liddyb4

My son is in arguably the most 'jocky' of the dorms on campus. I cannot think of one incident that would fall into the category of anything close to bullying or hazing. At the very least, the students know that the consequences of such actions would be swift and severe. But it more likely it does not happen because of the respect the students afford one another - whether they are soccer studs or painfully shy; into math or theater. Really, there are some boys in his dorm who could be classified as unique or quirky - they would have been mercilessly tortured in the dump of a high school I attended. Not so at Exeter. These kids are well liked with a close circle of good friends and a wide circle of friendly aquaintences.

istoleyournose!

Hey again, I thought of a question. Recently I saw a video on a site that we all use pretty much daily (don't know if I can mention on here) and it was a news report coming from say 2006 I think and it reported on racial slurs being scratched onto the doors of african american girls in three different instances.

From what I've seen exeter is VERY pro-diversity, so I was really surprised to see this. Could you comment on whether the kids really have the same policy towards diversity as the school. Do racial cliques form? I don't just mean racial by the way, this goes for religion, background, all of it. Thanks.

PEAteacher

Thanks liddyb4. You describe exactly my experience.

Regarding diversity, yes, there was an incident last year. With about 1,000 students on campus, I think the occasional incident along these lines is, unfortunately, hard to avoid. It's certainly not common and it was taken seriously by the administration, as you would expect. I would say that compared to other schools where I have taught, where it's very common to see the Asian kids hanging out exclusively with other Asian kids, African Americans with African Americans, etc., I've seen many more racially mixed "groups" here (i.e., it's more common for people who often hang out together not to share the same ethnic background). I'm not saying that "racial cliques," as you call them, don't exist at all, but, of course, by itself the fact that kids who share the same ethnic background may hang out together doesn't say a whole lot about diversity. I've certainly seen more "best friends" from different backgrounds here than at other schools.

principalviola

I understand that you, for confidential reasons, cannot disclose the class you teach. For us to get some insight from your discipline (a philosophy teacher may approach a question in a different way than a math teacher) can you tell us which department you belong to?

I understand why you cannot, though. It would just help us, or at least me. (If you do not want fellow Exonian teachers or w.e. to read you can PM us).

By the way thanks for all the help, I've been waiting for a while for a teacher from a school to come and help us. In one of your posts you said you talked with Roger_Dooley and he did not give you a special membership for those who are on the "other side". You do need proof though (a school email, maybe).

watertester

PEATeacher, would you agree that a student's academic performance should be measured by how well she has done in the classes she took as well as the level of those classes (intermediate, AP, college-level, etc.)? I understand that at least Exeter is not quantifying the second dimension I mentioned above by not implementing weighted GPA. However, would the grading for classes of different levels any different, in other words, generally with students of about the same aptitude and work ethics, would there be more A's in an advanced class than in a regular one?

I noticed in the school profile for colleges, there was a section called "course levels and designations". Is the purpose of it to let the colleges evaluate a students' academic achievement in their own way (qualitatively) rather than Exeter telling them in GPA terms? Also, in fact how does the level of courses one takes affect her college placement in general? Assume - other things equal - a student taking mostly lower level (relatively) courses but has a higher GPA, and another student taking most challeging courses gets a lower GPA, in your experience how would the outcomes of their college application differ?

PEAteacher

Sorry. As said in a previous post, anonymity is one of the premises of this board, and some departments are very small. By the way, I can't see how someone from a different department would give different answers to the vast majority of the questions I've answered so far, most of which are not discipline specific.

Again, I think this separation between "higher-level" and "lower-level" classes doesn't make a lot of sense, and I like the fact that there really isn't a formal distinction at Exeter. Look, colleges see what CLASSES you've taken and what GRADES you got. Be certain that they look at both aspects. So if you take multivariable calculus, colleges will notice and give you credit for that even if you didn't get an A in it. So I don't think you need to worry about "levels" or about colleges looking only at GPAs without paying attention to what you took. It's hard to say whether colleges give more weight to the grades you got or the classes you took.

At the end of the day, here's how I see it: Stop trying to second-guess the specifics of what colleges want. Colleges want strong and interesting students. There are lots of different ways to show that you're a strong and an interesting student (assuming that you are ). Your application will look strongest when you do what you enjoy instead of trying to do what you think the colleges want you to do.

principalviola

Well when I spoke with certain teachers and in the begining of the conversation asked very similar questions, the response was vastly different. And when we spoke with a different school the trend continued.

watertester

PEATeacher, thanks for the answer. I think at a certain point, each parent and student will wonder: should one take the most challeging courses she can take and risk having a lower GPA, or should one take a course she feels she can handle more confidently? I think students' concern about their grades is a legitimate concern, something they should care about along with many other things. Because the school doesn't implement weighted GPA, it'll be a balance students and parents themselves would try to strike. But I am not in Exeter. As far as you know, do students/parents think along the line I just described? Has anyone raised similar concerns?

PA-C

Are there locks on each person's dorm room doors at Exeter or can any other student just walk into another student's room?

principalviola

^ I would like to know that as well...

istoleyournose!

You use a keycard to get in I think that's what my tourguide did.

PEAteacher

Of course it's a concern. I'm not saying it shouldn't be. I just think that it's more productive for you to think about this in terms of what you get out of your education than in terms of college admission. It would be unwise for you to take a lot of classes that you find extremely challenging, not so much because your GPA would suffer, but because you would be overwhelmed and not learn as much. Similarly, it would be unwise for you to only take classes that come very easy to you, not so much because they might not look good on your transcripts, but because you learn less if you don't challenge yourself at all. It is, indeed, about striking a balance.

Yes, of course. Each room has a lock and only you (and your roommates if you have any) have a key. Entry doors to dorms are also locked at all times but are unlocked with your I.D. (so any student can get into any dorm, not just his/her own dorm). We always tell students to lock their rooms, but a lot of them don't, even when they go out. They tend to get so comfortable with the other people in the dorm that they don't feel any need to lock their room (forgetting that 1,000 students can get into their dorm; always lock your room when you go out!).

istoleyournose!

How does testing work? I know english and history give mostly essays, but is it ONLY essays or do they just take the place of tests and you still have normal busywork? Same for math and science, are they just normal tests? Do you still have normal homework grades and such? Thanks.

PEAteacher

It varies a lot depending on the teacher. E.g., in the humanities some teachers will grade only essays. Others will also give a separate grade to class participation (and sometimes they will give participation a lot of weight in the class grade). Yet others will give tests or quizzes in addition to essays. Some teachers will grade class debates or short homework assignments. In Math tests tend to be the main assessment tool, but some teachers will also grade homework assignments. In short, teachers have a lot of freedom in this area (more than at some other schools).

istoleyournose!

Sorry for so many questions, >.<, just trying to use this opportunity:
1.do the students have to say "yes sir" and "yes mam"?

2.Is there an atheist population in the school, if so how big is it (roughly)?

3. How does the advising system work? In my current school my advisor is just my first period teacher and he reads the announcements, nothing more. At exeter, is advisory like a therapy session or is it more purposeful where you discuss certain things on certain set days?

4. For a prep, do you think a double would be better? Or do you think it just depends on the kid?

5. How prevalent are drugs? (I know this is more of a student question, but maybe you know about it from a disciplinary perspective?)

6.How's the food (sorry if this has been asked)

Thanks again =)