Reply to St. Andrew's Questions

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[quote=Anonymous]The short answer is that there are plenty of Jewish kids in the middle/upper schools (not so much in the lower campus in Potomac Village) who are reform and conservative -- obviously not orthodox families or strictly observant (there are occasional sports games/activities on Saturdays).  Our DC attended a numbers of St. Andrew's bar/bat mitzvahs in 7th grade . The religion program is really well done through middle/high school, and is taught as a mixture of general knowledge kids should have (greatest hits of old testament, new testament, comparative religions) and thought provoking philosophy/morality questions for older students. Chapels are once per week.  Jewish kids -- and my DC and friends think probably more than half of all the kids regardless of upbringing -- respectfully tolerate or tune out during the short formal service that is low key -- but tune in more for the rest of chapel which is usually a presentation either a universal theme or exposure to a different culture. There is a high holiday chapel each fall, a Holocaust remembrance chapel, outside speakers who have overcome hardships, and sometimes faculty /student presentations along those lines, sometimes special programming around MLK Day, diversity considerations, etc.  Sometimes they hit a home run and produce thought provoking family dialogue over dinner.  Sometimes they are humorous.  And sometimes they miss the mark and the kids may feel they wished they had been in a study hall.  There are two longer more religious chapels each year (one for Easter) and those are the only ones that the Jewish kids tend to K'vetch about a bit, but in the grand scheme of things as Jewish parents we actually think the religious component of the school adds more positively to the culture than it detracts relative to secular schools. And we certainly did not expect to think that when we were applying to schools.  It is a hard balance to cover religion in a school known for its inclusiveness, but all and all they do a very good job with it.  As Jewish parents, we initially thought we liked St. Andrew's in spite of its religious component,  but over time we have come to think we like it more because of it. It tends to contribute to a certain grounding and warmth in the school among the kids, faculty and even parent-body.  [/quote]

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