Beyond New England

GnarWhail
Tue, 14 Feb 2017 19:21:28 +0000

I understand that many folks have a very limited understanding of the true history of these schools. Facts are fluid things. History is all opinion. Reading, hard. Pre-coeducation, which began before Carter and often through the merger/absorption of sister schools, and lead of course by those biggest/richest, these schools were drab and dreary places for many of the students AND staff. But what all the students did have was familial wealth, on that you are certainly correct @PhotographerMom That is in fact exactly what I said. That is also the key to all this. Those sorry sons of privilege had a vested interest in the ongoing reputation of their schools. They did what they did as much (more) for themselves than they did for you or me. But what they did worked, and again, I said as much. The transformation to more broadly rigorous schools which were also (somewhat) more inclusive came as the schools (somewhat) changed their perspective. The money was always there, but finally in the early 70s and on onward, due much to the broader changes in education and society, the wealth and privilege and cash money were put to what many would consider a (somewhat) more noble purpose. Very few of the new families entertaining the thought of sending their kid to a boarding school in 2017 would have bothered in 1957. For good reason. Coeducation and a recognition of academic ability did wonders. We are living with the results today. Lucky us.