A Quaker-educated perspective on the world
Judy Kirby introduces the Quaker schools special edition and explains why she commissioned it
We can all remember this… ‘we trudge to school, and we complain that it’s too early, or too dark, or too wet, or quite possibly all three’. We’ve slept till the last minute ‘and not many of us bother with the luxury of the morning news’. Oblivious then, to the wider world. This is a pupil at Sibford Quaker School describing one of his days. But it is a Friday and ‘everyone gathers to attend the last obstacle that lies between them and the weekend, the Friday Meeting’. And it is here that the awfulness of the world intrudes, as the gathered school Meeting hears recordings from eyewitnesses of the Haitian earthquake. Our scholar responds – ‘the weary travellers of the world start to wake’. For a Friend editor, Quaker schools are up there with ‘Are Quakers Christian?’ as a bone of contention. So it is with some trepidation we present this special Schools’ issue, in which we have invited seven Friends schools in Britain to write their own mini versions of the magazine. They were each given the same briefing – produce three pages of comment, opinion, feature material and reviews. We thought the Eye page a bit too idiosyncratic for kids to reproduce, but that could have been a mistake!
There is of course a lot about school activities in here – the York Youth Council, the PeaceJam conferences and awareness of our environment and others. But I was heartened to glimpse through this the stirrings of individual attitudes to war and peace and spirituality. Our sleepy pupil above reflected on how the clutter of his daily routine evaporated on hearing the suffering of others.
Honesty in spiritual matters is surely a Quaker trait? Listen to this pupil, owning up to atheism – ‘I am, and I believe I will always be an atheist…’ Many modern Quakers are atheists, he says (I can almost hear some of you seething!). After four years at his school, however, one can only marvel at the place he’s reached, describing a Quaker Week round-up meeting: ‘There was energy in the room, energy for change, to be involved, all influenced by Quakerism. I found myself on my feet, talking about this, my heart thumping, giving the first ministry of my life…’
Whatever your views about Quaker education, and I understand the controversy that surrounds this issue, I hope you will simply listen to the young voices in these pages and judge whether, with their candid approach, they are worthy future bearers of the Quaker way.
We hope to carry features on other Quaker schools in Britain and Ireland Yearly Meetings in due course.
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