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The term is a [[portmanteau]] of the ''St''. part of '''St.''' Mark's, '''St.''' Paul's, and '''St.''' George's, then part of '''Grot'''on, an extra ''t'', and then ending with Midd'''lesex'''. The St. Grottlesex schools are sometimes used as a metonym for the [[preppy]] subculture and the [[Eastern Establishment]].<ref>{{cite Q|Q7754751|pp=194–195|url=https://archive.org/details/officialpreppyha00birn/page/194/mode/2up|chapter=Chapter VI: You're All Grown Up Now (The Country Club Years)}}</ref>
The term is a [[portmanteau]] of the ''St''. part of '''St.''' Mark's, '''St.''' Paul's, and '''St.''' George's, then part of '''Grot'''on, an extra ''t'', and then ending with Midd'''lesex'''. The St. Grottlesex schools are sometimes used as a metonym for the [[preppy]] subculture and the [[Eastern Establishment]].<ref>{{cite Q|Q7754751|pp=194–195|url=https://archive.org/details/officialpreppyha00birn/page/194/mode/2up|chapter=Chapter VI: You're All Grown Up Now (The Country Club Years)}}</ref>

{{fake heading|sub=3|Background}}
The St. Grottlesex schools are broadly associated with upper-class Protestantism in the United States. St. Mark's, St. Paul's, St. George's, and Groton are all affiliated with the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]], the wealthiest Protestant denomination.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ayres Jr. |first=B. Drummond |date=1981-04-28 |title=The Episcopalians: An American Elite with Roots Going Back to Jamestown |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/28/us/the-episcopalians-an-american-elite-with-roots-going-back-to-jamestown.html |access-date=2023-11-10 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Middlesex, though ostensibly nondenominational, was established by similarly upper-class [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] [[Boston Brahmin|Boston Brahmins]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fortmiller, Jr. |first=Hubert C. |title=Find the Promise: Middlesex School, 1901-2001 |publisher=[[Middlesex School]] |year=2003 |location=Concord, MA |pages=26}}</ref>

⚫
With the exception of St. Paul's and St. Mark's, the St. Grottlesex schools were founded at the turn of the twentieth century during a larger boom in the boarding school industry<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baltzell |first=E. Digby |title=The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy and Caste in America |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1987 |edition=Paperback |location=New Haven, NH |pages=127–29}}</ref> that also included [[Lawrenceville School|Lawrenceville]] (founded 1883), [[Taft School|Taft]] (1890), [[Hotchkiss School|Hotchkiss]] (1891), [[Choate Rosemary Hall|Choate]] (1896), [[Kent School|Kent]] (1906), and [[Loomis Chaffee School|Loomis]] (1914). They were consciously styled as the American equivalent of the [[Public school (UK)|English public schools]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Homans |first=George Caspar |title=Coming to My Senses: The Autobiography of a Sociologist |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=2013 |edition=Paperback |location=New Brunswick, NJ |pages=51}}</ref> and their primary clientele was well-to-do [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestants]].


{{fake heading|sub=3|Origin of the term}}
{{fake heading|sub=3|Origin of the term}}
There is no clear consensus on the source of the term; however, most sources link it to admissions practices and undergraduate student life at [[Harvard University]].
⚫
With the exception of St. Paul's and St. Mark's, the St. Grottlesex schools were founded at the turn of the twentieth century during a larger boom in private boarding school education<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baltzell |first=E. Digby |title=The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy and Caste in America |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1987 |edition=Paperback |location=New Haven, NH |pages=127–29}}</ref> that also included [[Lawrenceville School|Lawrenceville]] (1883), [[Taft School|Taft]] (1890), [[Hotchkiss School|Hotchkiss]] (1891), [[Choate Rosemary Hall|Choate]] (1896), [[Kent School|Kent]] (1906), and [[Loomis Chaffee School|Loomis]] (1914). They were consciously styled as the American equivalent of the [[Public school (UK)|English public schools]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Homans |first=George Caspar |title=Coming to My Senses: The Autobiography of a Sociologist |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=2013 |edition=Paperback |location=New Brunswick, NJ |pages=51}}</ref> and their primary clientele was well-to-do [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestants]]. St. Mark's, St. Paul's, St. George's, and Groton were all affiliated with the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]], the wealthiest Protestant denomination,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ayres Jr. |first=B. Drummond |date=1981-04-28 |title=The Episcopalians: An American Elite with Roots Going Back to Jamestown |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/28/us/the-episcopalians-an-american-elite-with-roots-going-back-to-jamestown.html |access-date=2023-11-10 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and Middlesex, though technically nondenominational, was established by similarly upper-class [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] [[Boston Brahmin|Boston Brahmins]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fortmiller, Jr. |first=Hubert C. |title=Find the Promise: Middlesex School, 1901-2001 |publisher=[[Middlesex School]] |year=2003 |location=Concord, MA |pages=26}}</ref> (Somewhat ironically, St. Paul's and Groton were both established by scions of Unitarian Brahmin families who had converted to Episcopalianism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baltzell |first=E. Digby |title=Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2017 |edition=Revised |location=New York, NY |pages=309}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title="old Peabo" And The School |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/old-peabo-and-school |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=American Heritage |language=en}}</ref>)


Although there is no clear consensus on the source of the term, the sociologist [[George C. Homans]] (a graduate of St. Paul's) claimed that it was coined by the [[Harvard College]] [[College admissions in the United States|admissions office]] to help categorize and sort through Harvard applicants.<ref name=":1" />
* '''''Undergraduate admissions.''''' The Harvard sociologist [[George C. Homans]] claimed that the term was coined by the Harvard admissions office to help categorize and sort through Harvard applicants.<ref name=":1" />
* '''''Undergraduate housing.''''' Until the 1970s, Harvard undergraduate dormitories were allowed to admit their own sophomores.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bishai |first=Graham W. |last2=Murphy |first2=Norah M. |date=October 12, 2017 |title=A Social Blueprint: Harvard's Houses, From Randomization to Renewal |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/10/12/a-social-blueprint/ |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=The Harvard Crimson}}</ref> Under this system, boarding school students clustered within certain dormitories. [[Eliot House]] and [[Lowell House]] were reportedly "exclusively St. Grottlesex,"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tilney |first=Frances G. |date=March 11, 1999 |title=The GOLD Coast |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1999/3/11/the-gold-coast-pharvard-has-always/ |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=The Harvard Crimson}}</ref> and [[John Kenneth Galbraith]] wrote that when he was a tutor at Winthrop House, his housemaster's policy was to "automatically" accept alumni of St. Grottlesex alumni and to "generally" accept alumni of [[Phillips Exeter Academy|Exeter]] and [[Phillips Academy|Andover]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Galbraith |first=John Kenneth |title=A Life in Our Times |publisher=Ballantine Books |year=1981 |location=New York |pages=51}}</ref> By contrast, graduates of other private schools were "tolerated," Jews (even if educated at St. Grottlesex) were subject to a quota, and admitting public school students was "definitely discourage[d]."<ref name=":5" />
* '''''Student life.''''' St. Grottlesex alumni historically dominated admission to Harvard's exclusive undergraduate [[final clubs]]. In 1906 only one Andover graduate (and zero Exeter graduates) was admitted to the [[Porcellian Club|Porcellian]], [[A.D. Club|A.D.]], or [[Delphic Club|Delphic]] Clubs at [[Harvard College social clubs|Harvard College]], compared to 20 St. Grottlesexers and six alumni of other boarding schools.<ref>Levine, p. 86</ref> As late as 1939-41, nearly half the St. Grottlesex alumni from those three graduating classes were admitted to a final club; fewer than ten percent of Exeter and Andover alumni did so. Of the 293 Harvard students in those classes who joined a final club, 255 went to a St. Grottlesex school, 14 went to Exeter and Andover, 23 went to a different private school, and 1 went to a public school.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Synnott |first=Marcia |title=The Half-Opened Door: Discrimination and Admissions at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, 1900-1970 |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |edition=Revised |location=New York |pages=16}}</ref>


{{fake heading|sub=3|The schools-academies distinction a}}
{{fake heading|sub=3|Broader usage}}
The term ''St. Grottlesex'' may be used to contrast the English-style schools [[Synecdoche|as a whole]] with the academies, such as [[Phillips Academy|Andover]], [[Phillips Exeter Academy|Exeter]], [[Milton Academy|Milton]], and [[Deerfield Academy|Deerfield]], which generally date back to the American [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial]] and [[History of the United States (1789–1849)|early republican eras]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Higley |first=Stephen Richard |title=Privilege, Power, and Place: The Geography of the American Upper Class |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=1995 |location=[[Lanham, Maryland|Lanham, MD]] |pages=20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur Meier (Jr.) |title=A Life in the Twentieth Century: vol. 1 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |year=2000 |location=New York |pages=81}}</ref>
The term ''St. Grottlesex'' may be used to contrast the English-style schools [[Synecdoche|as a whole]] with the academies, such as [[Phillips Academy|Andover]], [[Phillips Exeter Academy|Exeter]], [[Milton Academy|Milton]], and [[Deerfield Academy|Deerfield]], which generally date back to the American [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial]] and [[History of the United States (1789–1849)|early republican eras]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Higley |first=Stephen Richard |title=Privilege, Power, and Place: The Geography of the American Upper Class |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=1995 |location=[[Lanham, Maryland|Lanham, MD]] |pages=20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur Meier (Jr.) |title=A Life in the Twentieth Century: vol. 1 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |year=2000 |location=New York |pages=81}}</ref> Although [[Samuel Adams|Sam Adams]] had criticized academies like Andover and Exeter as schools for the rich,<ref>Allis, p. 101</ref> the St. Grottlesex schools reached new levels of social exclusivity. By 1906 (the year before Groton implemented competitive entrance examinations<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ashburn |first=Frank D. |title=Peabody of Groton |publisher=[[Riverside Press]] |year=1967 |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=99–100}}</ref>), four-fifths of Groton and St. Mark's parents were listed in the [[Social Register]].<ref>Levine, p. 75</ref> By contrast, academies survived by expanding enrollment, catering to a still-wealthy but less socially exclusive clientele.<ref>Levine, p. 66</ref>


{{fake heading|sub=3|Secondary education in early New England}}
{{fake heading|sub=3|Secondary education in early New England}}
Line 58: Line 65:


{{fake heading|sub=3| Rivalry between schools and academies}}
{{fake heading|sub=3| Rivalry between schools and academies}}
Led by St. Grottlesex, the post-1883 schools quickly established a loyal following among the American elite. Although [[Samuel Adams|Sam Adams]] had criticized academies like Andover and Exeter as schools for the rich,<ref>Allis, p. 101</ref> the St. Grottlesex schools reached new levels of social exclusivity. By 1906 (the year before Groton implemented competitive entrance examinations<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ashburn |first=Frank D. |title=Peabody of Groton |publisher=[[Riverside Press]] |year=1967 |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=99–100}}</ref>), four-fifths of Groton and St. Mark's parents were listed in the [[Social Register]].<ref>Levine, p. 75</ref> By contrast, academies survived by expanding enrollment, catering to a still-wealthy but less socially exclusive clientele.<ref>Levine, p. 66</ref>



Several academies expressed disdain for schools (and St. Grottlesex in particular), which they viewed as institutions for the spoiled rich. Andover's leadership, for example, frequently proclaimed a distinction between "Andover men and [[Pomfret School|Pomfret]] boys."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blum |first=John Morton |title=A Life with History |publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]] |year=2004 |location=[[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence, KS]] |pages=4}}</ref> Similarly, the official history of Lawrence Academy complained that its neighbor Groton had cast an "elite, entitled shadow ... upon the Academy."<ref>Frank, p. 169</ref> Contributing to the acrimony, Exeter (one of Middlesex's major creditors) refused to bail out Middlesex when the latter faced financial ruin during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]].<ref>Fortmiller, pp. 135-36</ref> Alumni of the schools sometimes reciprocated those sentiments. In 1906 only one Andover graduate (and zero Exeter graduates) was admitted to the [[Porcellian Club|Porcellian]], [[A.D. Club|A.D.]], or [[Delphic Club|Delphic]] Clubs at [[Harvard College social clubs|Harvard College]], compared to 20 St. Grottlesexers and six alumni of other boarding schools.<ref>Levine, p. 86</ref> That said, certain schools and academies still maintained good relations with each other. Taft raised money for Deerfield when the latter was on the brink of closure,<ref>McPhee, p. 61</ref> and Groton invited the principals of Exeter (twice) and Milton to deliver its commencement address.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=Fall 2017 |title=Prize Day Speakers |url=https://issuu.com/grotonschool/docs/quarterly-fall-2017 |journal=Groton School Quarterly |volume=LXXVIII |issue=3 |pages=15–16 |via=Issuu}}</ref>
Several academies expressed disdain for schools (and St. Grottlesex in particular), which they viewed as institutions for the spoiled rich. Andover's leadership, for example, frequently proclaimed a distinction between "Andover men and [[Pomfret School|Pomfret]] boys."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blum |first=John Morton |title=A Life with History |publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]] |year=2004 |location=[[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence, KS]] |pages=4}}</ref> Similarly, the official history of Lawrence Academy complained that its neighbor Groton had cast an "elite, entitled shadow ... upon the Academy."<ref>Frank, p. 169</ref> Contributing to the acrimony, Exeter (one of Middlesex's major creditors) refused to bail out Middlesex when the latter faced financial ruin during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]].<ref>Fortmiller, pp. 135-36</ref> Alumni of the schools sometimes reciprocated those sentiments. That said, certain schools and academies still maintained good relations with each other. Taft raised money for Deerfield when the latter was on the brink of closure,<ref>McPhee, p. 61</ref> and Groton invited the principals of Exeter (twice) and Milton to deliver its commencement address.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=Fall 2017 |title=Prize Day Speakers |url=https://issuu.com/grotonschool/docs/quarterly-fall-2017 |journal=Groton School Quarterly |volume=LXXVIII |issue=3 |pages=15–16 |via=Issuu}}</ref>


From an athletic standpoint, the prep school conference realignment of the 1960s and 1970s pushed the schools and academies further apart. All the St. Grottlesex schools (which typically enroll fewer students than the surviving academies) are members of the [[Independent School League (New England)|Independent School League]], except St. Paul's, which left the ISL in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Porter |first1=Andrew |last2=Caspersen |first2=Westby |date=2016-10-07 |title=St. Paul's to leave ISL, Tabor to join |url=https://thecirclevoice.org/1831/sports/st-pauls-to-leave-isl-tabor-to-join/ |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=The Circle Voice}}</ref> Meanwhile, six of the largest surviving pre-1883 institutions and two of the larger schools combined to form the [[Eight Schools Association]] in 1974; although the ESA did not itself develop into an athletic conference, six of the eight ESA schools (including St. Paul's, by far the largest St. Grottlesex school by enrollment) are now part of the [[Six Schools League]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-09-22 |title=Tabor Academy to join the ISL in September of 2017 |url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2016/09/21/tabor-academy-to-join-the-isl-in-september-of-2017/ |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=[[Boston Herald]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
From an athletic standpoint, the prep school conference realignment of the 1960s and 1970s pushed the schools and academies further apart. All the St. Grottlesex schools (which typically enroll fewer students than the surviving academies) are members of the [[Independent School League (New England)|Independent School League]], except St. Paul's, which left the ISL in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Porter |first1=Andrew |last2=Caspersen |first2=Westby |date=2016-10-07 |title=St. Paul's to leave ISL, Tabor to join |url=https://thecirclevoice.org/1831/sports/st-pauls-to-leave-isl-tabor-to-join/ |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=The Circle Voice}}</ref> Meanwhile, six of the largest surviving pre-1883 institutions and two of the larger schools combined to form the [[Eight Schools Association]] in 1974; although the ESA did not itself develop into an athletic conference, six of the eight ESA schools (including St. Paul's, by far the largest St. Grottlesex school by enrollment) are now part of the [[Six Schools League]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-09-22 |title=Tabor Academy to join the ISL in September of 2017 |url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2016/09/21/tabor-academy-to-join-the-isl-in-september-of-2017/ |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=[[Boston Herald]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

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Spelling out "Saint"

No one spells out St. More wikifoolishness. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.160.178.11 (talk) 18:13, 6 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed COI revision of article - 10 November 2023

Hi there - proposing an expansion of the current stub into a full-fledged article. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Saint_Grottlesex. Please let me know if you have any questions. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.122.123.7 (talk) 15:57, 10 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

no Declined The proposed text has been placed in a draft version of the article. Because the article is no longer under AFC review, that draft version may be deleted at any time. To ensure permanence of the request, the proposed text needs to be placed on this talk page. Additionally, the COI editor is reminded of the need to sign all talk page posts, and that new posts are always placed at the bottom of the talk page. Regards,  Spintendo  11:52, 11 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. I will move the proposed text to the talk page shortly. 209.122.123.7 (talk) 02:15, 12 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]


Proposed COI revision of article - 11 November 2023

Hi there - here is the proposed text from Draft:Saint Grottlesex. To avoid confusing the talk page headings with the proposed text headings, all of the following headings were moved down one rank.

My specific COI concern is that I attended one of the schools mentioned in the draft article. I am not being paid by anyone to propose this edit. I researched and drafted this expansion out of personal curiosity. I am happy to discuss any specific concerns you might have.

Extended content

The term Saint Grottlesex refers to several American college-preparatory boarding schools in New England that historically educated the social and economic elite of the Northeastern United States.

The St. Grottlesex schools are traditionally given as:

In addition, Kent School is occasionally categorized within St. Grottlesex.[1][2][3][4]

The term is a portmanteau of the St. part of St. Mark's, St. Paul's, and St. George's, then part of Groton, an extra t, and then ending with Middlesex. The St. Grottlesex schools are sometimes used as a metonym for the preppy subculture and the Eastern Establishment.[5]

Background

The St. Grottlesex schools are broadly associated with upper-class Protestantism in the United States. St. Mark's, St. Paul's, St. George's, and Groton are all affiliated with the Episcopal Church, the wealthiest Protestant denomination.[6] Middlesex, though ostensibly nondenominational, was established by similarly upper-class Unitarian Boston Brahmins.[7]

With the exception of St. Paul's and St. Mark's, the St. Grottlesex schools were founded at the turn of the twentieth century during a larger boom in the boarding school industry[8] that also included Lawrenceville (founded 1883), Taft (1890), Hotchkiss (1891), Choate (1896), Kent (1906), and Loomis (1914). They were consciously styled as the American equivalent of the English public schools,[9] and their primary clientele was well-to-do White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

Origin of the term

There is no clear consensus on the source of the term; however, most sources link it to admissions practices and undergraduate student life at Harvard University.

  • Undergraduate admissions. The Harvard sociologist George C. Homans claimed that the term was coined by the Harvard admissions office to help categorize and sort through Harvard applicants.[9]
  • Undergraduate housing. Until the 1970s, Harvard undergraduate dormitories were allowed to admit their own sophomores.[10] Under this system, boarding school students clustered within certain dormitories. Eliot House and Lowell House were reportedly "exclusively St. Grottlesex,"[11] and John Kenneth Galbraith wrote that when he was a tutor at Winthrop House, his housemaster's policy was to "automatically" accept alumni of St. Grottlesex alumni and to "generally" accept alumni of Exeter and Andover.[12] By contrast, graduates of other private schools were "tolerated," Jews (even if educated at St. Grottlesex) were subject to a quota, and admitting public school students was "definitely discourage[d]."[12]
  • Student life. St. Grottlesex alumni historically dominated admission to Harvard's exclusive undergraduate final clubs. In 1906 only one Andover graduate (and zero Exeter graduates) was admitted to the Porcellian, A.D., or Delphic Clubs at Harvard College, compared to 20 St. Grottlesexers and six alumni of other boarding schools.[13] As late as 1939-41, nearly half the St. Grottlesex alumni from those three graduating classes were admitted to a final club; fewer than ten percent of Exeter and Andover alumni did so. Of the 293 Harvard students in those classes who joined a final club, 255 went to a St. Grottlesex school, 14 went to Exeter and Andover, 23 went to a different private school, and 1 went to a public school.[14]
Broader usage

The term St. Grottlesex may be used to contrast the English-style schools as a whole with the academies, such as Andover, Exeter, Milton, and Deerfield, which generally date back to the American colonial and early republican eras.[15][16] Although Sam Adams had criticized academies like Andover and Exeter as schools for the rich,[17] the St. Grottlesex schools reached new levels of social exclusivity. By 1906 (the year before Groton implemented competitive entrance examinations[18]), four-fifths of Groton and St. Mark's parents were listed in the Social Register.[19] By contrast, academies survived by expanding enrollment, catering to a still-wealthy but less socially exclusive clientele.[20]

Secondary education in early New England

In 1647, the Massachusetts legislature passed a law requiring every town with one hundred or more families to establish a secondary school that could prepare students for college.[21] This dictate was often honored in the breach, as many mid-sized New England towns lacked the tax revenue to operate their own public schools.[22] In response, local business magnates and other grandees founded secondary schools (normally termed "academies," with the notable exception of Mount Hermon) in their hometowns or factory towns to educate students from all the towns in the surrounding era, who would either commute from home or board with local families.[23][24] The distinction between public grammar schools and academies was not always clear; for example, Groton Academy initially advertised itself as a "Publick School in Groton."[25]

By 1800, boarding academies could be found all over New England. Massachusetts Governor William Dummer endowed Dummer Academy in his hometown of Byfield;[26] U.S. President John Adams endowed Adams Academy in his hometown of Quincy;[27] the Phillips family founded Andover and Exeter in their namesake mill towns;[28] and the Lawrence family backed Groton Academy (later renamed to Lawrence Academy in their honor) in Groton.[29] The academies were generally founded in the late 18th century (Andover's founders saw the American Revolution as an opportunity to build a school library on the quick by requisitioning books from Loyalist families[30]) as places to "combine scholarship with more than a little Puritan hellfire."[31] Many of these academies represented a specific theology: Andover was Calvinist,[32] Exeter Unitarian,[33] and Lawrence and Mount Hermon Evangelical.[34][35]

In the mid-nineteenth century, a more Anglophile generation founded secondary institutions that espoused Anglicanism and English schooling practices, but which still (at least initially) followed the basic principle of a local businessman opening a school for local boys. Chemist Joseph Burnett founded St. Mark's in his hometown of Southborough,[36] and physician George Shattuck founded St. Paul's in his family's summer home of Concord.[37][38]

Decline of the academies and rise of the "prep" school

The rise of government-run public schools at the end of the nineteenth century rapidly depleted the applicant pools of most academies.[39] Exeter's enrollment fell by two-thirds.[4] Milton shut down for nearly twenty years after Milton High School was founded,[40] and nearby Adams closed for good in 1908.[27] Deerfield survived by converting to a public school; its enrollment declined from over 100 students at the turn of the 19th century to just fourteen in 1902.[41] Lawrence entertained a similar offer to become a public school but rejected the proposal;[42] enrollment halved in just thirteen years, and the bankrupt school temporarily shut down twice.[43] This educational vacuum was filled by the English-style "schools," which recruited students from across the country instead of relying on the surrounding area, operated their own on-campus dormitories (after the style of Hill School), and were frequently backed by large banking and industrial fortunes: Morgans and Dillons at Groton,[44][45] Rockefellers at St. Paul's,[46] Belmonts at St. Mark's,[47] Winsors and Warburgs at Middlesex,[48] Mellons at Choate,[49] and so forth. The defining feature of the schools was their high tuition. As late as 1940, tuition at Groton, St. Paul's, and St. Mark's was nearly 30% higher than at Andover and Exeter; at Middlesex and St. George's it was closer to 50%.[50] (Although an academy, Deerfield—which reorganized itself as a private school in 1924[51]—was more expensive than each of these schools.[50])

In addition, although the academies valued intellectual excellence, boarding schools (schools and academies alike) did not actually expect their students to attend college until Lawrenceville School (founded 1810 as Maidenhead Academy) was reestablished in 1883. For example, while Phillips Exeter Academy and Middlesex School were both strongholds of Unitarianism and prepared students for Unitarian Harvard, as late as the 1880s only 18% of Exeter graduates went to college.[52] Similarly, 65 of the first 70 St. Paul's School students "went directly into business or upon extended travels" after graduation.[53] By contrast, the post-1883 schools were explicitly designed to prepare students for college entrance examinations—and in some cases for specific universities. Yale president Timothy Dwight personally engineered the foundation of Hotchkiss,[54] the Princeton trustees helped reorganize nearby Lawrenceville,[55] and Harvard president Charles Eliot was an early supporter of Groton and Middlesex.[56][57]

Rivalry between schools and academies


Several academies expressed disdain for schools (and St. Grottlesex in particular), which they viewed as institutions for the spoiled rich. Andover's leadership, for example, frequently proclaimed a distinction between "Andover men and Pomfret boys."[58] Similarly, the official history of Lawrence Academy complained that its neighbor Groton had cast an "elite, entitled shadow ... upon the Academy."[59] Contributing to the acrimony, Exeter (one of Middlesex's major creditors) refused to bail out Middlesex when the latter faced financial ruin during the Great Depression.[60] Alumni of the schools sometimes reciprocated those sentiments. That said, certain schools and academies still maintained good relations with each other. Taft raised money for Deerfield when the latter was on the brink of closure,[61] and Groton invited the principals of Exeter (twice) and Milton to deliver its commencement address.[62]

From an athletic standpoint, the prep school conference realignment of the 1960s and 1970s pushed the schools and academies further apart. All the St. Grottlesex schools (which typically enroll fewer students than the surviving academies) are members of the Independent School League, except St. Paul's, which left the ISL in 2016.[63] Meanwhile, six of the largest surviving pre-1883 institutions and two of the larger schools combined to form the Eight Schools Association in 1974; although the ESA did not itself develop into an athletic conference, six of the eight ESA schools (including St. Paul's, by far the largest St. Grottlesex school by enrollment) are now part of the Six Schools League.[64]

Today, the distinction between schools and academies has eroded somewhat. The academies have cultivated elite donors of their own, such as oilmen Edward Harkness (Exeter) and David Koch (Deerfield).[65][66] Similarly, in the 2020–21 school year, a third of Andover students were legacies.[67] The schools have also taken steps to improve financial access. A 1996 study found little difference in tuition between the leading schools and academies.[68] In addition, of the four Northeastern boarding schools that practice need-blind admissions, two are academies and two are schools.[69][70][71][72]

References
  1. ^ Karabel, Jerome (2006). The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton (Revised ed.). New York: Mariner Books. pp. 562 n.6.
  2. ^ "Education: GOAL: A DECENT GUY WHEN YOU'RE DONE". Time. 1962-10-26. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  3. ^ Davidson, James D.; Pyle, Ralph E. (2011). Ranking Faiths: Religious Stratification in America. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 100.
  4. ^ a b Levine, Steven B. (October 1980). "The Rise of American Boarding Schools and the Development of a National Upper Class". Social Problems. 28 (1): 68. doi:10.2307/800381. JSTOR 800381 – via JSTOR.
  5. ^ Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), "Chapter VI: You're All Grown Up Now (The Country Club Years)", The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, pp. 194–195, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  6. ^ Ayres Jr., B. Drummond (1981-04-28). "The Episcopalians: An American Elite with Roots Going Back to Jamestown". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  7. ^ Fortmiller, Jr., Hubert C. (2003). Find the Promise: Middlesex School, 1901-2001. Concord, MA: Middlesex School. p. 26.
  8. ^ Baltzell, E. Digby (1987). The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy and Caste in America (Paperback ed.). New Haven, NH: Yale University Press. pp. 127–29.
  9. ^ a b Homans, George Caspar (2013). Coming to My Senses: The Autobiography of a Sociologist (Paperback ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. p. 51.
  10. ^ Bishai, Graham W.; Murphy, Norah M. (October 12, 2017). "A Social Blueprint: Harvard's Houses, From Randomization to Renewal". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  11. ^ Tilney, Frances G. (March 11, 1999). "The GOLD Coast". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  12. ^ a b Galbraith, John Kenneth (1981). A Life in Our Times. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 51.
  13. ^ Levine, p. 86
  14. ^ Synnott, Marcia (2007). The Half-Opened Door: Discrimination and Admissions at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, 1900-1970 (Revised ed.). New York: Routledge. p. 16.
  15. ^ Higley, Stephen Richard (1995). Privilege, Power, and Place: The Geography of the American Upper Class. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 20.
  16. ^ Schlesinger, Arthur Meier (Jr.) (2000). A Life in the Twentieth Century: vol. 1. New York: Houghton Mifflin. p. 81.
  17. ^ Allis, p. 101
  18. ^ Ashburn, Frank D. (1967). Peabody of Groton (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press. pp. 99–100.
  19. ^ Levine, p. 75
  20. ^ Levine, p. 66
  21. ^ Allis, Jr., Frederick S. (1979). Youth from Every Quarter: A Bicentennial History of Phillips Academy, Andover. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. p. 38.
  22. ^ Allis, pp. 38-41
  23. ^ Allis, pp. 278-81
  24. ^ Howe, Daniel Walker (September 1973). "Review of "American Boarding Schools: A Historical Study"". The New England Quarterly. 46 (3): 493–94. JSTOR 364217.
  25. ^ Frank, p. 7
  26. ^ "About Us". 2007-07-09. Archived from the original on 2007-07-09. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  27. ^ a b "About – Quincy Historical Society". 2020-04-14. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  28. ^ Allis, p. 56
  29. ^ Frank, pp. 71-72
  30. ^ Allis, p. 58
  31. ^ Peter W. Cookson, Jr.; Caroline Persell (1985). "Part I: The World of Boarding Schools, Chapter 2: Rousseau's Children: Total Educational Environments". Preparing for power. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-06269-5. OCLC 660054698. OL 18166618W. Wikidata Q108671720.
  32. ^ Allis, pp. 55-56
  33. ^ Fortmiller, pp. 33-34
  34. ^ Frank, p. 144
  35. ^ "NMH's History | Northfield Mount Hermon". 2016-10-09. Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  36. ^ Deans-Rowe, Rebecca (2023-01-03). "Burnett's flavorings enjoyed nationwide success and funded prominent Southborough institutions". Community Advocate. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  37. ^ Heckscher, August (1980). St. Paul's: The Life of a New England School. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 1–2.
  38. ^ Williams, Peter W. (2016). Religion, Art, and Money: Episcopalians and American Culture from the Civil War to the Great Depression. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. 157.
  39. ^ Levine, p. 65
  40. ^ Hale, Richard Walden (1948). Milton Academy, 1798–1948. Milton Academy. pp. 21, 49. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  41. ^ McPhee, John (1992). The Headmaster: Frank L. Boyden, of Deerfield (Paperback ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 3–5.
  42. ^ Frank, Douglas (1992). The History of Lawrence Academy at Groton, 1792 to 1992. Groton, MA: Lawrence Academy. pp. 173–74.
  43. ^ Frank, pp. 159, 172, 200
  44. ^ "Treasures of Groton: 120 years of Glorious and Curious Gifts". Groton School. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  45. ^ Lemann, Nicholas (2000). The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy (Revised ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 16.
  46. ^ "In Memoriam". St. Paul's School Alumni Horae. 2018-08-22. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  47. ^ "August Belmont". University Magazine. VI (1): 78–80. January 1892.
  48. ^ Fortmiller, pp. 89-92, 131-33
  49. ^ "The Arts Center". Choate Rosemary Hall. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  50. ^ a b Baltzell, Philadelphia Gentlemen, p. 306
  51. ^ McPhee, pp. 60-62
  52. ^ Fortmiller, pp. 32-34.
  53. ^ Heckscher, p. 57
  54. ^ Wertenbaker, Lael Tucker; Basserman, Maude (1966). The Hotchkiss School: A Portrait. Lakeville, CT: Hotchkiss School. pp. 36–38.
  55. ^ Heckscher, p. 58.
  56. ^ Ashburn, Frank D. (1934). Fifty Years On: Groton School 1884-1934. New York: Sign of the Gosden Head. p. 17.
  57. ^ Fortmiller, pp. 58-63
  58. ^ Blum, John Morton (2004). A Life with History. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. p. 4.
  59. ^ Frank, p. 169
  60. ^ Fortmiller, pp. 135-36
  61. ^ McPhee, p. 61
  62. ^ "Prize Day Speakers". Groton School Quarterly. LXXVIII (3): 15–16. Fall 2017 – via Issuu.
  63. ^ Porter, Andrew; Caspersen, Westby (2016-10-07). "St. Paul's to leave ISL, Tabor to join". The Circle Voice. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  64. ^ "Tabor Academy to join the ISL in September of 2017". Boston Herald. 2016-09-22. Retrieved 2023-11-11.
  65. ^ "History of Harkness: the people behind the plan". Phillips Exeter Academy. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  66. ^ Moon, Jae Won; Park, Yongjin (2019-10-17). "Remembering Lifetime Trustee David Koch". The Deerfield Scroll. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  67. ^ The Phillipian (28 May 2021). "State of the Academy" (PDF). The Phillipian. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  68. ^ "The Status of African Americans at the Nation's Most Prestigious Boarding Schools". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (14): 27. Winter 1996–97. doi:10.2307/2962808. JSTOR 2962808 – via JSTOR.
  69. ^ "Financial Aid Requirements". Phillips Academy. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  70. ^ "Need-blind admissions". Phillips Exeter Academy. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
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  72. ^ "Access & Affordability - St. Andrew's School". St. Andrew's School (Delaware). Retrieved 2023-11-11.

209.122.123.7 (talk) 02:23, 12 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@209.122.123.7 Thank you for posting the text here, it's much appreciated. Looking over this, I see that this topic initially concerns five schools that are listed at the beginning of the article, but then the article drifts into talking about many other schools which it calls "academies". The remainder of the article then describes the differences between these academies and the original five schools. If the COI editor could elaborate on the differences between these academies and the original five schools, as well as describe how discussing these academies does not stray from the topic of the original five schools, that would be most helpful. When ready to proceed with your reply, please change the request template's answer parameter to read from |ans=y to |ans=n. Thank you! Regards,  Spintendo  06:27, 12 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
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