Looking in Manhattan, so I'm hoping most schools have a fairly progressive social outlook, but are there any schools that are known for having a capital-c Conservative streak? Would really prefer to not be around a substantial group of Trumpers, for obvious reasons. We're not looking at any uber-religious schools, for what that's worth.
Liberal = Brooklyn private schools
Not necessarily. Packer Collegiate is fairly conservative (gobs of finance $), Poly isn't all that liberal either.
@anonymous First hand experience and Packer is NOT conservative
@anonymous Agree. Packer is NOT conservative.
Ethical Culture/Fieldston is the liberal limo of the hill schools and (LS is in Manhattan).
Look at the Upper School English and history curriculum... you can get a sense of how "traditional" the school is based on how they teach these subjects. Some schools stick with a lot of classics that we (and our parents) read many years ago. Others are featuring more modern and diverse authors. Some are a good balance of both. Even within some schools, individual teachers may vary since they have some license to teach based on their own personal interests. This does not necessarily translate into the political leanings of the parent body, but it does provide some context. How they teach history is very telling too. Some schools are really tying in historical teaching with current affairs.
I agree with this comment. I think some of the K-8 boys' schools are the most conservative (Buckley, St. David's, St. Bernard's in particular; Allen-Stevenson is the least conservative). In general, SS tends to be more conservative than co-ed because single sex education is fundamentally not a progressive concept. For girls, I think Chapin, Marymount, Nightingale are known as being more conservative. Brearley is not conservative. ECFS is probably the most liberal school in Manhattan.
@anonymous actually, EC in Manhattan is not as liberal as one would think (as a parent body). Yes there are very liberal people but there are also a lot of more moderate business/finance parents
@Anonymous That is definitely true. I have colleagues who send their kids and they are big $$ finance types and not super liberal. TBH, nowhere that charges $55k for tuition is going to have a "super liberal" parent body; the concept of private school also is fundamentally not liberal. All that being said, I think ECFS effectively weeds out true conservatives and the teachers and administration are very liberal. Do you think there is any more liberal school in Manhattan? I guess there are schools like the Blue School, Village Community School, and Little Red that are but those are kind of removed from the mainstream.
City & Country
This. And LREI as well.
The Blue School
I'm interested in this question as well( but for HS). How about Trinity? Friends Seminary? Columbia Grammar?
The upper school student body at Trinity is quite diverse because the 9th grade doubles in size and they draw from all over. While there are new students from the UES and UWS that are demographically more similar to the students who were there in the LS and MS, there are also new kids from downtown, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and NJ. There are kids who come from other independent K-12, K-8, SS, parochial and public schools. There are children of recent immigrants as well legacy families. It's impossible to make generalizations about these students and their parents' social and political leanings since there is a wide range. The school seems to go out of their way to create this wide range in their student demographic.
Also, look at how they teach health. That says a lot about the schools social outlook.
Just so you know, an ultra liberal environment at Dalton has contributed to them not opening. And the liberal administration has told the parents who dissent to be quiet or else. So I’d be careful what you wish for.
Weird that they wouldn't treat their teachers as disposable. Well, what can you do.
Nah Dalton chose to treat the students in their care as eminently replaceable - which for better or for worse - they are...
@anonymous Right because all the other schools that have opened consider teachers "disposable" (and it really is EVERY other school in NYC other than Dalton including Hunter and public schools at this point). And teachers and students have been getting sick and dying due to transmission in schools, right? You must be a Dalton administrator because I can't even imagine who else would make such a specious argument.
St Ann's = v progressive
Note that at all of these limousine-liberal schools it is more
Virtue-signaling > Progressive
@Anonymous couldn't agree w/ you more, re: virtue signaling. the kids all see through it.