School life, between the linesBy Admissions Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
School portraits · New York City
Every boy at a Manhattan school carves a wooden plaque before he graduates. It goes on the wall, and it stays there, long after he has changed his mind.
School portraits · New York City
At a retiring teacher's last Ethical Issues in Sports class in 2024, the head of school appeared in the doorway. The teacher had a question for him.
School portraits · New York City
At Bank Street School for Children, math is taught through projects where students pick the topic. One student picked reality television, and kept picking it for four years.
School portraits · New York City
A Greenwich Village school gives its children real jobs, starting in third grade. Before the post office can open, someone has to price the envelopes.
School portraits · Brooklyn
A Brooklyn Heights school without letter grades sends home paragraphs instead. One parent, decades ago, nearly pulled his child out over it.
Parent life · New York City
Brooklyn parents ask online whether a preschool across the river is worth the commute. The estimates come in at eleven minutes and go up from there.
The admissions files · New York City
In 2020 New York private schools moved their kindergarten assessment onto Zoom. The rules for the four-year-olds were simple. The rules for the adults were not.
The admissions files · New York City
In 2014 Horace Mann and Riverdale swapped a $568 exam for a $65 iPad test. My eldest was four, and I had a calculator.
