Editorial
Why We Play
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
It’s rare that sports make it onto the editorial page of this paper. But Andover’s recent decision not to play Exeter in A-level basketball is not just about sports. It is about what we value as a school. And we believe this decision is the wrong one, made for the wrong reasons.
These two schools have competed against one another in basketball for 88 years and 135 games. This is a rivalry that has defined friendly, competitive sportsmanship and built character in student athletes.
Andover and Exeter are two schools that are considered bastions of education, turning out well-educated young people, not training athletes. Exeter’s team has eight Postgraduate players; we have four. It is no wonder that it is difficult for us to compete with this team. But these numbers reflect our institutional priorities – an emphasis on academics, extracurriculars and the arts as well as athletics. And...
Andy, Did You Hear About This One?
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
For the first time in more than twenty years, The Phillipian will not print the complete college statistics for the graduating class – including the number of students admitted, denied and wait-listed at this year’s set of universities. Instead, John Anderson and the College Counseling Office have provided us only with the number of students who applied and the number who will matriculate at each school. This information is incomplete and inconclusive. There is no way to determine whether students faced difficult decisions or sweeping acceptances; all we know is that (almost) everyone is going to college (and how many are going where).
The implied rationale for withholding the information is that the numbers withheld are not relevant to the general student body, which is patently false. In fact, students learn a great deal from college statistics - about the overall probability of acceptance to various schools and...
Advanced Thinking
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
Kids who take Advanced Placement exams learn how to take Advanced Placement exams, not the material that is supposedly being tested in the fill-in-the-bubble multiple choice sections. The Advanced Placement program, once an indication of college-level academic achievement, has evolved into a near-meaningless series of tests that students across the country and at Phillips Academy have learned how to manipulate.
It seems that more and more students take the exams – whether or not they have taken the AP course to prepare – to have more test scores to show to colleges.
While fewer and fewer institutions offer course credit for high grades on the exams, many still do consider the taking the tests an indication of a certain level of academic challenge in a student’s high school career.
But instead, many students “earn” their grades just as much by purchasing the Princeton Review, Kaplan or Cliff’s Notes version of...
Congress in Recess
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
Phillips Academy missed a great opportunity this week when Student Council decided to cancel the School Congress for this coming Monday, citing a lack of any “pressing issues” to be discussed.
School Congress, if nothing else, gives faculty members and student leaders a chance to exchange views on school issues. Once a mere lecture given annually by a handful of students, School Congress has been revived by the Collins/Adler administration, now held in a new setting and at more frequent intervals. The new model, in which students and faculty break up into smaller groups and converse in classrooms, has been effective in creating dialogue between students and teachers, a rare occurrence outside of the classroom. Even without a prepared issue, School Congress can still be an opportunity for student-faculty discussion and bringing to light any subjects that either students or faculty might want to address. Nonetheless, The Phillipian...
You Wanted Our Opinion?
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
Our tolerance for surveys has reached a tipping point.
Surveys may be an easy way to gather information and feedback from students, but if overused, they can undermine their own cause. The school should limit the number of surveys they ask students to fill out and instead seek more effective methods of getting feedback.
In the past week alone, the administration has asked students to complete a total of three surveys, one of which was required. This past Wednesday, nearly every student in the school completed a 114-question survey concerning “youth risk behavior,” just days after requests for feedback on Wellness Week and the advising system. Many students could hardly take the survey seriously, and we don’t blame them. Between these surveys and all of the surveys that The Phillipian puts out, SurveyMonkey.com has become more of a nuisance than an institutional tool.
Some surveys, like the one we took...
Let’s Talk About...
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
Everyone thinks that everyone else is talking about sex.
A Phillips Academy student will hear about sex on several occasions throughout a career at Andover – the basics in Bio 100 Junior year, a mandatory parietal talk in the dorm, some discussion in PACE classes and a few hours in PE as Lowers. However, the current system of sexual education at PA is fragmented and inconsistent, and should be reevaluated.
There is little communication between those responsible for organizing these events, and, as a result, the information we receive can be as haphazard as the method by which we receive it. One dorm may discuss birth control, while another focusses on feelings. Some PACE classes will cover intimacy, while another might emphasize the risk of pregnancy.
As the school adjusts the PACE program in the coming months, in preparation for next year, so should it evaluate the larger picture of...
Required Reading
By The Phillipian
The new diploma requirements for the arts outlined in the 2008-2009 Course of Study this week will bring flexibility that students currently lack in planning their courses, but the classes of ’11, ’10 and ’09 can’t help but feel like we are stuck in an old system. That’s because we are.
While the new arts requirement will benefit entering students immediately, returning students must adhere to the old diploma requirements – which means that we may miss out on taking other electives or trying some of the fascinating interdisciplinary courses now being offered.
Members of the class of 2012, on the other hand, are no longer bound to a full-year music or visual arts commitment, and will instead be able to take one term of either and pursue an elective in that field in the same year. Students entering as Juniors now need only complete a total of four...
Rise of the Machines
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
Dear Reader, Are you going to be a Yield Machine today? Dean of Admissions Jane Fried asked students this unnerving question during All-School Meeting on Wednesday. Admissions officers flooded the Chapel’s center aisle, tossing T-shirts to Andover Ambassadors, all identified by Fried at the podium, as though part of a cheer squad at a sporting event.
And apparently Andover is treating the search for the class of 2012 as a competition. It is another Andover-Exeter, as the two schools push to have a higher yield (percentage of admitted students who ultimately attend), and, just like in football and hockey, the Big Blue is hoping for a decisive win.
Let’s reconsider that. Revisiting schools can be trying and overwhelming for prospective students, many of whom are barely teenagers. Revisit days should be about finding the right match—not about putting up a better score than our peer schools. We should be...
President Adams’s Next Act
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
Each year, with the restorative fresh air and sun-bleached days of spring term, Phillips Academy students pick from our number a representative of ability, wit and vision.
In Wednesday’s speeches, all three candidates demonstrated that they possessed these qualities. The Phillipian extends its heartfelt congratulations to Malin Adams, William Thompson-Butler, and Lawrence Dai for their success in the elections. We expect great things. To Adams, in particular, we offer some advice.
First, if ever in need of an example of leadership, look to Teddy Collins.
As Collins introduced the candidates at Wednesday’s All School Meeting, he was characteristically eloquent, capable, and humble. His tenure as Student Body President has been marked by tireless dedication to student issues, such as online sign-in, and an unmatched approachability. We will miss his endearingly mysterious accent echoing through the Chapel on Wednesdays, and we will miss his leadership.
But take heart, Adams. Our second advisement:...
All-School Apathy
By The Phillipian Editorial Board
Why does it take a tragedy to unite a school?
In the unsettling wake of hateful acts at our peer schools, Phillips Academy held specially-arranged meetings by cluster this Wednesday during the time allotted for All-School Meeting. Walking in groups across campus, through the chill of an end-of-winter fog, students discussed the events with one another, trying to make sense of what happened. At more than one cluster meeting, these regrettable events sparked meaningful debate, as students shared personal experiences and questioned whether a similar incident could happen here. Students were respectful at these meetings, motivated by the seriousness of the topic or perhaps genuine interest. Phillips Academy All-School Meetings should always be held to this caliber of discussion. They should offer thought-provoking speakers every Wednesday, to achieve the purpose of ASM: to unite, enrich, inform, entertain and stimulate the community. There is no reason for students to...