Reply to St. Andrews: Don't Buy The "Happy Kids" Marketing

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[quote=Anonymous]17:01 wrote: [/quote]
I think that teaching kids how to handle not being accepted is important. So is teaching kids empathy and kindness, and to reach out to kids who are lonely or struggling. I hope St Andrews does both.[/quote]

It does.  I have had two very different kids transition to St. Andrew's in middle school and continue on into the upper school and can speak about those Divisions in the school.   Both children's transitions were very smooth. The other children with few exceptions were very warm and embracing, and I have been glad to see that in subsequent years my kids seemed to pick up on that and return the favor to newer students.  I recall one boy in middle school - a class clown type boy - would sometimes go too far with his humorous sarcasm to the point that could be seen as teasing.   The kids are by no means all saints, but I can think of two specific instances over the years where one child teased another in a way that was hurtful, and other children stepped in to put an end to it and stand up for the underdog.  In the first instance, my DS was the target of the teasing; in the other, DS intervened on behalf of another student.  While I cannot prove this, my sense is that there is much less of tween and teen teasing t St. Andrew's than at many other schools.  What I do know, is that when my kids went through middle school I could usually count the number of bad days they had on one hand in an entire school year.  For that age group, I think that's pretty remarkable.

As for teachers, most teachers my children have had have been solid, "A" range type teachers, and quite a few were genuinely gifted.  Maybe 4-5 over the course of 6 or 7 years at the school have been B or B+ type teachers (one per year at most).  And I can really only think of one substandard teacher -- who was actually very young and learning the ropes. Contrary to the experience of some above posters with the lower school, some of the best teachers in the middle and upper school have been at St. Andrews a long time, and they are by no means old fashioned in their teaching methods.  There is also a cadre of teachers probably in their mid-30s at this point who are outstanding. Retention is actual very good in the middle and upper schools generally.  I encourage my kids to take the most rigorous courses they can in high school not just to challenge themselves or to "look good" to colleges, but because I believe they are likely to have far better teachers -- on average -- at St. Andrew's then they will have in college, especially for intro level courses.

Finally, a brief word on the debate over happiness, learning styles, brain based teaching, etc.  Before they talked about learning styles (and I think that is much less these days) or neuroscience, before Hopkins and Harvard, before the "CTTL" -- all which may have their place and help with teacher recruitment and retention no matter what else you think about them -- there was St. Andrew's.  And what made St. Andrews -- what is its true heart and soul -- was the commitment of the faculty to the students, their recognition of and openness to provide support where they can, their uncanny ability to motivate kids, and their true joy of teaching.  I recall a math teacher who walked away from a high powered consulting career.  A Latin teacher who had started several different companies before returning to teaching.  An administrator who was President of his class at an ivy league school but opted to teach high school.   They can do a lot of things but teach there because they love working with the kids.  And the other half of the equation has always been to keep an eye on values -- kindness and empathy, an emphasis on effort but also a commitment to the value of balance between academics, arts, athletics and spirituality.  These twin features -- the teaching staff and culture of values -- have always been, and I hope will always be, the hallmark of St. Andrews.   Is it perfect? Of course, not. Do they make mistakes?  Sometimes.  And again, I know little of the lower school which, remember, has only been part of St. Andrews about the past 7-8 years via a merger with St. Frances, a school with a different history and culture.  But as for the middle and upper schools, I am grateful that my children have had the opportunity to go to school there.

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