Riverdale Country School

t1388
Mon, 18 Sep 2006 13:05:40 +0000

My son goes to Riverdale. I think I can tell you a little bit about the school. Riverdale is a rigorous school. Among the three Riverdale schools, Fieldston is considered more artsy. Horace Mann students are more driven. Riverdale is thought of as sweet, middle of the road school. My son is in high school now. The school expects every student to spend no more than 45 minutes per subject. There are 5 academic subjects. Therefore every student is expected to spend about 3 hours at the homework every school day.

There are few interdepartmental classes. Constructing America a two-credit American Studies course jointly taught by a history and an English teacher. Students are regularly invited to read literature through the lens of economic, political, and social conditions and theories, and to explore the intersection of cultural heroes, literary characters, and national mythologies. They gain a feel for living history as carefully chosen literature fleshes out the social changes and the threads of consequence that give history its specific character. Sometimes they see connections not only between a story and a historical event but also between historical eras in their succession and corresponding transformations in literary expression. Such learning inevitably strengthens students’ abilities to think abstractly and analytically.

In senior year, Integrated Liberal Studies is the course that stretches the capacities developed in Constructing America. Two disciplines expand to five: literature, philosophy, history of science, history of art, and history of music. Five major essay assignments are designed to engage students in finding a thesis that will tie together aspects of political theory and art, or literature and scientific theory, and so on. The readings are sophisticated texts of central cultural importance, and if some students find the work challenging at first, they all experience a growth in the flexibility and creativity of their thought processes by virtue of the effort.

In grades 9, 10, and 11 the normal expectation is that 5 or 5 ½ credits will be taken each year. There are not many elective classes before 11th grade. Math is the only class that offers honor level sections to allow the most talented and dedicated students to study mathematics in greater depth and at an accelerated pace. Four foreign languages are offered: Spanish, French, Latin or Japanese.

Having satisfied most of their departmental requirements by the middle or end of their junior year, students are free to choose from an array of 19 Advanced Placement courses and many topical electives. I read in CC that some students in other high schools take more than 5 AP courses before their Junior year. It may be difficult to take as many AP courses in Riverdale.

Riverdale offers a full range of intramural and interscholastic sports: baseball, basketball, fencing, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, softball, track and cross-country running, wrestling, tennis on outdoor courts, and swimming in our six-lane, 25-meter pool. The campus is beautiful. In fact it has one of the most beautiful campus among the New York City prep schools.

Please feel free to ask me if you have any additional questions.