The most shocking revelation of these visits was that two prep schools could have such different philosophies about what a quality education looks like. You ask someone what makes a good piece of pizza and they might mention the crust’s thickness, the variety of toppings, or the amount of cheese. But what makes a quality education? The number of variables alone is staggering (class sizes, commitment to the arts, homework load etc.). On top of that, you aren’t working with mushrooms and pepperoni—these are people filling your classroom who each have their own ideas of how education should be. How should the school order its priorities? The two schools I saw answered this question differently and therefore have very different school cultures.
SAAS (where I attended 7th and 8th grade in the mid-nineties) is expanding like a cherry blossom mid-March. The student body has grown to nearly 600 students and plans for a new building are in the works. The students were sociable and I interrupted a girl in her biology lesson (she was reading a poetry blog on-line while her testing experiment ran) and we ended up discussing her independent poetry study. She meets twice a week with a teacher she selected to discuss her poetry and reflections: a neat arrangement that came about because she came up short of one English credit. I like that both school and teacher would accommodate her this way. I like that she had been on Semester at Sea. I liked how little prompting it took to coax this girl into talking to a foreign teacher about her passions. In almost every classroom I poked my head into (visual art, French, Algebra, choir, English) I saw students pursuing their interests and taking a risk in front of their peers, be it by reading an essay aloud in English or opening their mouths to sing in choir.
Not everything worked perfectly. I observed some classes where students were supposed to be working independently but cruised Facebook instead, and one where the teacher helped one student while the rest chatted about an upcoming senior trip to Alaska. I saw a student sleeping on his break and heard one complain about overly-committing to lacrosse (“Dude, it’s like a part-time job!”). But in general, I had a sense that the school is committed to teaching the whole child--mind, body, soul--and providing opportunities for students to take risks, thereby discovering the wealth of strength inside themselves.
University Prep is a slightly smaller school (485 students) with breathtaking facilities that let in a lot of natural light. I arrived near the end of the day so I didn’t get to see class in action, but a discussion with the English department head clearly outlined the focus of the school. He pointed out that the school’s name is “University Prep” (perhaps as opposed to artistic prep?) and that they deliver exactly what they promise—preparation for a 4-year university. The required four-years of English culminates in a 5000 word essay on a topic of the student’s choosing (SAAS sends seniors to intern at the non-profit of their choosing) and I have no doubt that the U-prep student can write an excellent persuasive essay. The day I visited the school had suspended class for a music day, and an outdoor trip was planned for the Olympic peninsula so the school certainly doesn't limit its self to academics alone. But I did come away with the sense that the school is primarily focused on providing an academic environment that will prepare students for the challenges they will face in college.
The schools are different, and I wouldn’t want them to be the same. Some students excel more in the structured environment of U-Prep, some thrive on the artistic opportunities at SAAS. Both schools have students that struggle as well. I think the larger lesson here is that each school has its own culture and that students (and teachers!) should be at the school whose idea of a quality education matches their own.
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