN OPINION" ie, "Just an input", "Just my perception"</p>
<p>Yeah. You already said that.</p>
<p>But Blair, have you visited it? That's what soccerprep asked.</p>
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Yeah. You already said that.
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<p>Me, or Blair said that already?</p>
<p>Blair .</p>
<p>So have you visited Deerfield or not?</p>
<p>Yes, and I've met a lot of kids from there. What's it to you?</p>
<p>I just wanted to know where you were getting your opinion from, thats all.</p>
<p>Perhaps the information I had was incorrect, blairt. Sorry if I jumped to conclusions. I'm a little impatient right now; I working on a proof that's frustrating me, especially because I feel like I should know it. However, I do know that Deerfield did have a lot of local children attend, most of whom were children of farmers. If you read "The Headmaster" (of course, this was well after the founding, but it still holds good information on the history of the school), you can get a better idea of the school's roots and purpose. Excellent book.</p>
<p>That could mean so many things - intelligence or compassion, passion for learning or artistic. Heritage means so much more than to be just interpreted as wealthy or upper class. I am neither but am very proud of a heritage of my hard working, coal mining ancestors that had a strong work ethos and a love of books.</p>
<p>I think that an admiration of your heritage should only stretch so much as to give you an identity when you are born, and to create traditions to work from. But it should not go until you depend only on your heritage for complete meaning in your life - you should not depend on your ancestor's successes as your own.</p>
<p>Good point, Olivia, and good for you, shelley14. There is more to be proud of in heritage that just wealth and "noble" blood.</p>
<p>Thanks, J.
Your family sounds really interesting, shelley. Just a comment. :D</p>
<p>Of the six schools we visited with my daughter (Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Taft, Choate, Pomfret, Berkshire) Deerfield did have a more preppy and legacy-dominated feel than many of those others. That being said, we liked it. Not sure what that says about us.</p>
<p>I have to say I am surprised by some of the comments about liking Choate's location. While the campus itself is very impressive, Wallingford was one of the negatives as far as we were concerned.</p>
<p>Why was Wallingford a negative for you, biffgnar?</p>