Thank you for sending me word of your work on behalf of Scattergood School. You are using the technology to facilitate a very interesting new model for sharing and developing ideas within and beyond the constituencies of Scattergood. The "online discussion" format creates an interesting new sort of village square for the incubation of shared vision transcending the limitations of geography.

 

I am so glad to learn that the ideas I shared in the Friends Journal article resonated with the thinking that you and others are doing at Scattergood. The irony in all this, of course, is that it is all so obvious to Friends, and so alien to the broad national discussion on educational reform.

 

I do not know why this disconnect exists, but I trace it to the spiritual vacuity of public life. The platitudes of George W. Bush don't convince me that we are entering a new era where religious creativity can once again inform the social and political development of the world.

 

You may know that progressive reformers of a century ago (Jane Adams, John Dewey) were children of pastors (Jane Adams father was a Quaker pastor).  In their progressivism, these reformers eschewed religious faith and religious language, but the seeds had been planted in them through family life in homes where  reverence for and conviction to serve the will of God were central themes.

 

Now, four or five generations later, the ideology of secularism has finally driven a wedge between public life and the spirit of progressive reform. That marginalizes Quakers and Quaker educators. That makes us an even more peculiar people than before. But it has always been when we were shouting out from the margins that Friends have made their greatest impact. 

 

And so many people, dismayed that they find no meaningful answer to educational malaise in the mainstream discourse, are ready to hear that Friends have had an answer all along. It has to do with a vision for a bright future. It has to do with hopefulness about human life and the possibility of llving life in conformity to the will of a loving spirit that speaks to all people.

 

You are most kind to write. I encourage you to continue the work. Best wishes for the successful implementation of your plan.

 

Yours in peace,

Tom Farquhar

Westtown School