Reflection on: Why does Quaker education matter to your school population and the world?

By Ed Marshall, Head, Greene Street Friends School

Thank you, Drew and Darryl, for honoring us with your invitation to talk about why Quaker education matters to our school populations and to the world.

We probably have 100 years of Friends education on this panel. I suspect that there will be a lot of similarity in what you hear tonight from folks in Brooklyn, North Carolina, and Philadelphia.

"Why are we here," is a good query to share at Meeting for Worship, and I asked that query to myself last week about Greene Street Friends and Friends schools generally. Why are we here? Why do people want us?

I don't mean to bore you, because what I am about to say is common sense for everyone here. But I'll say it anyway in my own prosaic way.

Like many schools, Friends schools don't shy away from academics. People raising children see us as the first stepping stone outside of the home to teach the fundamental communication and problem solving skills that make our society function. Literacy, numeracy, critical thinking, and creativity are overarching goals thar we embed in our curricula. And our spirit is progressive. We know that learning initiated by students is incredibly powerful. I read some time ago that Friends schools produce more advanced degrees per graduate than any other type of school. Friends schools graduate Nobel laureates . Another way to say it is that for us, learning is its own reward.

In Friends education, it's not enough to be intelligent and academically engaged. We want to graduate people with ethical strength as well as smart people. At my school, have a curriculum we call Life Skills, that takes Quaker beliefs and tries to operationalize them. There is a core vocabulary and many activities to help everyone develop intention and impact at being good to ourselves and good to others.

Finally, Friends schools are reparative, taking on some of the brokenness of society and facing up to our own brokenness . We are willing to shine a light on our limitations , our biases, and the inequities in our systems. We are far from perfect, and at the same time we strive to do better.

We are unique within the world of religious schools --- people from strong religious traditions and even non-religious traditions select us to educate their children. I think it's because Quaker theology is so simple and inclusive: it declares that God lives in each of us, that we don't need another person to have a relationship with God. That every person is precious in this way. And our job is to build on this as we go through school, letting our fundamental kindness, curiosity, and pleasure in accomplishment be at the helm to drive, steering us through the ocean of life. Children and their families naturally respond to teachers who practice this.

This is why Quaker education matters to our school populations and to the world.