STA/ What do you/ did you love ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the notion of "muscular Christianity" which the school promotes.

Is this for real? I find this creepy (after reading the Wikipedia entry). Can any other STA parents comment on this?

Not creepy at all. They refer to it throughout their website.

Attached is an interesting article which also touches on this idea.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2000/08/st_albans_school.single.html

I think the "muscular christianity" concept is actually a little bit dated. From what I saw on the website, the references to it are in the past tense, as being a part of St. Albans of yore.

It is true that athletics are an important piece of the school, but for the same reasons (physical health, learning lessons about being part of a team, social benefits, building community) that pretty much any school that has an athletic program cites.

Nor is the chapel program some sort of Christian proselytizing medium. St. Albans hasn't run away from its identity as an Episcopal school -- the chaplain is an ordained Episcopal minister and there are hymns and the Lord's Prayer in every chapel service -- but the homilies are most often given by students or faculty talking about what is important to them morally and spiritually. Sometimes that is religious faith (and students of all faiths give chapel homilies), but very often it is a broader discussion of ethics without a religious message.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the notion of "muscular Christianity" which the school promotes.

Is this for real? I find this creepy (after reading the Wikipedia entry). Can any other STA parents comment on this?

Lots of prep schools tout muscular christianity, like Groton School, prep school for generations of Roosevelts, all good examples of muscular christianity.

From Groton Schools wiki:

"Peabody served as headmaster of the school for over fifty years, until his retirement in 1940. He instituted a Spartan educational system that included cold showers and cubicles, subscribing to the model of "muscular Christianity" which he himself experienced at Cheltenham College in England as a boy. Peabody hoped to graduate men who would serve the public good, rather than enter professional life. The school's motto, "Cui Servire Est Regnare," taken from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, translates as "whose service is perfect freedom," (an excerpt of the longer, "O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom;"), emphasizing the goals of its founder."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the notion of "muscular Christianity" which the school promotes.

Is this for real? I find this creepy (after reading the Wikipedia entry). Can any other STA parents comment on this?

Lots of prep schools tout muscular christianity, like Groton School, prep school for generations of Roosevelts, all good examples of muscular christianity.

From Groton Schools wiki:

"Peabody served as headmaster of the school for over fifty years, until his retirement in 1940. He instituted a Spartan educational system that included cold showers and cubicles, subscribing to the model of "muscular Christianity" which he himself experienced at Cheltenham College in England as a boy. Peabody hoped to graduate men who would serve the public good, rather than enter professional life. The school's motto, "Cui Servire Est Regnare," taken from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, translates as "whose service is perfect freedom," (an excerpt of the longer, "O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom;"), emphasizing the goals of its founder."

Seems vestigial for Groton also.

[Anonymous]

Lol! Old concept from back in the day when the trust funded entered public service rather than "professional life" aka making a living.

[Anonymous]

I love the "Prison Yard" where many of the boys go to after classes have ended and just romp around. Unstructured play and hanging out. Did not expect that. DS's last school has very structured after-school program. Expected more of the same from STA which is otherwise quite structured. STA really does get boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love the "Prison Yard" where many of the boys go to after classes have ended and just romp around. Unstructured play and hanging out. Did not expect that. DS's last school has very structured after-school program. Expected more of the same from STA which is otherwise quite structured. STA really does get boys.

Yes, they tumble around like puppies at recess too. When walking through campus and observing this a couple of times I have had to stop myself from saying "wait! you could put out his eye!" as I see the seasoned Lower School teachers keeping an eye on the unstructured play but not intervening constantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the "Prison Yard" where many of the boys go to after classes have ended and just romp around. Unstructured play and hanging out. Did not expect that. DS's last school has very structured after-school program. Expected more of the same from STA which is otherwise quite structured. STA really does get boys.

Yes, they tumble around like puppies at recess too. When walking through campus and observing this a couple of times I have had to stop myself from saying "wait! you could put out his eye!" as I see the seasoned Lower School teachers keeping an eye on the unstructured play but not intervening constantly.[/quote

I'm not sure whether it was prompted in part by posts such as this, or whether it's this new obsession with aggressively addressing bullying, but the school seems to be intervening more even during the unstructured play, not only to prevent said pencil from ending up in someone's eye, but from making sure little Freddy doesn't say something that will make little Johnny feel bad.

[Anonymous]

Too bad that they are hovering more. I liked the idea of some rough and tumble freedom. How can children learn to negotiate things on their own with a 24/7 nanny watch? Of course you don't want bullying, but most schools go way too far in the other direction. Let them knock around a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too bad that they are hovering more. I liked the idea of some rough and tumble freedom. How can children learn to negotiate things on their own with a 24/7 nanny watch? Of course you don't want bullying, but most schools go way too far in the other direction. Let them knock around a bit.

+1.

St. Albans is one of those places with a Lord of the Flies reputation. In reality, it is anything but. But recently there have been some very vocal "flies" who, for a variety of reasons, have seized on the notion of playing the victim as a weapon. The school has either taken the bait, or is afraid of not being perceived to be acting sufficiently forcefully (read, law suits and bad publicity). It is one of those schools going way too far in the other direction IMO, as those expelled over the last few years can attest to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too bad that they are hovering more. I liked the idea of some rough and tumble freedom. How can children learn to negotiate things on their own with a 24/7 nanny watch? Of course you don't want bullying, but most schools go way too far in the other direction. Let them knock around a bit.

+1.

St. Albans is one of those places with a Lord of the Flies reputation. In reality, it is anything but. But recently there have been some very vocal "flies" who, for a variety of reasons, have seized on the notion of playing the victim as a weapon. The school has either taken the bait, or is afraid of not being perceived to be acting sufficiently forcefully (read, law suits and bad publicity). It is one of those schools going way too far in the other direction IMO, as those expelled over the last few years can attest to.

This post makes very little sense if you are actually familiar St. Albans. The school still allows boys to play actively and physically -- there's been no change there.

The idea that expulsions show that STA has gone "way too far in the other direction" is also a very strange assertion. STA rarely asks students to leave and when that has occurred for disciplinary reasons, the offenses have been serious and of the type that the students are well aware can result in separation. They take things seriously but justice is tempered with mercy too, so to speak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too bad that they are hovering more. I liked the idea of some rough and tumble freedom. How can children learn to negotiate things on their own with a 24/7 nanny watch? Of course you don't want bullying, but most schools go way too far in the other direction. Let them knock around a bit.

+1.

St. Albans is one of those places with a Lord of the Flies reputation. In reality, it is anything but. But recently there have been some very vocal "flies" who, for a variety of reasons, have seized on the notion of playing the victim as a weapon. The school has either taken the bait, or is afraid of not being perceived to be acting sufficiently forcefully (read, law suits and bad publicity). It is one of those schools going way too far in the other direction IMO, as those expelled over the last few years can attest to.

This post makes very little sense if you are actually familiar St. Albans. The school still allows boys to play actively and physically -- there's been no change there.

The idea that expulsions show that STA has gone "way too far in the other direction" is also a very strange assertion. STA rarely asks students to leave and when that has occurred for disciplinary reasons, the offenses have been serious and of the type that the students are well aware can result in separation. They take things seriously but justice is tempered with mercy too, so to speak.

There have been more expulsions in the last 2 years than the last decade. STA has ratcheted up the policing of what in the past has been characterized as boys will be boys behavior. I call that going way too far in the other direction. Nothing strange about that.

[Anonymous]

First, I don't know if you are talking about the Upper School (with which I'm more familiar) or the Lower School. Second, it probably wouldn't be good for us to get more specific in this debate because of the risk of hurting the privacy of individual kids/families.

I will say that, based on my knowledge of the place for a pretty good time period (5+ years), I disagree that STA is too strict and think they draw the lines in a good place. That kind of thing is subject to opinion, however, and it sounds like we do not see eye to eye on the issue and that neither is likely to convince the other.

[Anonymous]

I love Mr. H.

He embodies STA and is the role model for my son.