Athenian Strives For Balance Between Divergent Identities

The Athenian School is a multifaceted place. College preparatory, experiential education, DEIS, and six Pillars: these are some of the many ideals Athenian has advertised to its prospective families. Each principle demonstrates Athenian’s educational aspiration and rigor; however, due to such diversity in goals, Athenian might be lacking a comprehensive framework.

For instance, the recent decision made by Athenian’s administration to abolish AP courses after 2023 aroused frustration among many families for being insufficient in preparing students for college. The new equitable grading system has also become a source of controversy. The airplane project, which has long been a symbol of experiential education at Athenian, has been discontinued due to a lack of inclusivity. During the Town Hall meeting on February 24, 2023, students mentioned how the administration has compromised its environmentalism pillar in order to uphold other ideals, for instance, the packaging of cups distributed during DEIS day.

Some teachers who have observed the school’s changes raise concerns about what the school has sacrificed in pursuit of so many different goals. Others find that the synergy between the multiplicity of ideals is what makes an Athenian education unique.

In defining Athenian’s core ideals, many teachers identified preparing students for college and whole-person education as some of the school’s top priorities. 

Chris Beeson, the director of Admission and Financial Aid, who has worked in Athenian for 30 years, said, “[The primary goal of the school] was always to prepare students for college, develop them as world citizens, and have them think about a life of meaning and purpose.” 

He emphasized that preparing students for college and offering a well-rounded education can coexist, and cautioned against contrasting the two ideals. 

“It's never been one or the other. It's always been both. That's what some people like to call a false dichotomy, meaning that one doesn’t necessarily oppose the other,” Beeson said.

Gabe del Real, who has worked as a humanities teacher and Dean of Academics at Athenian for 29 years, suggested that the source of such conflict in identity comes from the evolving definition of college prep throughout the school’s history.

“We were founded as a college preparatory school. [Dyke Brown] always saw the students here as being prepared for college. And so being a college preparatory school is not something new to our identity. What has changed is the common understanding of what college preparatory means,” del Real said.

Bruce Hamren, who has worked as a science teacher at Athenian since 1990, acknowledged an increase in competition among students.

“The original goal of the school was an education of the whole person. It wasn't college prep, per se, but the school prepared students for college. Just the focus was not on the highest test scores or the highest prestige. It was about the quality of the person. It was not about ‘How we can sell this student to another school?’” Hamren said. 

Dave Otten, an engineering teacher who has worked at Athenian for 19 years, mentions the change he sees in students’ attitudes toward college.

“It's far more competitive now. Students apply to far more schools than they used to. It dominates their thinking in a way that it didn't use to. And the culture around acceptance letters and people talking about what schools they got into has changed as well,” Otten said.

April Smock, the Humanities Department Chair who came to the Athenian as a middle school teacher in 1996, raises concerns about the challenge posed by this shift in student population in the school.

“I have an all-senior advisory, and it feels to me like this anxiety about college, the process of getting into college, and all the ugly underside of competitiveness that can bring out for people, feels more enhanced than it used to be. And so then I worry about how to maintain this connected, collaborative, loving, caring, educational place together if people feel this anxiety about how am I going to get into this college or that college.

Hamren traces this change in Athenian’s approach toward college prep back to the school’s history.

“In 1992, the Head of the school's name was Sam Elliot. And he said, ‘Look, we may have to close the school’ because there wasn't enough income to keep it running. In being kind of strategic to advertise the school, we got these vans that said The Athenian school–a college preparatory school, and that became kind of like a sales point,” Hamren said.

Del Real listed the ramifications Athenian has faced by shifting their original ideal and conforming to the general definition of a college preparatory education.

“We purposefully did not go to AP courses in science. The science department didn't want to do that. One of our former science department chairs was asked ‘why doesn’t an Athenian offer AP science courses?’ And his answer was ‘because we want our students to become scientists.’ He made it very clear that AP is noted for being a mile wide, but an inch deep. For us, we want students to go a mile deep,” del Real said.

Hamren also discussed the increased population of students.

“The school [used to be] smaller. Everyone knew each other. It was relationship oriented. And so there was a lot of trust in the dynamics of the faculty. The school decided to go to 360 students which made Athenian cross that point that Dyke Brown warned, when people start falling through the cracks because we don't know one another anymore” Hamren said.

Witnessing these changes in school, both del Real and Hamren recognized the need to preserve the school’s ideals. 

“When people asked ‘why Athenian?’, what we’ve tried to say was ‘because your kid's chances of getting to college will be better.’ I think we have an opportunity to instead say ‘because the chances of your kid living a more fulfilled life will be better.” del Real said.

Hamren said, “I think the most important thing that we struggle with is when it comes to prestige and money, that's fine, but you can't sell your ideals, you can't sell your soul for that. You can't sacrifice values. You need to stand up for what it is that's important. And I think that gets a little blurry when the focus shifts from one thing to another.”