Abington Friends School - Outward Bound Yearbook (Jenkintown, PA)

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Abington Friends School's Second Senior Project- 6'The For the past two years Abington Friends School has conducted a spe- cial three Week work-study project for seniors. Each year the seniors have found it an exciting departure from their academic routine. Each year at least one student has called it the most important experience of my school life. Each year more than one student has been critical of some aspects of the project. But none has suggested that it be abbreviated or abandoned. Most would like to see it lengthened. Last year 's venture centered around the subject of The Status of Ameri- can VVomen. It was a. great success with students, parents, faculty, and the public. There was a strong temp- tation to repeat it this year, but some teachers pointed out that change is an essential characteristic of the project -change in modes of learning and change in content. tl Consequently, the first stage of the -Clarissa Ehrman produced a musical assembly program with students at Kenderton School during her week ot work with the National Teachers Corps. Supervisors re- ported her rapport with students was remarkable. project is an exercise in selection. The structure and operation of the program depends on the choice of a subject that deserves three Weeks of concentrated attention. This year the general area of study was agreed upon at summer meetings of all interested teachers. The meetings were spaced to allow time for reading and reiiec- tiong in future they may include stu- dents. The teachers who come are those who are free and who enjoy reading and discussing subjects out- side their specialties. The result of last year's meetings was a recommendation that the sec- ond program center around the prob- lem of poverty. Early in the fall the seniors elected a committee to work out details with the faculty. Dr. Arthur Shostak, professor of sociol- ogy at the University of Pennsyl- vania, was engaged a second time to advise the steering committee. At a preliminary meeting, he pointed out that while a. clinical approach CWhat is poverty? VVhat are the poor liketj can be engrossing, a more useful sub- ject would be poverty reform CWhat can be done? Who should do it?J. Emphasis On New Solutions The committee was pleased with Dr. Shostak's suggestions. Since Phila- delphia's poverty programs are con- troversial, and experimental, they af- ford excellent opportunities for stu- dents to learn the difficulties and ex- citement of putting new ideas into practice. While all students were not able to work among the poor, many of those who did experienced the sight and smell and touch and taste and sound of poverty in ways that cannot be approached even in the best films. These students also learned import- ant things about themselves during their work period. Nothing they had read or heard compared with actual experience and, as in the first pro- gram, they called it the highlight of the project. Many would like 'to see it extended to two weeks, rather than one. Some feel students themselves should find their own assignments with faculty guidance. However, the faculty has learned that Held work alone can sometimes be trivial, even misleading. Unless they are fitted into a complete frame- work, random faets can serve to con- firm existing prejudice. Most students understand this and will probably in- sist that work and study be coordi- nated.

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f if ' K lf 5 i 5 '21 K A V , ff' ML a , ff V il K f H , A W -, .- C wilfi--,:f,..-:: Now you're geH'ing if righ+, AFS exchange sfudeni' Chrisfiane Secher felis a young siudeni sfruggling wifh basic arifhmefic ai' g fhe Opporiunifies Indusiralizafion Cen+er. During one hour of each day, Chrisfiane changed her role from feacher fo sfudenf hnl' and joined 'rhe OIC class in English as a Foreign Language. She was deiighfed wifh her work assignmenf. found 'Phe enfire projeci' a new and exciiing way fo learn. K H 1 K P Q, .. , . . 1 K. 1 - f .. i , -- , ff K, ,AN f 511 4 1 , v ywxqqg i r x .. A 'fi 'iiyiisifii - mf. . Li-:kr enzor rofecf- 1 96 7 ABINGTON FRIENDS SCHOOL Jenkinfown, Penna. I9046

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ieform of Poverty 99 Bonnie Willig and Louise Shuiz worlied in the pre-kindergarten Get Sei pro- gram of the Lehigh Avenue YMCA. They reported that while this program administered by the Philadelphia Board of Education needs improvement. if still has merit for the many children of working mothers who might otherwise be unattended. This Year, two days of lectures and films preceded the field work, with eight days following it. During the final week, there was a field trip con- ducted by the Philadelphia Rede- velopment Authority and a day of interviews with important otlicials in poverty programs. Each team of stu- dents made oral reports on its Work and interview assignments in order to share its findings with the class. The faculty was surprised and de- lighted that so many qualified people were willing to take time out from important work to come to Jenkin- town to talk with a class of only' 25 themselves re-examine students. The speakers enjoyed the chance to their activities from the viewpoints of students. Dr. Shostak spoke at the iirst and dual sessions. In addition, students had the opportunity of hearing Dr. Julian Griifer, a regional director of the Oiiice of Economic Opportunity, the agency which administers all fed- eral poverty assistanceg the Reverend Tom Ritter, executive director of the exciting Opportunities Industraliza- tion Center, Dr. Donald Cheek, out- spoken director of the Council for Research for Better Schools, Nicholas S-troh, the Evening BulZet'in's bitter critic of the administrators of the Philadelphia Anti-Poverty Action Committee, Sylvia Meeks, the Urban League 's education director who had harsh words for the Philadelphia school system, the teachers' union, and the people who Hee to the suburbs rather than lead the fight to improve the system. There were a number of panel discussions with representatives of VISTA, the domestic peace corps, the Job Corps, and grass roots coin- munity action groups. Both documentary and art films were used. These included Raisin in the Sun, The Quiet One, View from the Center, and 2'The Bicycle Thief. Students would have liked more films. Books and articles on poverty are coming out every day, but Michael Harrington's The Other America re- mains, as Dr. Griifer pointed out, the Uncle -Tomfs Cabin of the war on poverty. Other useful books were Louise Shotwe-l1's The Harvest- ers, Harry M. Caudill's Night Comes to the Cimtberlamis, and John Ken- neth Galbraith 's The Affluent So- ciety. Term papers on some aspect of the problem were researched and written before the project began, and stu- dents were urged to spen-d as many weekends as possible at work camps sponsored by the Friends Social Order Committee. Those students who regularly participate in Work camps proved to be much better prepared for the program. Two of them were on the team which worked with Na- tional Teacher Corps trainees in a slum school. Their supervisor, Pa- tricia Alpren, wrote in a letter to Headmaster Adelbert Mason, 4'The girls from A.F.S., in just ive days, made a wonderful contribution to our program . . . They brought with them in addition to their special profes- sional talents, an enthusiasm and sen- sitivity that was contagious . . . their perceptive questions gave us an op- portunity to clarify and evaluate our goals . . . I hope we will have future opportunities to work with your stu- dents. Another heartening comment came from Ann Richardson, an exchange student from Durban, South Africa, who spent a day observing the pro- ject during its final week. She said: I have been in several public and private schools at home and in your country, but I have never heard a class discussion that was so free and so exciting. Your students have learned so much . . . all those tech- nical terms! I only wish I could have been a part of it from the begin- ning.