Recently, Tony Junker, a member
of Central Philadelphia Monthly
Meeting and trustee of Friends
Select School, was curious about
the ripple effect of Friends education because of his interactions
with folks who are not Quakers, yet
are dedicated to Friends education
as parents of students in Friends
schools or as trustees of Friends
schools. Tony said, “I always am
amazed at the appreciation they
express and the ready sacrifices they
make for what they see as the positive qualities of Friends education.
Why in the world would individuals
and families with other opportunities choose to entrust their chil-
In October, Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting’s Committee on Friends
Education thanked 2,497 Friends
who completed their survey. The
responses provided rich information
and multiple perspectives about the
role of Friends education in individual lives and in relationships with
Friends Meetings. In addition, 67%
of survey respondents indicated that
a Friends school has influenced their
membership in a Friends Meeting
(September/October 2006, PYM
News). The hundreds of thoughtful
comments demonstrated the ripple
effect of Friends education for
those within the Religious Society
of Friends and those living valuesbased lives in the world.
Irene McHenry, Executive Director
Let us, together, urge and actively
work toward an end to all war and
to the widely prevailing practice of
seeking to resolve human conflict by
violence, and rather, promote a lasting and unequivocal commitment to
reason, trust, and justice . . . ensuring
that young people everywhere have
the inherent right to live in a world
guided by peace, love and hope.
I hope that, in this new year, the
ripple effect builds momentum
so that we can realize the vision
embodied in these words excerpted
from the October 2006 minute
from the Board of Directors of the
Friends Council on Education:
A meeting member who graduated from Quaker schools added a
postscript to the discussion: “Much
of who I am — my world-view, approach to dialogue, desire to bridge
difference —is indeed very attributable to my early Friends teachings . .
. I am very grateful for that.”
dren to the peculiar community of
Friends?” Through group discussion
and reflection, Tony realized that
Friends education amplifies “the
extraordinary ability of Friends, a
small, nonconformist minority in
our materialistic and militaristic society, to spread our word far beyond
our numbers, out into the general
population who, in choosing our
educational institutions, show that
they value and even thirst for the
unique outlook that we, when we
are at our best, represent.”
Peer Networking Events
Spring Programs
All of our behavior influences others
through a ripple effect. The values learned and lived by students,
teachers, administrators and trustees
in Friends schools influence many
families; those families influence
their communities; those communities influence the world.
Bridge Film Festival: April 21, 2007, at Brooklyn
Friends School, New York, N.Y.
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Philadelphia, PA
Permit No. 248
1507 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
215.241.7245 • [email protected] • www.friendscouncil.org
Ripples from a Quaker Education
LOOK!
Friends Council on Education has
financial assistance available for educators
from schools in need. There is also a
special fund for educators of color
in member schools.
Early Childhood Educators: April 12-13, 2007 at
Germantown Friends School, Philadelphia, Pa.
Educators New to Quakerism Pendle Hill
Jan. 24-26, 2007 Feb. 12-13, 2007
Mar. 12-14, 2007
SAVE THE DATE: Coming in FALL 2007 . . .
Friends Environmental Educators Network (FEEN):
April 11-13, 2007 at Sidwell Friends School, Washington, D.C.
Heads of Secondary Friends Schools Gathering
William Penn Charter School, Philadelphia, Pa.
April 12-13, 2007
Librarians: February 2, 2007, Sidwell Friends School,
Washington, D.C.
Elementary Heads & Lower, Middle & Preschool
Directors of Friends Schools
Arch Street Meetinghouse, Philadelphia, Pa.
April 29-30, 2007
Reflections
Quaker Youth Leadership Conference: February 1-3,
2007, Tandem Friends School, Charlottesville, Va.
Quaker Education: Exploring Philosophy &
Practice in Today’s World Pendle Hill
February 8-9, 2007
On October 20, 2007, Westtown School,
Westtown, Pa., will again host its Students of
Color College Forum and Fair. The first Fair,
held in 2005, was a resounding success. Students of color from 20 Friends high schools in
seven states attended, and overall, more than
650 students and parents were present.
Representatives from 105 colleges came from
27 states to meet the students. For more info:
[email protected].
Remember to pay program fees in advance.
Visa & Mastercard are accepted.
Annual Meeting of the Friends Council on
Education Friends Center, Philadelphia, Pa.
April 20, 2007, 12:00-2:00 p.m. RSVP.
Program info, registration, financial aid: www.friendscouncil.org
Friends Council Workshops and Peer Network Events 2007
Quaker Education
CHRONICLES OF
Educating Peacemakers
2007
WINTER
New Garden Friends School students,
staff & parents, gathered for a moment of silence
as part of the International Day of Peace,
September 20, 2006.
Quaker Education
C H R O N I C L E S of
WINTER 2007
Educating Peacemakers
Working for a Peaceful World
Students in Friends schools are learning peace, teaching peace,
and reaching for peace in their friendships, their classrooms, their schools,
their communities, and across the globe. This issue of Chronicles provides a
glimpse of Friends school students who are acting powerfully for peace.
Positive Energy Teams
At Friends School in Detroit, a caring culture is
cultivated by student leadership teams responsible for
tending to and boosting positive energy in their school.
Head of School Dwight Wilson meets with these K-8
teams monthly to examine and teach leadership skills.
The students have extended this positive energy into
the community, hosting the annual student conference,
“Envisioning a New World.” In 2006, 35 seventh and
eighth grade students from five different independent
and public schools participated in workshops and
discussions around the following questions:
1. W
hy were positive multicultural steps possible following the Civil War and how do we move today’s world
in that direction?
2. What would make an equitable educational system?
3. How should we construct the health care system?
4. What is the proper role of the military?
5. How can we improve the justice system?
6. How should we support our less fortunate citizens?
Participating students constructed a simulated society
over two days, without any adult speaking a single word.
School to School Peace Training
Friends Western School, Pasadena, California, recently
participated in a school-wide conflict resolution training
taught by Lauri Carlson, a faculty member from Friends
School of Minnesota, St. Paul. “We learned that conflict
is a normal part of living, that we can learn to address
conflict positively, that we can develop the habit of communicating verbally to resolve conflict, and that we gain
experience with open and honest communication when
we have regular times, places, and routines to address
conflict,” said Sandy Maliga, Administrative Director
at FWS. “We are grateful to the Friends Council on
Education for the grant that funded the training.”
Peaceable Puzzle
At Virginia Beach Friends School, students this fall
created a 4’ x 6’ mural interpretation of “The Peaceable
Kingdom,” Edward Hicks’ painting inspired by William Penn’s 1682 treaty with the Delaware Indians. The
students cut wood panels of the painting to create puzzle
pieces as a metaphor for how people might work together
for peace. The mural was displayed as part of the World
Peace Interfaith Extravaganza at Virginia Wesleyan College and at the Norfolk International Airport. “Our hope
is to have this as a traveling art piece to different places in
our wider community as a way of sharing the message of
peace,” said VBFS art teacher Muff Mariner.
Reaching Out
Each of us remembers where we were and what we did
after hearing the news of the plane crashes on September
11, 2001. Mary McDowell Center for Learning,
A Publication
of the
Brooklyn, New York, happened to be embarking on a
school-wide study of the peace testimony, the first in a
multi-year series of testimony studies. A November 2006
interview in The Village Voice shows that the actions of
the Mary McDowell students after that day have had lasting and healing effects beyond the school’s walls. Charlie
Sahadi and his family, originally from Lebanon, own
Sahadi’s, a middle-eastern specialty food market which
has been open in Brooklyn for the past 50 years. Sahadi
included this memory in his reflection of how Brooklyn
has changed over time:
“Soon after September 11, 2001, about 120 kids from Mary
McDowell School came marching up to Sahadi’s to give me
signs thanking me for being their neighbor, and singing songs
of peace and love. I just lost it. It was a miserable time but
also a time that brought us together. And for that I’m grateful to be a Brooklynite and a New Yorker.” (“New Yorker
Since Birth,” 11/26/06, Lalli, Village Voice)
Building Bridges to the Middle East
Brooklyn Friends School teachers Andrew Cohen and
Kerri Richardson traveled to the Friends School of
Ramallah and El-Bireh, Palestine, in November 2005
to guide a student-produced documentary film comparing the lives of two Muslim students—one at Brooklyn
Friends School and the other at Friends School of Ramallah. The resulting 12-minute film, “Two Students, Two
Schools,” was a co-production between Brooklyn Friends
and Ramallah Friends, and was an official entry into the
Bridge Film Festival, sponsored by Brooklyn Friends
School and held each April. One of the goals of the collaboration was to demonstrate how Friends institutions
are not only accepting of other faiths but celebrate and
encourage the advantages of learning within a diverse
community.
Educating Students for Peace
Recently the co-directors of New Garden Friends
School, Greensboro, North Carolina, were invited to
speak at a local church as part of a series on “Middle
East, Challenges for Peace.” Marty Goldstein and David
Tomlins’s talk was entitled, “Educating Peacemakers.”
“Preparing for the presentation, we were reminded about
the extraordinary opportunity we have as a Friends school
to make a difference in world peace because we do educate students as peacemakers,” they said. Marty and David
decorated the Sunday School classroom with examples
of student engagement with peace at NGFS: peace flags
from the School’s celebration of the International Day of
Peace, collages illustrating each student’s part in a “tapestry
of gifts,” peace doves from the School’s garden peace tree,
and the youngest students’ wishes for peace: “Make sure
kids have enough food to eat,” “Everyone can be friends,”
“I wish for peace with my sister.” Read more about NGFS
peace education: www.friendscouncil.org > Faculty/Admin >
Resources > Peace Education
Winter 2007
Chronicles of Quaker Education
Resources from the
Friends Council
Schooled in Diversity
Action Research
Pat Macpherson, Action Research
Coordinator; Darryl J. Ford, Editor
Schooled in Diversity Action Research is a
must read for educators, parents, administrators, and anyone who has a concern for
the ongoing task of racial healing. This text
offers us all the opportunity to examine
the complexity of the human connection,
and the power of a spirit-led process.
—Friends Journal, November 2006.
The three sections in this volume include
Interviews with alumni from two Quaker
schools in the first fifty years since desegregation, Analysis of multicultural change,
and Guidelines to engage students in action
research around racial change in schools.
“Who better to offer lessons about what can
improve the experiences of students of color
than students and alumni of color?”
says editor, Darryl J. Ford.
Building Resiliency in Children
Laura Taylor, school counselor at MediaProvidence Friends School, Pennsylvania,
emphasizes that students who know and
teach others conflict resolution skills are
building resiliency in themselves, better
enabling themselves to live strong lives.
About ten years ago, Laura and Anne Javsicas,
head of Plymouth Meeting Friends School,
Pennsylvania, developed a school-wide peer
mediation curriculum, Conflict Resolution
Peer Mediation: Peers Helping Peers with Problem-Solving, available through the Friends
Council in Education. From the introduction: “This curriculum is unique in that it
integrates the teaching of personal conflict
resolution skills, the social studies context of
conflict resolution processes, and a school
mediation program. Students are being
taught the skills and attitudes they need to
resolve conflicts productively, and thoughout
the school mediation program students practice these skills in a nurturing environment.”
MPFS students have taken these skills beyond
their school walls: eighth grade MPFS
students teach conflict resolution skills to
fifth graders through a partnership with
Media Elementary School. Laura and Anne’s
peer mediation manual, and more information on MPFS’ public school partnership,
are available online: www.friendscouncil.org.
Publications featured in this
issue can be found on
www.friendscouncil.org
A Gift to the
Annual Fund
The Annual Fund provides critical unrestricted funds to the Friends Council
on Education. Each gift to the Annual
Fund is vital to the Council’s mission of
nurturing the Quaker life of schools and
strengthening the collaborative network
of Friends education. Your gift touches
every service the Council provides for
Friends schools. Please give generously
to this year’s Annual Fund.
Education for Liberation
Preschool Peace Studies
Tamara Clark, a preschool teacher at Abington Friends School, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, explored
peace education with the School’s youngest students through her thesis, Education for Liberation:
Preschool Peace Studies. The following are excerpts from her work, which is now available through the
Friends Council on Education: www.friendscouncil.org.
As teachers, we often are called on to support the children in solving problems, and one of my primary goals
is to empower children to solve the problem themselves.
I sometimes use a technique that I call “sports-casting.” When I see a potential conflict developing, I get
down on their level and start to narrate what each child
is doing. Instead of proposing a solution, I am providing them with a perspective on what the other child is
doing.
One of my favorite things to do with children is tell
stories. I often introduce characters to represent different
facets of diversity that may or may not be represented
in our class. Sometimes I will plan the story out ahead
of time, but mostly I weave an issue or event from the
morning’s play into the story. Conflict is an inevitable
part of play as children negotiate their differences. Stories are a powerful tool because of their singular power
to capture the attention and the imagination of children.
Using issues and characters that are familiar to the children, we can help them integrate the concepts into their
own understandings of their world and their play.
In the spring, warmer weather provides us with the
opportunity to take walks around campus, visiting the
other three divisions of the school. After our visits, the
children drew pictures and told stories about what they
had seen, making a “Community Map.” By visiting
places around the campus and then reflecting on these
visits, the children not only gained an understanding of
what community was, but also developed their connections to the community. The children decided to bake
cookies for the people we had seen on our walks, like
Matt, our seventh grader helper, and Trina and Dawn in
the preschool office. We talked about how they would
feel when we brought the cookies, and Aaron suggested
that they would feel “Happy…and surprised.” While
an egocentric world view is the developmental norm for
children, this kind of community service is directly connected to increasing the children’s empathy and awareness of others.
Everything from the moderated volume of teachers’
voices to the school’s commitment to peaceful conflict
resolution contributes to the community norms. In that
there is that of God in everyone, it is expected that each
child will be valued and that all aspects of the children’s
development will be supported. The testimony of integrity flows from the understanding that individually and
communally we are seeking truth, and we live and act in
accordance with this.
Abington Friends preschool students
at the Peace Table.
Understanding Quakerism
Workshops for Parents
Developed by parents last year at Cambridge Friends School, Massachusetts, the series “Understanding Quakerism” was designed to educate families about Quakerism at the school. Anne Nash, a former trustee, began
each weekly workshop with Meeting for Worship followed by discussion. The series was designed to:
• Educate the community about fundamental Quaker principles
• Develop a broader understanding of how Quakerism influences the children’s education
• Discern how the family fits into the equation
• Build community
The first workshop began with the group writing down the first thing that came to mind when they heard the
word “Quaker.” Anne used this group thinking on Quaker values to give some background on the Religious
Society of Friends and its ways of working in the world. Anne ended the first session with a homework assignment: ask your children, “What is Quaker about CFS?” At the next meeting, parents shared a fascinating range
of answers that covered many aspects of the school, including structure of the classroom, affinity group lunches,
and Meeting for Worship. Anne observed, “The last parents in the circle stopped us all in our tracks, however,
with this statement from their kindergartner: ‘We sit in circles. God is everywhere. There are no right answers.’ ”
In another session, Anne asked parents to each write down “five key values that we hope to instill in our children
before they leave our arms.” Then the group examined how these values fit those of the school. Overall, it appears that participants have found themselves at a school where there is a smooth transition each day from their
home values to the values practiced at school and then home again.
While most participants agreed that Quaker values were a factor in choosing the school, many also mentioned
the hallmark excellent Quaker education. The Quaker educational philosophy focuses on self-propelled learning, based on asking good questions, as opposed to having all the right answers. One parent described her child’s
education as learning “a way of being in the world,” which goes beyond academic excellence. Another portrayed
the depth of experience as CFS having “a soul.” Children learn to take responsibility for their own actions and
to understand their impact on others. They learn about interconnectedness of the world and the importance of
compassion, inquisitiveness, and inner strength. (www.cfsmass.org)
See also these Resources for parent workshops available from the Friends Council on Education (www.friendscouncil.org):
Taking Parents Along on the Spiritual Journey • Quakerism & Quaker Education: A Conversation with Parents
Harford Friends School students
present The Book of Dreams
collaborative history project.
Lessons from the Past . . .
For a Hopeful Future
The Book of Dreams is a collaborative history project growing out of Harford
Friends School, Darlington, Maryland, and is meant to be a living testament
to good people who chose to act when the evil of slavery governed in America.
(Harford Friends School opened its doors in 2005, and now has 13 students
in grades six and seven.) Written by American school children in the 21st
century, The Book of Dreams will tell the stories of ordinary people, black and
white, enslaved and free, who together worked to create safe passage to freedom
on the Underground Railroad for thousands of American slaves. The Book’s creator,
Gandhi Hurwitz, a Harford Friends School parent, sees the project as a way for
children to understand that if their ancestors could work together in such a
tumultuous and primitive world, so can they in today’s world.
Governance Matters!
The Friends Council is piloting a regional
model of training and dialogue for heads and
trustees of Friends schools, coordinating eight
regional one-day meetings known as Governance
Matters! Hosted by Friends schools in the east,
the workshops are engaging 250 trustees and
heads in 46 member schools. Led by a team of
eight seasoned consultants, these workshops
provide a forum for trustees and heads to reflect
on best practices in Friends school governance.
The Book of Dreams will visit Harford Friends School during Black History Month in February 2007.
The students will research local Underground Railroad history and write the first chapter. Hurwitz was inspired
by local Quakers who worked on the Railroad, including members of Deer Creek Meeting where the school is
located. (The previous Meetinghouse in Darlington is believed to have been burned down by arsonists
who objected to Quakers’ antislavery activities.)
After leaving Harford Friends, The Book of Dreams will travel to schools along Railroad routes in Maryland
and beyond, before it returns to live permanently at HFS. Students from each school will research local
Railroad history and write a Book chapter. Each chapter will be recorded on a large sheet of archival cotton
paper and entered into the book. For more info: http://www.bookofdreamsproject.org.
Friends School Leaders,
Oprah, & South Africa
Former Friends school administrators are launching Oprah Winfrey’s new Leadership Academy
for girls in South Africa — acting head Joan
Countryman and permanent head Nomvuyo
Mzamane. The Academy opened in January
with 152 seventh and eighth grade girls, and will
add a class each year with a goal of 450 girls in
grades 7 through 12. Countryman, a Quaker,
is former head of Lincoln School, an all-girls
Quaker school in Providence, Rhode Island, and
longtime adminisrator at Germantown Friends
School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Joan was
Germantown’ first African-American graduate.
Nomvuyu is a native of South Africa, and left her
role as assistant head of operations at Germantown Friends School for this opportunity. “[The
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy] is not a
religious school, but the idea in Quaker schools
that you have a deep respect for the dignity of
every person — that resonates in South Africa,
with its mixtures of traditions and cultures,”
Joan said in a recent interview.
Call
for Nominees
Whom would you nominate
to receive the Nobel Peace Prize?
As a former laureate, the American
Friends Service Committee is asked to
submit an annual nomination for the Nobel
Peace Prize. As a member of the AFSC
Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Committee,
George School faculty member Douglas
Tsoi asked his students to submit
nominations of candidates who have
a commitment to nonviolent methods,
quality of character, sustained
contributions to peace, justice, human
dignity, and the integrity of the
environment, and global impact.
Nominations are due by May 15
(www.afsc.org/about/
nobel/default.htm).
GRANTS
from the Friends Council
Grants for Creative Projects
An urban science garden, traveling testimonies mural, community outreach through dance,
student leadership program, even “Q. Pets” playing cards! What do all of these creative, experiential projects have in common?
Each was funded in part through Friends Council on Education Grants for Student Projects.
Each year the Friends Council on Education awards grants to Friends schools for projects that
promote Quaker studies and the Quaker testimonies; collaborative efforts across classrooms,
disciplines and schools; diversity and multiculturalism.
Grant for Wearable Art
The Council also awards an annual $500 grant,
known as the Dandelion Art Grant, to a junior
or senior in a Friends school to be used toward
an adventure in learning about and creating
wearable art. Proposals are submitted jointly
by a teacher and a student.
In its first year, the Dandelion Art Grant
supported the design and development of
truly wild apparel designed and created
by Ariel Diliberto, Westtown School.
The grant for 2006 was awarded to Diane
Feuillet of Sandy Spring Friends School,
to fund her weaving project using alpaca
yarn purchased from a Peruvian miller.
Diane’s weaving is the center of her broader
study of the people and environment of the Peruvian village that mills the wool, and the alpacas
themselves. Diane purchased additional wool to use
as she teaches other students at SFFS how to weave,
with the help of Diane’s art teacher, Gwen Matthews.
Proposals for both grant programs are due on March 30, 2007.
Grant application guidelines are available on the Council’s website:
w w w. f r i e n d s c o u n c i l . o r g