4 ms·

> It's probably the only school in the world that uses 100% Socratic method for all courses nice > each no larger than 17 people good > with no electives al

by jbellis 17y ago

> It's probably the only school in the world that uses 100% Socratic method for all courses nice > each no larger than 17 people good > with no electives all 4 years wait, wtf? I guess if their curriculum works for your kids, great, but one-size-fits-all isn't a straitjacket I would have been interested in post-high school.

tokenadult 17y ago
Phillips Exeter Academy http://www.exeter.edu/ http://www.exeter.edu/ arguably has a more discussion-oriented approach to learning, definitely has smaller classes, and has a rich supply of elective classes. And it's for high school-age students rather than for college-age students. We are also a homeschooling family, but we thought long and hard about sending our oldest son to Exeter (which also has great financial aid) before continuing to homeschool him. We may revisit the issue of how to do secondary education with each of our other three children. Our oldest is now applying for colleges--every college on his application list is a research university with strong programs in mathematics and computer science (and, yes, lots of elective course possibilities).
- stcredzero 17y ago
  A little exposure to the "Lord of the Flies" might be good seasoning, provided he's been given a few psychic defense lessons ahead of the time. (I was thrown into the boarding school situation with no defenses at all and had to cook up my own. A little guidance would've been worth a lot.)
  - zackattack 17y ago
    Can you please elaborate about "psychic defense lessons" ?
    - stcredzero 17y ago
      I was very sheltered. I didn't know that I was allowed to swear, tell jokes, or disagree with someone else before I got there.
      - tokenadult 17y ago
        Was "there" a school like Exeter or some other boarding school?
        stcredzero 17y ago
        Military Academy
- blasdel 17y ago
  Going to Exeter would have taught him more about socialization than anyone could have by homeschooling.
  - tokenadult 17y ago
    There's nothing invariant about homeschooling as practiced by all families who practice it that guarantees not learning about social interaction. Homeschooling can be a very good environment for socialization. http://learninfreedom.org/socialization.html http://learninfreedom.org/socialization.html
- cpr 17y ago
  My experience with a bunch of Exeter kids in my college class (admittedly a long time ago--'72 to '76) was that they were burned out. They had just completed what was the equivalent of most college degrees today, and were looking at another 4 years of even more intense work. Most of them just sat around their oriental-draped rooms in deep club chairs and smoked weed. ;-)
ubernostrum 17y ago
I'm actually quite a fan of the "one curriculum" approach (and schools which implement it seem to produce more successful graduates, on average). One of these days I even plan to write up why (and then get piled on for suggesting that there were some good things about the "medieval" university system).
ashley 17y ago
I'm more familiar with St. John's College, as I dreamed of attending had not the cost been so prohibitively high. http://www.sjca.edu/ http://www.sjca.edu/ But the one-track curriculum is based off the trivium and quadrivium of medieval education, where you don't have electives but regardless, you get a well-rounded education because they're preparing you to think and inquire. So every student studies Greek, Latin, French, Western classical music, mathematics from the source (like Euclid's Elements and Newton's Principia), physics from the source, chemistry, history, etc. No modern textbooks rehashing information, so theoretically, no passive learning. So this curriculum isn't really a straitjacket. The one downside is that you're not getting a very multicultural or contemporary view, given that you're reading the Western canon largely pre-World War II. But it's not such a big problem if you again realize that the idea with this education is that you're being trained not in subjects but in the ability to go out and find what you don't know in the classroom on your own and to discuss these new ideas with other people.

by jbellis 17y ago

tokenadult 17y ago

Phillips Exeter Academy http://www.exeter.edu/ http://www.exeter.edu/ arguably has a more discussion-oriented approach to learning, definitely has smaller classes, and has a rich supply of elective classes. And it's for high school-age students rather than for college-age students. We are also a homeschooling family, but we thought long and hard about sending our oldest son to Exeter (which also has great financial aid) before continuing to homeschool him. We may revisit the issue of how to do secondary education with each of our other three children. Our oldest is now applying for colleges--every college on his application list is a research university with strong programs in mathematics and computer science (and, yes, lots of elective course possibilities).

stcredzero 17y ago
A little exposure to the "Lord of the Flies" might be good seasoning, provided he's been given a few psychic defense lessons ahead of the time. (I was thrown into the boarding school situation with no defenses at all and had to cook up my own. A little guidance would've been worth a lot.)
- zackattack 17y ago
  Can you please elaborate about "psychic defense lessons" ?
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    I was very sheltered. I didn't know that I was allowed to swear, tell jokes, or disagree with someone else before I got there.
    - tokenadult 17y ago
      Was "there" a school like Exeter or some other boarding school?
      - stcredzero 17y ago
        Military Academy
blasdel 17y ago
Going to Exeter would have taught him more about socialization than anyone could have by homeschooling.
- tokenadult 17y ago
  There's nothing invariant about homeschooling as practiced by all families who practice it that guarantees not learning about social interaction. Homeschooling can be a very good environment for socialization. http://learninfreedom.org/socialization.html http://learninfreedom.org/socialization.html
cpr 17y ago
My experience with a bunch of Exeter kids in my college class (admittedly a long time ago--'72 to '76) was that they were burned out. They had just completed what was the equivalent of most college degrees today, and were looking at another 4 years of even more intense work. Most of them just sat around their oriental-draped rooms in deep club chairs and smoked weed. ;-)

ubernostrum 17y ago

I'm actually quite a fan of the "one curriculum" approach (and schools which implement it seem to produce more successful graduates, on average). One of these days I even plan to write up why (and then get piled on for suggesting that there were some good things about the "medieval" university system).

ashley 17y ago

I'm more familiar with St. John's College, as I dreamed of attending had not the cost been so prohibitively high. http://www.sjca.edu/ http://www.sjca.edu/ But the one-track curriculum is based off the trivium and quadrivium of medieval education, where you don't have electives but regardless, you get a well-rounded education because they're preparing you to think and inquire. So every student studies Greek, Latin, French, Western classical music, mathematics from the source (like Euclid's Elements and Newton's Principia), physics from the source, chemistry, history, etc. No modern textbooks rehashing information, so theoretically, no passive learning. So this curriculum isn't really a straitjacket. The one downside is that you're not getting a very multicultural or contemporary view, given that you're reading the Western canon largely pre-World War II. But it's not such a big problem if you again realize that the idea with this education is that you're being trained not in subjects but in the ability to go out and find what you don't know in the classroom on your own and to discuss these new ideas with other people.