Editorial
Non Scholae
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
They came in droves.
They showed up. They returned to their school on the hill with discounted train tickets, a nostalgic camaraderie and outdated shirts, proclaiming ‘Senior’... of the Class of 2008 - or even 2007. The day, Andover/Exeter, was theirs in many ways. But it seems that recent graduates do little else - beyond making the trip and painting their faces - to show their affection for Phillips Academy.
In four years, they’ll return once more for the first of many reunions - occasions both weighty and light-hearted. They’ll size one another up and reminisce. Some will claim that this school shaped their character, while others will look back on lazy days and lost time.
But you can’t pay for Commons renovations or the Addison’s new wing or the next generation’s Senior shirts with reminiscences.
Andover’s alumni participation pales in comparison to our peer schools, and we can do something...
Listen to the ‘Prof’
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
We’d heard it before. He used the same jokes three years ago, and he received the same resounding cheers and applause for suggesting that classes begin at 9 a.m. The sleep doctor was back.
Three years ago and on this past Thursday, the student body received the exact same message from Cornell Professor James Maas: sleep deprivation leads to poor performance in all aspects of life (academic, athletic, social) and shorter life spans. In that time, nothing has changed at Phillips Academy.
And so, as our annual week of being well comes to an end, we wonder what the school has done – materially, that affects our daily lives – to change our pace of life and sleeping habits. Former Dean of Studies Margarita Curtis, now Deerfield’s Head of School, implemented Dr. James Maas’s plan to start classes at a later time at our peer school. In that term,...
Payback Time
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
Thank You, Mr. Underwood.
David Underwood ’54 has pledged $10 million to Andover’s current capital campaign, a gift made all the more significant by the current economic uncertainty. It is generosity like his that exemplifies the spirit of Non Sibi and that makes all of our Andover experiences possible....
Barack Obama, Andover’s Man
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
The youth vote is energized – and with good reason.
Barack Obama should be the next president of the United States.
In a time when anti-intellectualism is in vogue and ‘elitism’ is vilified, Obama’s education and eloquence are refreshing and vital qualities in a presidential candidate. It will take intelligence and good judgment to restore both America’s economy and our standing worldwide. Our collective opinion is also informed by our attitudes toward issues such as the war in Iraq, the environment, education, health care, civil liberties and others.
But there is something else at work as well. We are a group of largely like-minded seventeen and eighteen-year-olds, at a liberal school in the northeast United States, witnessing – and some voting for the first time in – a historic election on a grand scale. For many, this event is like nothing we have experienced in our lifetimes. The energy, concern...
What’s Happened Since You Dropped Us Off...
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
Dear Parents,
No doubt as you walk with us today, you’re bemoaning the construction sites - eyesores on the normally picturesque campus. They’ve become part of the landscape. We’ve stopped noticing.
On this campus under construction, there is a community rapidly changing. Since September, the Dow Jones has fallen and risen faster than the tides and taken part of our endowment with it. Kip Fulbeck graced us with his politically-charged presence at All-School Meeting. The school launched a new website, and with it faux parchment and eye-catching yet clichéd student profiles. And we’ve been discussing all of it.
Last week, though - we started talking about something completely different. Three students had been arrested for drug and alcohol possession, two of them for intent to distribute cocaine.
You may not see this highlighted in speeches in the chapel or at lunches with tablecloths in Uncommons. But you should be talking.
Placing your...
Give Help.
By The Phillipian Editorial
Just because someone needs help, that doesn’t mean that he or she will seek it.
Last Tuesday’s arrest of three Phillips Academy students on charges of drug and alcohol possession was heartbreaking and sobering to us as a community. But it has also awakened us as a school. If you know that a friend is involved with drugs or alcohol, accept some responsibility for that person. Talk to him or her.
These conversations between students, while often difficult, should happen before the fact, not as a consequence of unnecessary hardship. For Phillips Academy, this is a lesson learned too late.
We are talking now. The Phillipian appreciates the administration’s honesty with the students in the handling of this situation. Their open discussion with the student body is admirable, an example of an institution placing a higher purpose – care for its students – above concern for its reputation.
Still, students have...
Into a New Era
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
We are now treating prospective students like prospective customers. We have to market Andover to consumers, to Coca-Cola drinkers and Adidas wearers. We have to market our education and the experience that Andover offers as though it were any other product. The fancy redesign of our website, unveiled two weeks ago, is a step forward that will undoubtedly give Andover a leg up in catching the attention of the Red-Bull-fueled, YouTube-watching generation. It’s an unfortunate reflection on our time, however, that we have to spend so much energy and money crafting our image in order to compete in the market for the world’s best and brightest. If only it were all about substance.
Our website’s new format, heavily laden with profiles and videos at every turn, takes advantage of the tendency of even the greatest minds of our generation to veer off course. It is designed to distract...
Wonder Woman
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
“In times like these, you want cash,” Phillips Academy’s Chief Investment officer Amy Falls ’82 told The Wall Street Journal last week.
A year ago, long before the economic crisis currently sweeping the nation, Falls cashed out of Commonfund, an investment fund that ultimately failed last week and suddenly froze withdrawals. Thanks to her initiative – and that of the Academy’s other financial advisors – Andover’s endowment did not suffer from this occurrence.
This is just one of the many wise moves that Falls has made as the Chief Investment Officer. Under her watchful eye and with her foresight, Phillips Academy students can be confident that the quality of our education will not falter. There’s a reason why we pay her $316,000 a year....
In the Worst of Times, Our Best
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
Monday night’s panel on the economy, organized by the History Department, was Andover at its best. It is a shame that students and faculty rarely interact on that level outside of the classroom. To the panelists – Ms. Sayall, Mr. Perry, Mr. Henningsen –, well done. The night was a testament to PA’s excellent faculty, who were engaging and insightful without condescending to the audience. Instead, they delivered comprehensive analysis in accessible language. Mr. Perry, summing up the answer to one question: “You don’t want the government rewarding bad guys willy-nilly. On the other hand, you want an economy.” On the behavior of rating agencies: “I don’t know how they missed this. The air must have been hallucinogenic.”
Right in SamPhil, Andover offers a veteran international banker, a political commentator on Vermont Public Radio and a brilliant young mind who demonstrated that economics is not just for old...
Let My People Go
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
No student should have to choose between keeping a religious commitment and keeping up with his studies.
Rabbi Swarttz said that “every effort” was made to accommodate Jewish students this Rosh Hashanah. Students who wished to celebrate Rosh Hashanah were excused for the days’ commitments.
However, the laws of Judaism dictate that no work should be performed on Rosh Hashanah. This week more than a hundred students of the Andover community will had to choose between adhering to their religion or their class syllabi. Students who chose to celebrate their religion had their absences “excused,” but their undone work did not disappear- it piled high. When it comes to matters of religion, the school should be flexible and bear in mind that being excused from classes doesn’t mean being relieved of the burden of the coursework. In comparison, Christian students can celebrate all twelve days of Christmas and not...