Milton’s Academic Philosophy
By SARAH PALMER ‘20
Most students who apply to Milton are attracted to the school for various reasons. Some follow in the footsteps of their relatives, some come for the rigorous academic program, and some come for the opportunity to specialize.
Going into my interview with Ms. Bonenfant, I had the intention of exposing inequalities in the credit and requirement system, such as students’ inability to take six credits (while some half courses are just as difficult as a full course) and the many different ways students fulfill their sports requirement. However, during the interview it became apparent that some of the inconsistencies were actually disguised liberties. For example, if a student wants to audit a course (take it and not receive credit), they can.
As for the sports requirement, Bonenfant, a math teacher and academic dean, noted the disparity between a student fulfilling the credit with P.E.–which meets 3 times a week during the school day for 45 minutes–and a student playing a sport which can take up 15 hours a week depending on the activity. However, Bonenfant, stating that “those are also more elective things: you can elect to play a sport if you want to,” revealed that it is a really a liberty that the students who are not as interested in athletics are only required to take P.E. at minimum, while those who enjoy sports can specialize and deeply engage. Furthermore, the student handbook highlights more ways a student can fulfill their sports requirement, a specific section stating that the number of P.E meetings per week can be reduced if “they are engaged in a maximum of two faculty-sponsored activities for a total of 8-10 hours per week. The activities can include drama, speech team, community service and publications,” demonstrating the liberty for students to follow their interests in Milton’s system.
Bonenfant stated “I also think there are kids at Milton that are able to really focus on those things, those disciplines they really like: you can take two languages at Milton, you can do that at Milton, that’s amazing! If you love History and Social Sciences, there’s a way for you to do that; it means that you are making choices because there are other things you are not taking but there is a way for you to do that.” She presented this freedom as a key part of Milton philosophy when she continued, “I think that one of the things that gets kids excited about learning is choice, being able to take something that you are interested and that you want to learn - that's when we’re excited about going to school.”
However, there are still some inequalities. For example, even within varsity sports, though they are an activity you choose to partake in, the time commitment can vary greatly and is not always in the student’s control. For example, Bonenfant highlighted the time commitment for some sports where “we have the facilities here on campus: we have locker rooms, we have a field” versus that for sports “that we do off campus, where you have to get on a bus just to get to your practice location.” She also noted that some events just take longer when she stated “Not all varsity sports take the same amount of time: think about a track meet–that’s like all day on a Saturday or all day on a Wednesday–so yeah, things are they’re different.”
In order to graduate from Milton Academy, students are required to take three sports credits a year during underclassmen years and two sports credits a year during upperclassmen years. Furthermore, while students have to take four years of English, they have to take only two years of science and history, have to reach only level three in language, and have to get through only Algebra 2 in math.
However, in the interview with Jackie Bonenfant, she acknowledged the typical track students take: four years of english and math, three years of science, two years of history, one year of arts, and four years of language. Interestingly, although only four are required, many students take the maximum number 5 ½ credits, for a total of twenty-two credits; in addition to the unaccredited courses, students are required to take like CEPS, Social Awareness, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts among many others.
Bonenfant acknowledged the peculiarity of students generally over-completing the credit requirements in every subject matter and suggested that it was due to the external pressures on high school students to appear well-rounded. While talking about Milton’s requirements, she stated “I would never want to have a program that was so restrictive that we told you every single year what you were going to take, even though, given the colleges our students apply to, I think most students feel pressured to take more. They are already taking four years of english, I think they feel pressured to take four years of math, and beyond level three in language, and not just physics and biology, but physics, chemistry, and biology.”
Although, at a first glance, Milton’s system appears to be unequal, Bonenfant revealed that the true liberty students are given is that to interpret the requirements and to specialize in spite of generally low minimum standards. The contrast between the liberty Milton provides its students and the common courseload students take unveils that a lot of the pressure placed on the student body comes from external sources.