What are schools for?

Thomas Farquhar

Head, Westtown Schools

Friends Journal, January 2001

I’ll attempt to briefly summarize this article, but highly recommend you read the whole thing.

 Thomas Farquhar begins to address this question by reviewing education in the last century.  “Early in the 20^th century, new technologies of industrial production were misapplied to education, and as a society we are still in recovery from this abuse.”  Education was also modeled after the military techniques of control, standardization and objective testing.  He mentions we begin this century in the midst of another technological revolution—computers and information/communication technology, warning that we don’t allow these (“virtual classroom”, “distance learning”, etc) to be defined as educational reform.

He describes, as we all know, how the economy and consumption have become the measures of success.  “Now we know that over the next several centuries we stand a good chance of wiping ourselves from the face of the Earth because of insensitivity to our impact on the environment, because of our insistence on seeking ever larger destructive capabilities as we expand national interests and national defense, and because our habits of ever increasing population and per capita consumption place us on a collision course with the welfare of all species on this living planet, including ourselves.”

“It seems that there has never been a time when the world so desperately needed a vision for education that is adequate to the challenges we face.”

He states education is for service.  As Merry Stanford has also stated during these discussions, Thomas says “adult psychological health is rooted in relationships that help one to feel useful, effective, needed by others, cared for, and able to feel and express caring for others….We learn in order to serve others, and if we succeed, our happiness, our welfare, our success in what maters most in life will become more likely.”  Merry had some additional comments about service learning (see here).

“In a Friends school, we can turn to the principle of peace as the bedrock of our educational philosophy and our educational motivations….All schools could prepare the minds and hearts of young people to serve others, care for the planet, and seek nonviolent solutions to human problems.”  Jim Kenney has discussed his views about teaching relational and nonviolence skills.

“A school built on this foundation will be a smaller school than most schools are today, and it will have smaller classes so that adults and children can come to know one another more deeply.  It will be a community…”

“Environmental sensitivity will be taught and practiced in such a school.  Nonviolent responses to conflict will be taught and practiced.  And service to others—at school and in a succession of larger social frames, will be a guiding principle in the development of the school program.”

“The time has come once again for our Religious Society to offer..a framework for the reorganization of political and moral assumptions in schools and in public life.  We need to be developing and sharing a vision, for all people, of a world in which love, peace, and environmental stewardship are the three pillars on which we build the hopes and aspirations of our human community.”

Scattergood Friends School is obviously a wonderful example of this educational model.

The School Committee, with the help of educational consultant Reck Niebuhr, realize that Thomas Farquhar is correct—we need to share our vision with our larger society, so all students can benefit from an educational model that can give them the skills to create a fulfilled life, and change the world’s political and moral assumptions.   It isn’t enough that we strive to provide a “real” education for students in our Friends Schools.  We need to protest the poor educational methods and inappropriate objectives of public schools.  We need something similar to the days of the Vietnam War protests—national “moratorium” days, “teach-ins” (that’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?), public marches and vigils.  We even need to talk to Oprah and Larry King.

Describing and sharing this vision is what the school’s Long Range Plan is all about.  This online discussion of Quaker Education is one part of that plan.

Jeff