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Noxontown
News, Vol. 2, No. 1 A Fortnightly Newsletter for St. Andrew's Parents (See links to updated St. Andrew's
news stories below.) January 14, 2006 Dear Parents, As we head into a national celebration of the life and legacy
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., St. Andrew's will pause and reflect on the
many complex issues still facing American society. Last week I talked to the School about the
history of racism and intolerance in American schools and colleges, and I
mentioned a few of the startling observations made in Jerome Karabel's important new book The Chosen. What Karabel
analyzes in his book are the ways in which our highly selective colleges once
worked assiduously to limit and restrain the presence of so called “outsiders”
on their campuses during the early part of the 20th century. The target of most of the admission
policies developed at this time were Jews, who were considered to be threats
to the culture and health of the elite American college or university. What I tried to suggest to our students is
that the vestiges of prejudice and exclusion can live on if we are not
intentional about creating a school, country and world free of
discrimination, exclusion and prejudice.
I tried to suggest that the very act of doing nothing to promote
social justice and equality in American life is, in fact, a choice, a
decision to allow the status quo to endure and take new and poisonous life. In the spirit of Dr. King, we try to talk about difference,
diversity and conflict all the time at St. Andrew's-in our classrooms, dorms
and faculty homes. This weekend a
group of students will lead discussions on gender; on Sunday night, the
School will attend a special presentation describing the events of the civil
rights movement; on Monday morning, the students and faculty will watch the
contemporary movie Crash, a film that depicts the complexity and tragedy of
racial, ethnic and religious confusion, misunderstanding and prejudice in our
country. Ultimately, we as citizens have a moral and spiritual
responsibility to defeat the forces of intolerance and exclusion within our
hearts. But, there is a practical side
to the embrace of diversity, as well.
Our students and children will be living in a world full of diversity
and complexity, and to succeed, to collaborate and to flourish they need to
understand the history, culture, and perspective of those different from
them. This is part of the gift of St.
Andrew's, and we hope your children emerge from their School experience here
with the spirit of empathy, compassion and idealism they will need to both
work in the world and redeem the world. Sincerely, Tad Roach headmaster@standrews-de.org * * * St. Andrew's News On-Line * * * * Agia '06, Wang '06 selected to
All-State Orchestra; student
talent resounds in Engelhard. Dozens
of students performed in Engelhard Hall on Friday evening, including the
students selected as * Close to home, photographer
Margaret Adams finds inspiration for her work * School to host " * Chapel
Talk: Richard Hutton '01 Richard Hutton '01 delivered the first chapel talk of 2006 as
he prepared to ship out to * 111 Parents Registered at Parent Web Site To continue receiving these e-mails, please sign up. Gain
access to the on-line parent directory, School calendars, School contact
information and important parent news and information! Go to http://parents.standrews-de.org and click on “Register” in the upper left corner! Questions? E-mail parents@standrews-de.org for answers. * Calendar
and travel information Find out what your child is doing this weekend! The January
14-15, 2006 weekend plan and the January 13-19, 2006 weekly School calendar
are available at the parent Web site: * * * Every One Counts - 2005-2006 Annual Fund Did you know that the full St. Andrew's tuition of $33,000
falls more than $17,000 short of the actual cost of a St. Andrew's education?
This year, St. Andrew's will spend over $50,000 to educate each child on our
campus. We hope you will consider a gift to St. Andrew's Annual
Fund to show your support for a great school. ON-LINE RESOURCES
FOR PARENTS - Winter St. Andrew's
Magazine is in the mail The winter issue of the St. Andrew's Magazine is in the mail
to parents! If you'd like to read a back issue of this publication, the Irene
duPont Library has begun an archive
of St. Andrew's Magazine on-line, starting with the fall edition for 2005.
Previous editions of this on-line publication, Noxontown
News, are also available on this page. - Winter
sports rosters and schedules on-line. - Complete
listing of campus news - 2005-2006
School year calendar - Past
issues of Noxontown News |