Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS), also known as Fieldston, is a private pre-K–12th grade coeducational school in New York City with two campuses in Manhattan and the Bronx. The school is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League. The school serves approximately 1,700 students with 480 faculty and staff.[2]
Ethical Culture Fieldston School | |
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Address | |
, 10023 United States | |
Coordinates | 40°53′21″N 73°54′23″W / 40.88917°N 73.90639°W |
Information | |
Type | Private, day, college-preparatory |
Motto | Latin: Fiat lux ("Let there be light") |
Established | 1878 |
Founder | Felix Adler |
Head of school | Joe Algrant |
Teaching staff | Approx. 270 |
Grades | PK–12 |
Gender | Coeducational |
Enrollment | 1,662 |
Student to teacher ratio | 6:1 |
Campus size | 18 acres (73,000 m2) |
Campus type | Urban |
Color(s) | PMS 021 orange |
Mascot | Eagle |
Accreditation | National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) |
Newspaper | Fieldston News and Fieldston Political Journal |
Yearbook | Fieldglass |
Annual tuition | $63,020 (2023-24) [1] |
Affiliations | Ivy Preparatory School League |
Other publications | Fieldston News The Fieldston LP, Fieldston Lit Mag, Middle School News, Dope Ink Prints, The Hill Chronicle, Inklings, The Fieldston Political Journal |
Song |
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Website | www.ecfs.org |
The school consists of four divisions: Ethical Culture (Pre-K through 5th grade, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan), Fieldston Lower (in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, also serves Pre-K through 5th grade), Fieldston Middle (6th–8th grades, in Riverdale), and Fieldston Upper (9th–12th grades, in Riverdale). Tuition and fees for ECFS were $60,595 for the 2022-2023 school year and $63,020 for the 2023-2024 school year. [3][4]
History edit
The school opened in 1878 as a free kindergarten, founded by Felix Adler at the age of 24. In 1880, elementary grades were added, and the school was then called the Workingman's School. At that time, the idea that the children of the poor should be educated was innovative. By 1890 the school's academic reputation encouraged many more wealthy parents to seek it out, and the school was expanded to accommodate the upper-class as well, and began charging tuition; in 1895 the name changed to "The Ethical Culture School", and in 1903 the New York Society for Ethical Culture became its sponsor. Fieldston awards over $15 million in tuition-based financial aid to 22% of the student body.[5][4]
One of the early faculty members was American sociologist Lewis Hine.
In March 1970, about 60 students occupied the administration building in protest to demand that more black and Puerto Rican students be admitted to the school. They also aimed to have a greater number of minority courses, teachers, advisors, employees. The school agreed to some of the student demands.[6][7]
Recent developments edit
Beginning in 2015, the school began separating children for mandatory weekly "affinity group" meetings based on their self-identified race, to discuss issues of race and bias. The experimental trial program was met with controversy from some Fieldston parents.[8][9]
In February 2019, a video that is believed to be created years previously was discovered by administrators after it was shared during a dispute between students. The students in the video use derogatory and racist language.[10] Students involved who were still enrolled in the school were punished; however, some students who thought the actions were not enough staged a sit-in. The students presented the administrators with demands that included increased racial bias training, more faculty of color, the more students of color recruitment, and a required ethnic studies course; the students' demands were agreed to and are planned to be implemented.[11]
The school also attracted attention in November 2019 after it hosted a guest speaker who compared the Israeli treatment of Palestinians to the Holocaust, a statement which was denounced as antisemitic,[12] including two Reform Jewish rabbis who spoke at the school in the wake of the controversy and subsequently published a New York Times editorial about the incident.[13]
In January 2020, the school fired a tweeting Jewish teacher who opposed the invitation of two speakers on anti-Semitism because they were, according to him, "white" and Zionists.[14] Some parents asked for the teacher's reinstatement.[15]
Academics edit
The core of their educational program is the study and practice of ethics which is infused throughout the interdisciplinary curriculum. Whole-child pedagogy attempts to nurture the intellectual, physical, emotional, and social growth of every student. [16]
Fieldston terminated its participation in the Advanced Placement Program in 2002 to give its faculty the freedom to offer more innovative, challenging, and thought-provoking material. Students can take AP exams, but the school no longer officially sponsors such courses.[17]
Athletics edit
As of 2023, Fieldston has 60 junior varsity and varsity athletic teams in the middle and upper schools. Student athletes have won 26 state and 65 league titles since the year 2000. Teams are part of the Ivy Preparatory School League and include:[18]
Fall sports |
Winter sports |
Spring sports
|
Girls Varsity Volleyball won the 2023 New York State Independent School (NYSAIS) Championship after having an undefeated season with 21 wins. [19] [20]
Student life edit
At the two lower schools and in the middle school, students can participate in a variety of before and after-school programs, including fencing, cooking, golf, robotics, chess, and many sports.
In the Upper and Middle Schools, there are more than 80 student-led clubs, affinity groups, and service-learning organizations.[21]
Student publications edit
The Fieldston News is Fieldston Upper's student-run newspaper.[22]
Peer schools edit
Ethical Culture Fieldston is a part of the Ivy Preparatory School League,[23] with many of New York City's elite private schools. The three high schools Fieldston, Riverdale, and Horace Mann together are known as the "Hill schools,"[24] as all three (sometimes rivals) are located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, on a hilly area above Van Cortlandt Park.
Notable alumni and former students edit
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. (October 2022) |
Among its many notable alumni and former students are:
- A. G. Sulzberger – the chairman of The New York Times Company and the publisher of The New York Times
- Jill Abramson – former executive editor of The New York Times[25]
- Clifford Alexander Jr. – former Secretary of the Army[26]
- George J. Ames - former Lazard executive
- Joseph Amiel – author[27]
- Diane Arbus – photographer[28]
- Mary T. Bassett – Physician and public health researcher and public advocate
- Leon Black – financier, Apollo Management and Drexel Burnham Lambert[29]
- Richard D. Brown – historian of colonial and revolutionary-era America; professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut
- Nancy Cantor – chancellor, Syracuse University[30]
- Peter H. Christensen – academic
- Jerry Craft – Children's book author; american cartoonist
- Sofia Coppola – Oscar-winning writer/director (attended middle school at Fieldston)[31]
- Andrew Delbanco – critic and author. Director, American studies, Columbia University[32]
- Nicholas Delbanco – novelist[33]
- David Denby – film critic, The New Yorker[31]
- Ralph de Toledano – author[34]
- Glen de Vries – American entrepreneur in the field of medical science and pharmacology
- Joseph Leo Doob – mathematician
- Douglas Durst – real estate magnate
- Francis Fergusson – literary critic and writer
- Rita Gam – film actress
- Jim Gardner – longtime WPVI-TV news anchor
- Alan Gilbert – music director of the New York Philharmonic
- Ailes Gilmour – dancer
- Leonie Gilmour – educator and writer
- Rob Glaser – internet pioneer
- Matt Goldman, performance artist. Co-founder, Blue Man Group
- Maggie Haberman – The New York Times political reporter
- Patricia Harris – Former Deputy Mayor of NYC, President of Bloomberg Philanthropies
- Judith Lewis Herman— psychiatrist
- Susie Linfield - author, critic, editor and NYU Professor
- Charles Herman-Wurmfeld – film director
- Robert Jervis – political scientist. Adlai E. Stevenson Professor, Columbia University
- Elizabeth Jonas (neurologist) – physician, neuroscientist, and professor, Yale School of Medicine
- Bess Kalb – comedic writer, author and writer
- Rodney Jones – jazz guitarist
- Jeffrey Katzenberg – film producer, media mogul[35]
- Yosuke Kawasaki – violinist
- Sinah Estelle Kelley – chemist
- William Melvin Kelley – author (A Different Drummer, Dunfords Travels Everywhere)
- Charlie King – New York civic leader and politician
- Arthur Kinoy – civil rights lawyer
- Ernest Kinoy – screenwriter
- Walter Koenig – actor
- Joseph Kraft – public affairs columnist
- Jake Lamar – author, writer and playwright
- Louise Lasser – actress
- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt – author, The New York Times book reviewer
- Sean Ono Lennon – musician (did not graduate from Fieldston)
- Eda LeShan – child psychologist and author
- Carl P. Leubsdorf – Washington bureau chief, Dallas Morning News
- Doug Liman – film director (Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith)
- Andrew Litton – conductor, New York City Ballet
- Beulah Livingstone – motion picture publicist[36]
- Douglas Lowenstein – president and CEO of Private Equity Council, founder and former president of Entertainment Software Association
- Douglas Lowy – cancer biologist; director of U.S. National Cancer Institute
- Staughton Lynd – peace activist and civil rights activist
- Jeffrey Lyons – film critic, WNBC-TV, New York City
- Mark A. Michaels- author and sexuality educator
- Bob Marshall – conservationist, writer, and the founder of The Wilderness Society
- Andy Marvel – award-winning musician
- Grace M. Mayer – curator at The Museum of the City of New York and The Museum of Modern Art
- Jane Mayer – best selling author, investigative journalist, The New Yorker
- Zach McGowan - actor
- Marguerita Mergentime – industrial designer
- Nicholas Meyer – film director
- Jo Mielziner – stage designer
- Olivette Miller – jazz harpist
- Marvin Minsky – pioneer in artificial intelligence at MIT
- Tim Minton – television journalist and media executive
- Alfred Mirsky – cell biologist
- Jeannette Mirsky – writer
- Frederic S. Mishkin – governor of the Federal Reserve Board
- Joan Morgan – Jamaican-American writer and author
- Robert M. Morgenthau – retired New York County District Attorney
- Robert Moses - urban planner and public official
- Howard Nemerov – former United States Poet Laureate
- Gabriel Olds – actor, writer
- J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), physicist, scientific director of the Manhattan Project, "Father of the Atomic Bomb"[37]
- Eleanor Pepper (1904–1997), architect, interior designer[citation needed]
- Marjorie Perloff (1931–2024), poetry scholar and critic, known for her study of avant-garde poetry[38]
- Emanuel R. Piore (1908–2000, class of 1926)chief scientist of IBM, and electrical engineering pioneer[39]
- Belva Plain (1915–2010), author[40]
- Susan Poser (born 1963), President of Hofstra University[41]
- Letty Cottin Pogrebin (born 1939), author[citation needed]
- Eve M. Troutt Powell – Historian of Middle East Studies[citation needed]
- Edward R. Pressman (1943–2023), film producer[42]
- Richard Ravitch – business and civic leader
- Nancy Reiner - graduating as Nancy Russek, cover artist of Jimi Hendrix album The Cry of Love (1971), among others
- Menachem Z. Rosensaft – attorney and founding chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Survivors
- Dan Rottenberg — journalist and author
- Muriel Rukeyser – poet and playwright
- David Sarasohn – associate editor and syndicated columnist for The Oregonian newspaper
- James H. Scheuer – US Congressman (NY)
- Gil Scott-Heron – musician[citation needed]
- Nicole Seligman – lawyer, Sony executive
- Cynthia Propper Seton – novelist
- Robert B. Sherman – composer, lyricist, screenwriter, painter
- Laura Silber – author, former journalist and Vice President for Advocacy and Communications at the Open Society Foundations
- Mariko Silver – former president of Bennington College, President of Luce Foundation
- Lucy Simon – composer, singer
- Stephen Slesinger – creator of the Red Ryder comic strip
- Tess Slesinger – author/screenwriter
- Alan B. Slifka – Investor and philanthropist; founder of Big Apple Circus
- Jay Smooth – radio host and cultural commentator
- Donald J. Sobol – author of juvenile short stories; creator of Encyclopedia Brown
- Stephen Sondheim – composer; attended the Fieldston Lower School
- Dan Squadron – New York State Senator
- Andy Stein – musician
- Stewart Stern – screenwriter
- Paul Strand – photographer and filmmaker
- James Toback – filmmaker
- Richard Tofel – journalist, attorney, administrator, non fiction writer
- Doris Ulmann – photographer of Appalachia
- Laurence Urdang – lexicographer, dictionary editor[43]
- Helen Valentine – founder of Seventeen magazine
- Elliot Villar – actor
- Barbara Walters – TV news[31]
- Andrew Weisblum – Oscar-nominated film editor
- Andrew Weissmann – attorney and professor
- Chris Wink, performance artist; co-founder, Blue Man Group
- Howard Wolfson – deputy mayor of New York City
- Jane C. Wright – oncologist[44]
- Keith L. T. Wright – New York State Assemblyman
- Sheryl WuDunn – investment banker, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
- Adam Yarmolinsky – academic and author who served in the Kennedy, Johnson and Carter administrations
- Eli Zabar – New York City restaurateur
- Lynn Zelevansky - contemporary art curator and Carnegie Museum of Art director
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "ECFS; Tuition, Fees & Financial Aid". ECFS. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
- ^ "Ethical Culture Fieldston School: Admissions General FAQ". ecfs.org. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ "ECFS: Tuition and Financial Aid". ecfs.org. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
- ^ a b "Frequently Asked Questions About Our Admissions Process". ECFS. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
- ^ "Ethical Culture Fieldston School: Financial Aid". Archived from the original on July 2, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
- ^ Webster, Bayard (March 24, 1970). "60 Students Seize Fieldston School". The New York Times. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
- ^ "Fieldston Board Threatens Expulsion of Protesters for Future Disruptions of the School". The New York Times. April 8, 1970.
- ^ Miller, Lisa. "Can Racism Be Stopped in the Third Grade?", The Cut, May 19, 2015.
- ^ Cooper, Sean (December 18, 2019). "Pride and Prejudice at Fieldston". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
- ^ Algar, Selim (February 25, 2019). "Bronx private school students caught using racist, homophobic language on video". New York Post. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
- ^ Algar, Selim (March 14, 2019). "Protest over racist private school video ends in student victory". New York Post. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
- ^ Shapiro, Eliza. "Fieldston, Elite Private School, Faces Backlash From Jewish Parents", The New York Times, January 10, 2020.
- ^ Hirsch, Ammiel and Joshua Davidson. "The Anti-Israel Craze Hits High School." The New York Times. 16 January 2020.
- ^ JTA, Ben Sales: Elite N.Y. Prep School Fires Teacher Who Posted anti-Zionist Tweets In: Haaretz, 11 January 2020.
- ^ Taylor, Kate (July 12, 2017). "Accusations and Rancor as Elite School's Leader Departs". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
- ^ "Ethical Culture Fieldston School Core Tenets". New York City. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
- ^ Zhao, Yilu (February 1, 2002). "High School Drops Its A.P. Courses, And Colleges Don't Seem to Mind". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
- ^ "Ethical Culture Fieldston School". ecfsathletics.org. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
- ^ "Girls Volleyball Bracket 2023".
- ^ "Ethical Culture Fieldston School Girls Varsity Volleyball Fall 2023-2024 Schedule".
- ^ "After School and Summer Programs". Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
- ^ [1] Ethical Culture Fieldston School ~ the Fieldston Review
- ^ Skelding, Conor (December 11, 2015). "About 15 percent of Fieldston's 2015 grads enrolled at an Ivy". Politico PRO. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
- ^ "Riverdale". fieldston-district. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
- ^ Byers, Dylan (June 2, 2011). "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Jill Abramson". Adweek. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
- ^ "Boss Man". Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. June 1977. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
- ^ "Joseph Amiel (AC 1959) Papers, 1956-2004: Biographical and Historical Note". Asteria.fivecolleges.edu. June 3, 1937. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
- ^ Rubinfien, Leo. "Where Diane Arbus Went." Art in America, volume 93, number 9, pages 65-71, 73, 75, 77, October 2005.
- ^ Koshman, Josh (August 17, 2009). "Black Ops Mission: APOLLO FOUNDER RE-ENTERS THE LEVERAGE MARKET". The New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- ^ Lieber, Scott (May 1, 2006). "The path of Nancy Cantor: In the name of defending her values, she's won acclaim with academia, two chancellor jobs -- and enemies along the way". The Daily Orange. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012. Retrieved June 18, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Will Ferrell's Commencement Speech For New York Private School Fieldston". Huffington Post. June 17, 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
- ^ "Andrew Delbanco to Offer University Lecture, 'Melville, Our Contemporary,' April 10". Columbia News. April 8, 2003. Retrieved July 24, 2011.
- ^ "Openings, Performances, Publications, Releases" (PDF). ECF Reporter. Winter 1999 – Spring 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 28, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2011.
- ^ Holley, Joe (February 7, 2007). "Ralph de Toledano, 90; Ardent Conservative". Washington Post. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
- ^ Gordon, Meryl (June 3, 2002). "Comfort Food". Nymag.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
- ^ Ethical Culture School Record. New York City. 1916. p. 46. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Robert Oppenheimer, Spartacus Educational. Accessed March 29, 2024. "As a child Oppenheimer attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School."
- ^ Risen, Clay. "Marjorie Perloff, Leading Scholar of Avant-Garde Poetry, Dies at 92", The New York Times, March 26, 2024. Accessed March 29, 2024. "The Mintzes lived in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.... She attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in the Bronx and then Oberlin and Barnard, where she studied English and graduated in 1953."
- ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths PIORE, EMANUEL R.", The New York Times, May 24, 2000. Accessed March 29, 2024. "The Board of Trustees and the Ethical Culture Fieldston School community sadly note the death of Emanuel R. Piore, Class of 1926, a former Trustee."
- ^ Dixler, Elsa. "Belva Plain, Novelist of Jewish-American Life, Dies at 95", The New York Times, October 17, 2010. Accessed March 29, 2024. "Born Belva Offenberg in New York City on Oct. 9, 1915, she was a third-generation American of German Jewish descent; her father was a builder. She attended the Fieldston School and graduated from Barnard College in 1939 with a degree in history."
- ^ Victoria Schneps (December 23, 2021). "Power Women with Victoria Schneps" (Podcast). Schneps Media. Event occurs at 4:10-4:25. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
- ^ Hagerty, James R. "Edward R. Pressman Produced Wall Street, American Psycho and Other Films", The Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. "Fieldston high school in New York, the bookish boy made an unlikely quarterback."
- ^ Bruce Weber (August 26, 2008). "Lawrence Urdang, Language Expert Who Edited Dictionaries, Dies at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
- ^ Weber, Bruce (March 2, 2013). "Jane Wright, Oncology Pioneer, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2013.
External links edit
- Media related to Ethical Culture Fieldston School at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Ethical Culture Fieldston School records at New-York Historical Society