|
Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECF), known as ''Fieldston'', is a private independent school in New York City. The school is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League. The school serves approximately 1700 students and 325 faculty and staff. Damian J. Fernandez has been the Head of School since July 2011.〔()〕 The school consists of four divisions: Ethical Culture, Fieldston Lower, Fieldston Middle, and Fieldston Upper. Ethical Culture, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and Fieldston Lower, located on the Fieldston campus in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, serve Pre-K through 5th Grade. The two lower schools feed into Fieldston Middle (grades 6-8) and Fieldston Upper (grades 9-12)—also located on the Fieldston campus in Riverdale. Ethical Culture is headed by Rob Cousins, Fieldston Lower is headed by George Burns, Fieldston Middle is headed by Kevin Jacobson, and Fieldston Upper is headed by Robert J. Cairo (Interim Principal). Tuition and fees for ECF were $43,265 for the 2014-15 school year. == History == The school opened in 1878 as a free kindergarten, founded by Felix Adler at the age of 24. In 1880, elementary grades were added, and the school was then called the Workingman's School. At that time, the idea that the children of the poor should be educated was innovative. By 1890 the school's academic reputation encouraged many more wealthy parents to seek it out, and the school was expanded to accommodate the upper-class as well, and began charging tuition; in 1895 the name changed to "The Ethical Culture School", and in 1903 the New York Society for Ethical Culture became its sponsor. The economic diversity which was important then continues today: although the school's tuition is over $30,000 per student per year, Fieldston is said to have one of the largest financial aid funds〔as of 2004〕 of any independent school in the country. About 1/3 of the students are on full or partial financial aid. The school moved into its landmark Manhattan 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 exclusive Fieldston section of Riverdale; the Manhattan branch of the Lower School remained there, and in 1932 a second Lower School was opened on the Riverdale campus. In 2007, a new middle school was opened on the same Riverdale campus, for the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Ethical Culture was said 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."〔This tolerant spirit, and the founding philosophy overall, continues to draw families today although they might now be welcome anywhere. The school ended its formal ties with the Society in the 1990s, although retaining its name and striving to maintain the ethical tradition of its roots. One of the early faculty members was the famous documentary photographer Lewis Hine. ECF is not the only Ethical Culture School in the New York City area. In 1922, an Ethical Culture School was founded in Brooklyn, near Prospect Park, by Julie Wurtzberger Neuman.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Mark Horowitz : Alumni )〕 However, this school is unrelated to the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. 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 were planned, and construction began in June 2004 with an estimated date of completion of September 2007.〔()〕 The design of the two new buildings as well as significant renovations to the dining hall and classrooms was done by the New York architecture firm Cooper, Robertson & Partners. Previously, the lower schools started with Pre-K and went up to 6th grade, and the upper school from 7th to 12th grade, with Forms 1 and 2 (7th and 8th grade) somewhat distinct from the high school, but sharing the same space, and with some overlap of faculty and much interaction among students. With the new middle school, located on the Fieldston campus, students in 6th, 7th and 8th grade are in their own building, with their own curriculum and faculty, and less interaction with the high school. This has the positive result of additional classrooms for the lower and upper schools which are overcrowded. However, there has been much controversy among the alumni, parent and student body concerning the issue, as some felt that Fieldston was losing its unique identity with this change, but economic and space pressures prevailed. The community remains divided on whether a separate middle school was pedagogically warranted, with strong feelings on both sides. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ethical Culture Fieldston School」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|