The English Department aspires to teach students to read and write with accuracy, clarity, and elegance; to think logically, analytically, and imaginatively; and to engage in respectful and productive conversations. Meeting for Worship provides a model for our classrooms by encouraging us to listen, to use silence effectively, and to be open to inspiration. Students are taught in heterogeneously grouped classes. In small and large discussion groups, they work cooperatively on tasks ranging from deciphering a puzzling phrase to analyzing a metaphor to discussing the morality of characters and the moral stances of narrators and authors. Our students learn that a great work of literature is worth the time it takes to read—and reread—and that fine writing is worth the significant effort it takes to produce.

 

The study of literature plays a distinctive role in teaching students about the diversity of human relations and cultures and in educating them to become citizens of increasingly heterogeneous communities; thus, the English program is an important part of what educates Friends students to “engage in the world that is” and to imagine “a world that ought to be.” Students encounter characters with whom they can identify and narratives that affirm their experiences as well as those that expand their understanding of worlds unfamiliar to them. As students contemplate the story of a character or community initially strange to them, they better understand differences and uncover surprising commonalities. If they carry these lessons from literature to life, then studying literature furthers our School’s mission.

 

The sequence of English courses 5-12, appropriately demanding at each level, provides students with a firm grounding in many facets of the study of English—grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, literary history and analysis, prosody, and writing in various genres. The curriculum, developed over decades, includes common texts and skills for each grade level to ensure that students in different sections receive the same basic training. The English Department develops methods and materials, including study guides and model essays, for showing our students what constitutes accurate reading, lively interpretation, sound argument, and clear writing. In doing so, we try to counter the enduring perception that every interpretation of a text can be valid. We believe that students can learn the skills of keen observation, logical interpretation, and argument development and that these skills will make them better readers and better citizens.