Eight Schools: Campus and Culture

Anyone who spent part of their young adult lives on a campus has formed lasting memories of people, times, and places. This insightful and personal book portrays the importance of place on eight boarding school campuses in New England and New Jersey: Choate Rosemary Hall; Deerfield Academy; The Hotchkiss School; The Lawrenceville School; Northfield Mount Hermon School; Phillips Academy Andover; Phillips Exeter Academy; and St. Paul's School.These eight schools share a common ethos: educating the whole student. To provide context for this mission, the first chapter traces the evolution of public elementary and secondary education in America from Colonial times to the present. The following chapters look at different aspects of the whole student from the perspective of the buildings that support them, focusing on teaching and learning; boarding and bonding; diversity and inclusion; and body and soul. Pedagogy, technology, and life-styles have, of course, changed over time, and this book discusses how campus planning and building design mirror this evolution. Classrooms that once witnessed a "sage on the stage" lecturing to students seated in fixed rows are now small seminar rooms seating a dozen students and a teacher around an oval-shaped table. Libraries are now less oriented toward controlled access to books, and more to digital resources and group study. Science pedagogy has evolved from lecture and demonstration to hands-on experimentation. Dormitories once designed in a spartan, cellblock configuration, now provide all the comforts of home. Chapels at some schools have been converted to alternative lifestyle centers, while others remain true to their spiritual origins. Sports, formerly played only outdoors and in winter exercise buildings, now consume more square footage and acreage than any other campus use.The final chapters examine the natural settings and towns in which the schools are located; architectural styles that convey the values that schools want to project; and campus planning strategies accompanied by capital campaigns. The book concludes with a discussion of how certain schools have affirmed their core values by managing crises, and shares some contributions of emotional memories from graduates of these schools.The book features over ninety high-quality architectural photographs taken by the author, and thirty-five archival images. These include aerial campus views annotated to show major landmarks, landscape features, and building precincts. The appendix contains comparative historical and contemporary data citing milestone dates, quantitative benchmarks, and founders and heads of school. Eight Schools: Campus and Culture will appeal to a wide audience: alumni/ae, trustees, senior administration, faculty, and prospective students at the eight schools themselves as well as peer institutions; architects and campus planners, practicing in the secondary school market; and scholars of American education, and architectural and social history."Barnett traces the development of each school as it navigates the shifting educational, social, and financial cross currents of recent history, demonstrating both the remarkable persistence of mission based values and adaptation to emerging cultural conditions. Various stakeholders of independent boarding schools will find this clearly readable and lavishly illustrated study a valuable resource."Peter Neely, Director of Studies and Director of College Counseling emeritus, Thayer Academy, Braintree, MA. "Barnett illuminates how trends in American education, planning, and architecture shaped the private, college-preparatory boarding school and campus, as well as the campuses of colleges and universities with which they are closely associated--not a subject that has received much attention, but one that adds new dimensions to our understanding of campus making. Natalie Shivers AIA, Associate University Architect, Princeton University