Friends School

[CT Mommy]

There is a Friends School in the town where we just recently moved and it looks like a promising opportunity for our children. Does anyone have any insight on these schools? What is the general policy on homework and/or testing?

THANKS!

[Momily]

Originally Posted by CT Mommy

There is a Friends School in the town where we just recently moved and it looks like a promising opportunity for our children. Does anyone have any insight on these schools? What is the general policy on homework and/or testing?

THANKS!

My son attended a Friends preschool that I loved. I also attended a friends school for middle school, and also loved it. However the two schools were very different.

My school was very academically rigorous -- admissions testing, lots of homework (as in 4 or 5 hours a night in 6th grade), viewed success very narrowly as academic success.

My son's school, on the other hand, was very gentle and non-competitive, inclusive of all kinds of learners, not rushed at all -- it gave kids time to be just kids.

Both schools emphasized social problem solving and both had good racial diversity and a committment to equity through things like financial aid.

I think you have to look at each Friends school individually.

[moderngal]

we are looking at several Friends schools now for DS for next year. they each seem to be different in terms of expectations and how rigorous they are. some seem to be great, diverse, and exactly what we want and some seem to be full of students that come from great wealth and very little diversity.
so- it seems to me that they are all pretty different... definitely check it out though.

[eepster]

I went to a Friends high school. We would occasionally get together with other Friends schools (confrences, frisbee tornament, etc.) Friends schools are academically very different, one from the next. There are some universals that are related to the religious beliefs of friends, like encouraging peace activism, but there is no underlying educational philosophy.

[sarahr]

Originally Posted by eepster

Friends schools are academically very different, one from the next. There are some universals that are related to the religious beliefs of friends, like encouraging peace activism, but there is no underlying educational philosophy.

Yep. I went to a Quaker/Friends high school too. It was a very academically rigorous high school, although they tried to downplay the competitive aspects (no honor role, no explicitly advanced classes). But a lot of that was just superficial gloss that didn't really change underlying attitudes. But I did get a fantastic education.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by sarahr

Yep. I went to a Quaker/Friends high school too. It was a very academically rigorous high school, although they tried to downplay the competitive aspects (no honor role, no explicitly advanced classes). But a lot of that was just superficial gloss that didn't really change underlying attitudes. But I did get a fantastic education.

Yeah, that would be very different than the one I went to, it was very relaxed academically. We didn't even get grades, just evaluations. Not that we didn't learn stuff, but it was more along the lines of what one needs to know to run a hippy commune than what one needs to know to attend Harvard.

[Ks Mama]

I attended two different Friends Schools up until 6th grade.
I always wished I could have gone back since it was much more free, child-directed, interesting, smaller classes, I did better in school than I ever did in public school. Much less peer pressure, etc. Of course, a lot of that could have to do with the onset of puberty too. I think everyone has a tough time in "middle school" no matter what the school. I don't rememer getting grades, but we did get "report cards" where the teacher would comment on our progress, etc.
In general I remember only good things. Caring teachers, interesting topics, cool field trips!
Edited to add that I remember "meeting" to be intensely boring. I don't know if this is a regular thing in all quaker schools, but we had a short silent meeting (prayer time) each morning before class - like 10 min, then once per week we had a 45 min with the whole school. It was tough to sit still & quiet for that long of time as a young child. But I suppose it is good to teach patience & introspection & peace.

FWIW my parents switched us to public because they were able financially to buy a house in a much nicer town with "excellent" public schools - so they made that choice instead of continuing to pay for private (with a long commute to/fro) while living in a less than ideal town.