The natural world and the scientific and mathematical tools we use to explore, measure, and understand it should fill us with awe and wonder, and light all kinds of inspirational fires in us. On a planet so desperately in need of scientific breakthroughs, engineering innovations, and newborn technologies, we should be thrilled by the excitement in…

What motivates families to consider an independent private school education and ultimately make the commitment to enroll their children? The Secondary School Admission Test Board (SSATB) surveyed 2,300 parents of private school-bound students in 2014 to answer this question. Based on the results of the survey, this brief article highlights five of…

Reviewing the historical basis for the American high school design, the author proposes a substantial restructuring of secondary education. Presented are eight principles by which new high schools can be structured. (MD)

Girls who reject boy-girl social relations as the central concern of adolescence are best served by girls' schools where they can develop a complex sense of self including both risk taking and caring qualities. A study confirming that single sex schools promote girls' intellectual and leadership development is cited. (MJL)

Examining seven major trends in current efforts to reform secondary education, the author outlines recommendations being issued in 1984 in three publications of the project known as A Study of High Schools and offers a set of eight suggestions for school heads to act on in the immediate future. (JBM)

Although high school art classes stress creativity, abstracting, analytical and evaluative skills, personal motivation, caring, and commitment to one one's own work, college admissions policies tend to undervalue them. To improve the quality of education, college admissions policies should take art as seriously as other "academic" subjects. (JBM)

The promise of education at a private Baltimore (Maryland) school rests in the idea that scholarship is the key to autonomy, self-determination, and self-fulfillment. The Park Heights Street Academy serves as a haven for the able adolescent who has been misplaced for social, political, economic, or academic reasons. (Author/MLF)

Through law-related education, students learn how society faces the need for legal structure. The law-related curricula of many schools share certain aims: to provide knowledge and a positive attitude toward the law, to improve analytical thinking, and to examine the fundamental values of our society. (Author/MLF)

Student volunteerism can include direct service, research and community education, and advocacy service. Alert observation and informed questioning are at the heart of learning from nonclassroom experience. (Author/MLF)

Defines the role of a department head and suggests some ways to help schools use department chairmen more effectively. (MLF)

The major cause of stress in private schools is ambiguity, according to this administrator, including ambiguity about teachers' status, roles, and commitment as well as about alumni attitudes, academic curricula, educational change, standardized tests, the purposes of a private education, and tuition tax credits. (RW)

Sources of teacher stress in private boarding schools include the expectations placed on teachers, poor administrative leadership, the physical environment, time pressures, and age differences or similarities with colleagues and students. Coping with stress may involve lowered expectations, better personal health care, consistent supervision,…

Because boarding schools resemble "total institutions," offering no escape from failure or low self-esteem, private school students feel great stress. Both good and bad students feel stress, as do new, minority, or emotionally troubled students, especially from lack of privacy, lack of control over life, and demanding schedules. (RW)

Trustees evaluating their private school should know the school and its staff. They can use objective evaluation methods, such as standardized test results or college placement of graduates, but they should also incorporate the opinions of recent graduates and the community and utilize staff presentations to the board. (RW)

Popular culture now considers marijuana harmless, but research shows it has definite physiological and neurological effects, effacing memory and attention and producing cell damage and learning deficits. Young people turn to pot to escape the emotional pressures of adolescence. Parents and schools can help adolescents by setting firm prohibitions.…