Meeting for Worship

All students and teachers in the Upper School are expected to attend the Meeting for Worship once each week. This, “the most important appointment of the week,” interrupts our busy lives and gives time for reflection.

In the Upper School, students also study Quakerism in two classes:

Quakerism (Required Grade 9)

Students study the faith, practice, and history of the Religious Society of Friends in this term course. Topics discussed include Meeting for Worship; the Inner Light; decision making by consensus; and testimonies regarding integrity, simplicity, equality, and peace (non-violence). A particular emphasis is placed on Quaker ideas in action and Quaker participation in social reform movements.

Religion in American Culture: Seeking happiness, peace, pleasure, and purpose (Required Grade 12)

This semester course will focus on an examination of contemporary individuals as well as religious groups that have made choices driven by the spirit. Students will be asked to examine these choices from a Quaker perspective as well as from a variety of religious traditions in America. Students will seek to define abstract ideals such as truth, equality, and peace and address the significance of service, education, and family in this life-long pursuit. Students will be challenged to look at the importance of religion, spiritual concerns, and values in their own lives as they too seek to achieve happiness, peace, pleasure and purpose. The major portion of a student’s grade will be determined by the thoughtful completion of short reflection essays.