<p>I was just wondering what the atmosphere was at different schools... I know what a few schools are like, though I would like to know what others are like. Just copy the above and put
[ul]
[<em>]Far Right
[</em>]Fairly Right
[<em>]Right
[</em>]Slightly Right
[<em>]Neutral
[</em>]Slightly Left
[<em>]Left
[</em>]Fairly Left
[li]Far Left[/li][/ul]</p>
<h2>I was just curious to see the contrasting political atmospheres at different school. Of course people may disagree so if you do, just copy/paste from above and then put a comma and put your "rank".</h2>
<p>Milton: Left
St. Pauls: Slightly Right
Andover: Left
Exeter: Slightly Left
Groton: Right
Hotchkiss: Neutral
Deerfield: Right</p>
<p>I was thinking… I talked to my interviewers about this stuff. My Groton interviewer told me that it, and schools of it’s creed (episcopal), tend to be on the social right. Fiscally, I am sure all of them are somewhat right. It is the social aspect that would differ.</p>
<p>My parents and I first started talking about this… Trying to get my parents to “fall in love” with the idea of boarding school I came dashing down to tell them that a few Kennedy’s were Milton grads… (We are pretty hardcore dems btw).</p>
<p>Looking at the roots, most boarding schools come from wealthy roots and hence tend to be more right than left.</p>
<p>The vast majority - 90+% - of SPS faculty voted for Obama in the straw poll on campus and among students it was greater than 75% although I don’t remember the exact numbers.</p>
<p>I would also say SPS is socially liberal in that they are very accepting of gays/lesbians among students and faculty - just as one example.</p>
<p>I would put most boarding schools in the leaning left camp in general.</p>
<p>That’s nice to hear… Wow, my Groton interviewer misled me. Basically told me any school with a “St.” in front of its name is pretty republican. He was bragging about being conservative though. It’s hard for me to see how you can brag about that, but oh well…</p>
<p>From the impressions I got:
Exeter: FAR left
Hotchkiss: Somewhere in between fairly and slightly left
Deerfield: Slightly left
Middlesex: pretty neutral, possibly slightly left</p>
<p>The “left” many NEers lean towards differ from many leftist views. A good portion of the people I know in NE are very fiscally right. There is a big difference between “blue collar liberal” and “rich liberal” views (no offense intended).</p>
<p>Don’t always associate a conservative school atmosphere (dress code, sit-down, chapel) with a larger political conservative atmosphere. As a Groton grad and former teacher there, I can say that the faculty could not be more liberal and that the student body certainly has a conservative “block” but the majority lean left. This is true for most of the schools I have worked at over the years. The traditions may be seen as “old school” but the political climate on campuses has changed dramatically since the 1950’s. I can promise that there were lots of Obama pins worn on blue blazers at many NE boarding schools.</p>
<p>How can anyone suggest that Groton is “right” in political orientation? After all, it produced FDR and most of the liberal brains that brought us the Vietnam war: the Bundy brothers, the Rostow brothers, etc. Read “The Color of Truth” by Kai Bird or “The Best and the Brightest” by the late David Halberstam.</p>
<p>Far more than just FDR. Most of the minds that brought us the Cold War and the Vietnam War: Richard Bissell, Mcgeorge Bundy, William Bundy, Eugene Rostow, Walt Rostow, Dean Acheson and many many others. It was founded by the reverend Endicott Peabody and was for many years the place where the elite of the elite sent their sons.</p>
<p>Every big boarding school in New England we have ever been associated with has leaned pretty far left (thank goodness would be my editorial comment.)</p>
<p>principalviola – why is that good to hear? Isn’t a little balance (and maybe hearing a different take on the world every once in a while a good thing?). Should not a young mind be exposed to something other than the constant liberal and politically correct point of view that I assure you is presented by 90% of the faculty and administration at every boarding school?</p>
<p>If you want your child to hear the other side, you send them to a church-affiliated school in the south, where they teach that the theory of evolution does not represent scientific fact. There are many such places.</p>
Wow, my Groton interviewer misled me. Basically told me any school with a “St.” in front of its name is pretty republican. He was bragging about being conservative though. It’s hard for me to see how you can brag about that, but oh well…</p>