<p>converge12: At SPS. how do they challenge students morally?</p>
<p>There are ‘cultural’ differences in prep schools that often relate more to the question of fit than rank when comparing peer schools. </p>
<p>For example, while Andover and Exeter are sister schools, each has a different academic culture than the other. Thus, Exeter exclusively employs the Harkness Method while Andover adopts a more varied pedagogical approach that includes lectures and classroom discussions. As these different academic approaches are both successful, choosing between them is a matter of personal preference and fit. Thus, a student admitted to Andover and Exeter might select Andover if he prefers its academic culture to the one at Exeter.</p>
<p>There may, however, also be circumstances where rank can trump ‘cultural’ differences between non-peer institutions. </p>
<p>For example, let’s vary the hypothetical and assume that only Exeter and a safety school accept this student. Given this choice, would this student be wrong in selecting Exeter and choosing to adapt to it’s academic culture, if Exeter otherwise offered academic and extracurricular opportunities the safety school could not match? Or should the student reject the possibility of adapting and choose the safety school instead because it does not exclusively apply the Harkness Method? What would you recommend?</p>
<p>@jmilton: interesting point. I’ve never actually though about “cultures” that way. But then, an academically able student accepted to both Exeter and Andover should face minimal difficulty adapting to whichever instructional method the school he chooses opts for. Playing the Harkness game is not that hard, from my experience. To prefer Andover to Exeter just because of Harkness is to aggrandize the genuine importance of the instructional approach. I daresay no student is going to fail Exeter just because he’s shy and doesn’t like Harkness.</p>
<p>jmilton: What happened to the Socratic method of education and extensive and intensive class discussion-based courses I recall during my 4 boarding school years (not at Exeter)? Is this the same as “Harkness method” for education or does one need a special ordered table to qualify?</p>
<p>abiriba,</p>
<p>I’ll defer to the Exeter folks, but the Harkness Method, as I understand it, is a student centered approach, one “where instruction focuses on ideas brought to the table by the students themselves.” [Phillips</a> Exeter Academy | The Harkness Classroom](<a href=“http://www.exeter.edu/summer_programs/7324_7427.aspx]Phillips”>http://www.exeter.edu/summer_programs/7324_7427.aspx). By contrast, the Socratic Method is traditionally a more teacher centered approach, one where an instructor prompts discussion by asking probing questions that lead students to explore and discuss the complexity of nuanced issues. </p>
<p>I used Andover and Exeter in my first hypothetical because Andover employs a variety of teaching methods that include the Harkness Method, the Socratic approach, lectures, and student based discussions. By contrast, Exeter, it seems, exclusively employs the Harkness Method even in math and science classes. Given this difference, I hypothesized a circumstance where a student accepted to Andover and Exeter chooses Andover because he prefers its academic culture. </p>
<p>I varied my second hypothetical to have the same student choose between Exeter and his safety to suggest that there may be circumstances when rank is more important than academic ‘culture.’ Thus, the same student who chooses Andover because he did not like Exeter’s sole reliance on the Harkness Method might choose Exeter over his safety school because he reasonably believes he will adapt to the academic culture at Andover. I did this to suggest that the concepts of ‘cultural’ difference and adaptability may not be mutually exclusive if we throw rank into the calculus.</p>
<p>I was under the impression my instructional experience many decades ago was subject to pedagogical mutation. I appreciate your description and explanation and conclude there is no material difference in the way I was instructed versus students at Exeter today. I will also submit, there is less difference among the instructional methods at the “top” boarding schools (in the same class as Exeter) than is made by the marketers…except for the study of Mathematics which uses a problem solving approach (aka … Art of Problem Solving/math club/math circle) emblematic of the leadership in the Math department and their dual mission in training Mathletes for national and international math competitions.</p>
<p>Before I sign off from this thread, I would like to take a moment and say something about Canterbury- a great school I feel was unfairly treated on this thread. One of my brothers is a Canterbury Alum- he attended the school when it was all boys. Before a milestone reunion one year, he called me and asked me if I wanted to attend Canterbury’s Commencement exercises with him. I responded like anyone would and asked why. He said he had just heard Sargent Shriver was giving the address and thought I’d be interested. I was. ( The truth is- I had a raging toddler at home and would have gone to a stranger’s funeral if someone invited me. ) So off we went. It was a memorable afternoon for both of us- like getting free tickets to a rock concert. </p>
<p>This brother also started a tradition in our family. Everytime a niece or nephew starts the SS admission process he sends them a Canterbury t-shirt from the student store. We’ve all taken our kids for tours and interviews and have always walked away impressed. My kids chose other schools, but they have the highest regard for the Canterbury Community.</p>
<p>Yesterday, I showed this thread to my oldest child. He attends a school many might consider to be the Holy Grail of Boarding Schools. He was speechless. When he left the house early this morning to go rowing, he was wearing the Canterbury t-shirt his uncle sent him almost four years ago. It may be worn and bit faded, but the thought behind the shirt was still there. And the wink he gave me as he was walking out the door said it all.</p>
<p>PhotographerMom: I LOVED that post. Good on you.</p>
<p>Thanks, london. I hope you’re enjoying the excitement and preparations for the big year ahead! :)</p>
<p>PhotographerMom: the Canterbury thing is quite strange. Here we all are talking about what might constitute a “top” boarding school, with no poster badmouthing any particular school.</p>
<p>When suddenly, quite out of the blue, you say,</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ouch. The thread glosses over the characterization of that school, with no one rising to beat back the “podunk” label you attribute to Canterbury. You are distressed, I feel, that no one out there has rushed to Canterbury’s defense, so you then say . . </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In otherwords, you must feel that Canterbury was “unfairly treated” because no one rose to defend it from the “podunk” label. Ironically, it was you – Canterbury’s own defender – who first established that label and now wish to say (in effect) that Canterbury was unfairly treated . . by you!</p>
<p>I mean, quite weird.</p>
<p>I think most people who read the posts leading up to mine understood where I was coming from and why I took a gem like Canterbury to illustrate a point. It could have been any gem, really.</p>
<p>My last post was just my way of illustrating my point futher. I think if people read between the lines they’ll find a message there. If not, so be it.</p>
<p>It all comes down to a matter of choice, doesn’t it? </p>
<p>If a child applies solely to prep schools he wants to attend and gets admitted to only one of them, won’t he have a good choice whether he gets accepted to his easiest safety or his hardest reach school? </p>
<p>If this child gets accepted to a safety and a reach school, can’t he prudently judge that his reach school is more desirable than his safety school? If so, isn’t he properly deciding between a good choice and a better choice? </p>
<p>As a result, why is it inconsistent for a student to value one prep school and then choose another more highly ranked school? Isn’t that what photographermom’s son sensibly did when he valued one fine school but choose to attend what she describes as a more highly regarded school? </p>
<p>When the rubber hits the road, perhaps the folks on this thread are not as far apart from one another as they may think.</p>
<p>I have some sympathy for converge’s point of view here. For many of us for whom paying for a prep school is a considerable financial sacrifice, there IS a difference between schools. Not a difference between SPS and SAS, but there’s a point, not very far down the list, where it becomes no longer worth the money (even given generous FA) to choose boarding school over a local, less expensive option (public, homeschooling, day school, whatever). That line–which will be slightly different, of course, for every family, but perhaps not so very far apart when push comes to shove–would be where I would distinguish between top tier and second tier. I’d include more schools than any acronym CC has come up with so far in my upper tier list. Still…I’d draw a line, and it would honestly have more to do with things like average SSAT scores, faculty with advanced degrees, overall course rigor, and student body than it would that airier word “fit,” which would come in to play only when and if my kid had a choice between those great schools. </p>
<p>Just for the sake of argument, I’ll throw this definition of top tier school out there…a school where, with rare exception, all the kids are very bright, very motivated, and very interested in something beyond themselves. I’d define a second-tier school as one where those kids make up a nice chunk of the student body, but are not in the majority.</p>
<p>I completely agree with jmilton and classicalmama. And I think coverge12 made great points too. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this board.</p>