I attended this school from elementary school ("lower school," in STE parlance) up to high school. In hindsight, I appreciate its emphasis on grammar and good writing, which have served me well. The math was also strong--as I recall, students can progress through Calculus B-C by graduation. The school does have some severe flaws, though.
The most glaring flaws in content are (or at least in my time, were) the history and social science curricula, particularly prior to high school. Students are taught creationism, and the King James Bible is treated as a textbook. The only knowledge I had of American history when I left STE was that which I gained on my own, outside of class. More problematically, student thought that conflicts with the narratives presented in "history" classes is actively discouraged, which corrals developing critical thinking skills. In prioritizing memorization (which is quite important, of course) over critical thinking, the school does more harm than good. Unfortunately, this detrimental approach is pervasive throughout the institution, which seems to thrive on a cult-like mentality of indoctrination: it teaches children to accept rather than question by teaching them that the greatest knowledge, that from God, comes through mere acceptance. Of course, this conceptual framework grossly devalues virtually everything useful in life--i.e., everything people have ever made.
Much like the aforementioned challenges to teaching substance, challenges to this broader pedagogical approach are not well received. Rather than addressing students on the merits of their points, teachers and school leadership generally rely on punishment. Paddling was, and perhaps still is, very common. Ditto for forcing children (including elementary school children) to kneel on gravel for extended periods. This preference for punishment over constructive engagement continues for two distinct reasons: entrenched leadership and ugly parenting.
On the former point, it is worth noting the rampant nepotism present in St. Thomas. Huge swathes of the faculty are alumni, which tends to be a double-edged sword--they help carry on good traditions, but also bad traditions. In particular, they have perpetuated archaic modes of thinking, of pedagogy, etc.; insularity and the lack of fresh blood has bred stiff opposition to advancement. One illustrative example is the fairly recent integration of female students into the school band. I assure you this owed not to the leadership's resolve to end that anachronistic practice, but to external pressures. I know this because the present headmaster, Michael Cusack, once swore there would never be gender integration in the band. Of course, he was but the bandmaster at the time, so perhaps he felt freer to speak his true mind then.
On the point of ugly parenting--suffice to say that your child may well encounter social problems if s/he is not Christian. Such problems are not the fault of other children, of course; they're merely children. Rather, the blame lies at the feet of adults who stigmatize children who differ from their own. In my own time at the school, I was aware of both parents and teachers who encouraged such stigmatization. Among those faculty were the wife of Mr. Cusack and former dance teacher, Ms. Cusack, and her sister-cum-co-dance-teacher, Diane McPhee. As I said previously, this school does not nourish children: it straps them into rigidity and uses punishment to encourage compliance. This is problematic on a broad level, because the school is so impoverished in diversity (I would guesstimate WASPs compose 80%+ of the student body) that students are likely to carry such ingroup/outgroup dichotomies into many other facets of life. (On a more comic and lighter note, during my time, Ms. McPhee was known by students as an alcoholic who drunkenly rolled down the hills of Scotland during dance competitions.)
I suppose any reader of this review will probably care not just about the pedagogy, but also the results--about what happens to graduates of STE. Most go to mediocre colleges; the most common school among those in my class was probably UH. A sizable contingent also went to A&M. Shockingly few attended UT, and only a couple rebels fled to liberal arts colleges. Aside from me, I can think of only one classmate who attended an Ivy (and recall that I did not graduate from STE). Some did not attend college at all. Of course, college isn't the be-all-end-all...STE prides itself on shaping individuals of integrity. Unfortunately, a sampling of my former classmates would reveal various forms of bigotry ranging from homophobia to Islamophobia. Not in the "Well, I disagree, but just leave me out of it and don't be violent/offensive and we're cool" kind of way, either. read more
