Are all Friends schools the same?

[Anonymous]

Would an experience at School For Friends translate to Sidwell Friends or the Friends Community School?

[Anonymous]

No, not at all.

-- Sidwell graduate, whose kids went to SfF and has had opportunities to tour and observe at Sandy Springs, and Friends Community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, not at all.

-- Sidwell graduate, whose kids went to SfF and has had opportunities to tour and observe at Sandy Springs, and Friends Community.

+1

Earlham College graduate

[Anonymous]

Not at All,
George School Graduate,
Earlham College Alum ( didn't graduate there)

Are there even Quakers at Sidwell?

[Anonymous]

Ditto.

-George School graduate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would an experience at School For Friends translate to Sidwell Friends or the Friends Community School?

Academically? Absolutely not.

[Anonymous]

Quaker schools share some core themes or values, but they don't share the same pedagogy. They also tend to reflect the communities where they are situated.

Since there are very few practicing Quakers, most or all are populated by non-Quakers who (in theory) find elements of Quaker values attractive. Equality, simplicity, etc. are attractive to many people.

[Anonymous]

No.

You see this clearly in Philadelphia where you have half a dozen Quaker schools to compare.

Sidwell and Sandy Springs are different places, and both are also quite different from Friends in Baltimore. Friends in Baltimore can compare neatly with several of the Philadelphia Quaker schools like Friends Central or Abingdon, but is different from Germantown and William Penn Charter, both for quite different reasons.

[Anonymous]

The schools differ because the personalities differ. Some Friends schools are preppier, others are very liberal and progressive, while others are middle of the road. A handful, as in the case of Sidwell and Friends Seminary in Manhattan, are popular with elite families that you don't find at the other Friends schools, and that means a different campus environment. Some are more resolutely Quaker, others are Quaker in name only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Quaker schools share some core themes or values, but they don't share the same pedagogy. They also tend to reflect the communities where they are situated.

Since there are very few practicing Quakers, most or all are populated by non-Quakers who (in theory) find elements of Quaker values attractive. Equality, simplicity, etc. are attractive to many people.

Finding Quaker values attractive in theory doesn't guarantee that those values will be practiced.

[Anonymous]

Especially at expensive private schools.

Hard to preach simplicity and equality when students turn up wearing expensive clothes and are equipped with the latest Apple products and jet off on fancy vacations.

There's much about Quakerism and Quaker education I admire but as a product of the Quaker schools there's always an element of hypocrisy that most just ignore, for better or for worse. In a way schools like the Cathedral schools or Holton/Landon are more honest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quaker schools share some core themes or values, but they don't share the same pedagogy. They also tend to reflect the communities where they are situated.

Since there are very few practicing Quakers, most or all are populated by non-Quakers who (in theory) find elements of Quaker values attractive. Equality, simplicity, etc. are attractive to many people.

Finding Quaker values attractive in theory doesn't guarantee that those values will be practiced.

[Anonymous]

Op here_ I am more concerned on administratively. Same MO as SfF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here_ I am more concerned on administratively. Same MO as SfF?

I'm not clear what you mean. I think the feel of the schools is more similar at the Lower School level - warm, informal, etc. I don't think either Sidwell or Sandy Spring is all that similar to SfF at the high school level - Sidwell ramps up dramatically, Sandy Spring ramps up a fair amount, and the emphasis is more on achievement and less on nurturing (but I don't think of nurturing as directly related to Quakerism).

FWIW, I'm a Sidwell alum and birthright Friend, as is my DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not at All,
George School Graduate,
Earlham College Alum ( didn't graduate there)

Are there even Quakers at Sidwell?

Yes, there are in fact Quakers at Sidwell. In 2007 there were approximately 87,000 adult members of Quaker meetings in the United States. With such a small faith, you can imagine that there are relatively few Quakers at Sidwell. In fact there are few if any Quakers at most every school in this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No.

You see this clearly in Philadelphia where you have half a dozen Quaker schools to compare.

Sidwell and Sandy Springs are different places, and both are also quite different from Friends in Baltimore. Friends in Baltimore can compare neatly with several of the Philadelphia Quaker schools like Friends Central or Abingdon, but is different from Germantown and William Penn Charter, both for quite different reasons.

TIA.