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Ethical Culture Fieldston School
Type Private
Established 1878
Head of School Dr. Joseph P. Healey
Enrollment approx. 1,300
Mascot Eagle
Website www.ecfs.org

The Ethical Culture Fieldston School is a private school in New York City and a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League. It currently (as of 2004) has about 1600 students and a staff of 400 people directed by the Head of School, Dr. Joseph P. Healey.

In the words of its founder, Felix Adler: "The ideal of the school is to develop individuals who will be competent to change their environment to greater conformity with moral ideals."

The school consists of two lower schools which feed into a high school. Ethical Culture, located in Manhattan, and Fieldston Lower, located on the Fieldston campus, both feed into the Fieldston School, located in the Bronx. Ethical Culture is headed by Ann Vershbow, Fieldston Lower is headed by George Burns, and the Fieldston School is headed by Dr. John M. Love.

History

The school first opened in 1878, as a free kindergarten. In 1880, elementary grades were added, and the school was then called the Working Man's School. At that time, the idea that the children of the poor were capable of becoming educated was innovative. Soon after, the school's high academic reputation encouraged many more wealthy clients to seek it out, and eventually the Society for Ethical Culture (also in need of funds) expanded it to accommodate the upper-class as well (for a price). The diversity (of economic backgrounds) which was so important then continues today, as the school (as of 2004) has one of the highest financial aid funding of any independent school in the country. The school moved into its well-known landmark building at 33 Central Park West in 1904. The entire school was located in that building until 1928 when the high school division (Fieldston) moved to its 18 acre (73,000 m²) campus on Fieldston Road, in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.

Ethical was said (see New York Review of Books: April 25, 2002) to pursue social justice, racial equality, and intellectual freedom. The school (and the affiliated Ethical Culture Society) were havens for secular Jews who rejected the mysticism and rituals of Judaism, but accepted many of its ethical teachings. Additionally, because the institutionalized anti-Semitism of the times established rigid quota systems against Jews in private schools, the Ethical Culture School had a disproportionately large number of Jewish students. Ethical was the only one that did not discriminate because of race, color, or creed.

One of the early faculty members was the famous documentary photographer Lewis Hine.

Peer Schools

Ethical Culture Fieldston is a part of the Ivy Preparatory School League. Fieldston, Riverdale, and Horace Mann together are known as the "Hill schools", as all three are located within two miles of each other in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, on a hilly area above Van Cortlandt Park. The three also share perhaps the greatest amount of inter-school sports rivalry.

Alumni

Among its many prominent alumni are:

Philosophy

The school is a prominent part of the Progressive Movement.

Part of the school's curriculum, per the philosophy of its founder, Felix Adler, is a heavy dose of ethics and moral philosophy.

It is known for its predominantly liberal student body and its commitment to diversity and its well-funded scholarship program.

The school is very well known for dropping its participation in the Advanced Placement Program in 2002 to give its faculty (particularly in history) the freedom to offer more challenging and thought-provoking material.

Construction

Each year the number of students enrolled in the school system grows. In 2002, talk of expansion began. Plans were laid out the following year. A new middle school as well as new gym facilities have been planned with an estimated date of completion of September of 2007. Currently, the lower schools start with Pre-K and go up to 6th grade, and the upper school takes it from there and goes up to 12th grade. With the new middle school, to be located on the Fieldston campus, students in 6th, 7th and 8th grade will be out of the lower and upper schools and in their own building. This will allow for additional classrooms for the lower and upper schools; something much needed. The construction of the new gym facilities and middle school began in June of 2004. More information on the construction of new facilities available here: *

See also

Private schools in New York | Ethical Culture | High schools in New York | High schools in New York City | Preparatory schools in the United States

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Ethical Culture Fieldston School".

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