<p>If older D was 8 years old 4 years ago, she could be 12 or even 13 now, depending on her birthday and when they departed. By fall of '08 she’d be 15 – am I missing something?</p>
<p>Even if you assume her birthday comes between now and fall, that still gets you 14 at most, if she were 8 four years ago. But it takes all the fun out of calmom’s post to deconstruct it like that.</p>
<p>Cheers:</p>
<p>I know the Andover teachers whom I got to know did not have previous grad degrees. Trust me on that. The point is not to suggest that Andover and other prep schools are inferior, but that they are flexible as to whom they hire. They try to hire the best; and paper credentials are not always the best way to go. Experience counts for a lot.</p>
<p>Yes, the slow boat as time-accelerating machine. I like that conceit. Beats jet lag any time.</p>
<p>Just pulling your leg marite. I know there are teachers at Exeter and Andover without masters–but it is rare–especially for new hires without experience. Thus my suggestion that JHS’s friend look farther afield or call in a personal recommendation.</p>
<p>It’s so interesting how Exeter and Andover are the two schools always mentioned on this site. If you look at the “Prep Schools Admissions” threads, most of the discussions are about A and E. There are SO many other great schools out there. I lived at Exeter for a while (faculty spouse) and loved it, but it’s not the only good school in the country.</p>
<p>OK, OK, I screwed up the math. Sorry. </p>
<p>I appreciate everyone’s suggestions a lot, but I would say that I’m on the skeptical side about either PA’s willingness to take this kind of flyer. Nor am I certain that my friend would want to teach at those schools more than others. He is not intellectually arrogant at all (that would be me), and he certainly didn’t undertake this odyssey to position his daughters for college.</p>
<p>JHS- there are a number of schools who would probably be very interested in talking with him- particularly those with outdoor adventure or wilderness programs. It’s too early to apply through any agencies as he doesn’t know what his timetable is yet (my spouse is looking through resumes for his department as we speak LOL.) Once they decide to interview a candidate, they have to be ready to hop on a plane and go to the school, and if a job is offered, they are usually expected to answer fairly quickly. So I assume that your friend is just at the research gathering stage right now.</p>
<p>I don’t remember who said that about the great stories the girls would have for college, but I think it was meant in admiration of the adventure, not as an aspersion on the motives for the trip.</p>
<p>Though I have to admit, after awhile at CC it does become tempting to interpret things in those terms. House destroyed? Left clinging to a tree for days? (Sage nod). That’ll help with college. :)</p>
<p>Sabooks: Yes, very early researching stage now. He asked me to look into it because he didn’t know anything, and is about to be out of touch for a long time.</p>
<p>I am not sure they’ll even have internet access again until sometime this summer. The Indian Ocean is a biiiiiiiig ocean. (This passage will be a lot longer between stops than crossing the Pacific, where the longest passage they had was about 26 days, between the Galapagos and Pitcairn Island.) (Their boat is really slow. For the first year, it’s maximum sustained speed was about 5.5 knots. That is, approximately, jogging speed. They overhauled the boat in New Zealand, and got it to go up to 7 knots – not a whole lot faster.)</p>
<p>But probably sometime this summer he has to develop a plan about when to come back, and when he might need to make himself available to fly to interviews, fairs, etc. (For example, probably easier to do from Brazil than from the Cape Verde Islands.) Or maybe whether to wait to do this once he returns.</p>
<p>Conyat: I sure HOPE they have great stories, and that they remember them. There aren’t too many kids who have spent real time hanging out with the kids on Pitcairn Island and travelling in Laos and Borneo, AND who know how to re-wire an electrical system for different types of current.</p>
<p>I keep thinking of the Lindsay Lohan character in Mean Girls going to high school after years spent in the African bush with her anthropologist parents.</p>
<p>(I’ll add that MY kids think my friend and his wife should be locked up for child abuse. When he first started talking about it, they were petrified that I might try to make them do something similar.)</p>
<p>I thought of Exeter because of the location actually. But in reality, kids who have travelled around the world will be a tad more sophisticated than most suburban Americans. Thus the suggestion for the top schools with the high percentage of kids from all ove rthe world. I like Exeter, what can I say?</p>
<p>Cate in California might be another choice–although I saw lots of MAs on their staff. <a href=“Public Service Day 2017 - Cate School”>Public Service Day 2017 - Cate School;
<p>Foxcroft in Va might be another. Their faculty is not chockers with MAs and I bet they draw a good number of intls from Wash DC. Ups his chances by being a male teacher. <a href=“http://www.foxcroft.org/academics/faculty/default.asp?academicid=4802%2CD[/url]”>http://www.foxcroft.org/academics/faculty/default.asp?academicid=4802%2CD</a></p>
<p>He can check out boardingschoolreview.com</p>
<p>St. Paul’s and Deerfield are both more selective than Exeter and Andover these days. Intellectual arrogance? Maybe 50 years ago but you would be pretty amazed at how diverse these schools are today!</p>
<p>I’m familiar with the areas around Phillips Andover, Exeter and St. Paul’s. All things being equal, Andover has better access to Boston and other cultural or educational experiences. Another school I’d look at is St. George’s in Newport, RI. What a great place to live! Or look at The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, MA.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I know for a fact that many independent school heads–including those at some of the truly elite schools–actually cast a suspicious eye on candidates with doctorates. The reasoning is simple: a scholar does not a good teacher make. Command of the subject is essential, of course, but even more important–and even more difficult to find–is the ability to reach adolescents. I’ve been in the world of independent schools for years, and I haven’t met a single administrator who doesn’t value the latter trait above all.</p>
<p>Interesting. Most of the elite secondary heads have Phds. Our primary school head had a Phd. You’re right about the teachers though, spoon. However, I have to disagree. Some of the best teachers I had at university were amazing scholars. My son’s experience is similar. The top scholars (some recommended by CC posters in the know!) have been the best teachers.</p>
<p>Cheers- actually, all of the big boarding schools have large numbers of international kids, as well as Americans whose parents are posted overseas. Actually, many of the small ones do too! Some companies even pay the tuition as a benefit to their employees (Aramco comes to mind.)</p>
<p>I am not familiar with the stats–but I do know of some lesser known schools where the percentage is not that great–and the intls feel isolated and bullied.</p>
<p>A fabulous Princeton math Ph.D. teaches math at St. Marks in Southborough, MA.</p>
<p>Doesn’t surprise me, marite. I don’t think the salaries at the top elites are so different from college-level salaries.</p>
<p>JHS,</p>
<p>I’m going to throw another option out there for your friend since he’s a UVA grad and he seems well-traveled and globally aware. UVA has a special program called UK Fellows, where recent grads get to teach at boarding schools in England and Scotland. I’m not sure if he would be interested in that. Also, I’m not sure if he can be a UK Fellow since he’s not a recent graduate, but it might be something your friend would be interested in pursuing. I have a feeling that UVA might make an exception if he’s really passionate about doing this.</p>
<p>I have a good alumni buddy here in NY who’s a lawyer and a Vice President at JP Morgan, and he started out as a UK Fellow right after college. He loved it. Here are some links that you might want to forward to your friend:</p>
<p><a href=“http://magazine.clas.virginia.edu/x5266.xml[/url]”>http://magazine.clas.virginia.edu/x5266.xml</a>
<a href=“http://aands.virginia.edu/x1831.xml[/url]”>http://aands.virginia.edu/x1831.xml</a>
<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/cue/ukfellows.html[/url]”>http://www.virginia.edu/cue/ukfellows.html</a></p>
<p>Also, if this is too entry-level for him, perhaps UVA’s Center for Undergraduate Excellence, which hosts the UK Fellows program, can help him pursue a more senior position.</p>