A Parent's View
The Friends’ School, Hobart, Australia: An Educational Option for High School Students.
Jacoba Akazawa.
This paper has been divided into two sections. This section of the paper is an introduction to my experiences as a parent of a child at Friends’ School in Hobart. In the second half of the paper, comments from six Friends’ students from Kyoto and Shiga, and their parents, are analysed and discussed.
Can I study here next year?
How did six words change somebody’s life?
“Can I study here next year?”
“Yes, that’s a great idea,” I answered back in February of 2003, not taking my 14 year old son seriously. After only 10 minutes at the Friends’ Boarding Residence how would he really know?
We were catching up with two friends from Shiga to see how they were settling into their new school in Hobart whilst we were in Tasmania to visit family. My son was obviously impressed with the school, and two weeks later when he was wondering what his father would say when he told him he wanted to study in Hobart, I knew he was serious. Now, at 16, he has completed Year 10, and is presently in Year 11, boarding at the Friends’ residential accommodation, Walker House. He is thinking about his future and basically having a busy and fabulously adventurous, stimulating time.
Even though I’m Tasmanian and went through the public school system up the coast, I knew nothing about Friends’ School. After reading through their website however, I was impressed and relieved (because I said he could go!) to read their philosophy on education, which is based on Quaker traditions. The key for me was that they nurture not only the intellectual growth, but also the spiritual growth of their students. A believer in holistic education who opted to home school our children in Japan, this school seemed to be a natural steppingstone for students of all backgrounds—even though a private school and wearing uniforms was not what I had envisaged for our children! I also did not envisage the price you have to pay for private education--but more about that later.
On arrival at the school
The school was indeed very open about accepting all students. A place had been kept for him in year 10, but when we arrived for his interview we had no portfolio, no evidence of schoolwork—no nothing. All they knew about my son was that he had been Home Schooled. If the Friends’ administrator had asked me what he had studied at home I couldn’t have answered, but luckily they didn't ask me a thing!
In fact, he had spent the last seven years doing Home Schooling with his father, in Japanese. During my holidays I tried to work on his English. Their curriculum, as I perceived it, comprised whatever my son was interested in, studied in the finest detail. I would come home after work and the floor would be covered with books, papers, dirty dishes, and many an interesting story being told or read.
Things changed though, when my son, at 14, decided he wanted to study at Friends’ the following year. It seemed that five years of Maths got crammed in somehow, crash courses in Japanese kanji, and other subjects he may need at school. An English tutor also came for an hour each week.
At the school, they told him about the compulsory subjects he must study, including English as a Second Language, then asked him many questions about his choices for optional subjects. Twenty minutes later he was set, had enrolled in his subjects for the year, told to put his book order into the book room, and to enjoy his year.
One of his friends from Kyoto was also enrolling in Year 10 and being interviewed at the same time. However, in his case, he was prepared and had posted his portfolio before leaving Japan. His very comprehensive and amazing portfolio was there during the interview and the administrator said that, after the staff had checked his work carefully, they thought he could skip a year and go straight into Year 11. Assuming his parents would say OK--he had to check with them first--they proceeded to enroll him in Year 11.
The following day, whilst picking up their books, we met a Japanese girl and her mother from Nagoya. The girl, it seemed, spoke no English and her mother very, very little--or was it that Australian accent? How would she survive, I wondered, but she did. In fact they all successfully survived, and are all back at Friends’ this year for their next year.
The year’s highlights
Although my son is not one to chat about it much, and my perception and his story are probably completely different, this is what filtered back to us in Kyoto, mainly because he needed parental permission, extra money. The highlights of my son’s Year 10 at Friends’ are as follows.
At the beginning of the year, my son joined the rugby team. All students are encouraged, maybe expected, to join some sports team. Looking through their year book, you’ll notice the number of sports teams are endless (in fact there are 16 pages worth!), from the typical sports, like basketball, football, and tennis, to the more unusual sports, like girl’s cricket, sailing, surfing, equestrian training, rowing, orienteering, and underwater hockey. He chose rugby, because he said living in the hostel, he needed to choose a sport easy to get to for practice, as well as Saturday matches. Also most of the hostel boys were playing rugby, which I am sure influenced his decision too.
All Grade 10 students join the workforce for two weeks as part of the school program. He ended up at a sushi restaurant, where he also managed to get part time work on Friday nights and all day Saturday. With free sushi, pocket money, and communicating with the kitchen staff in Japanese, he was happy. However, he was not 100% happy, as he had to give up rugby to work part-time. One of his dreams of opening a restaurant in the future will probably not eventuate, because he said standing all day in the kitchen was exhausting and maybe too physically draining when you get older. That, in itself, was a good learning experience for him.
Despite the fact he dropped rugby, he continued with the Duke of Edinburgh Award. I am not exactly sure what that award is, but I do know it gets him out into the bush camping, hiking, and rock climbing. Tasmania’s wilderness is indeed spectacular, with glacial scree slopes, alpine and rain forests, and amazing fauna and flora. It is the home of the Tasmanian Devil, wallabies, wombats, platypus, echidna, and numerous marsupials which can be spotted frequently when hiking, along with the myriad of birds you can hear where ever you go. I know how dynamic and spectacular the wilderness is, and I am happy he has the chance to experience it. During some weekends and longer holidays, e.g. Easter, I know the school organises camping and canoeing trips that all students can join, not just the Duke of Ed. crew.
Students in high school have their own portable i-Book computer that is used in all subjects. After one year, from being computer illiterate, I was shocked to see the ease with which he can now use a computer.
The English as a Second Language class was, he said, a waste of time for him. He said it was for real beginners who could speak no English, however he feels comfortable communicating in English but needs a lot of work on his writing and reading skills. He could use the time, though, to do his own study and get help with his other subjects. His hero was the Japanese teacher, John Kertesz, who not only helped him with his Japanese, but also helped him with his English, getting him to translate passages from Japanese to English.
Reflections on the system
One part of the daily schedule, which I think is a good idea, is the pastoral care system. Each morning the same small group of students, members from years 7-10, meet together with a teacher for support and encouragement. This group continues every year, with new additions from the new Year 7 students after the Year 10 students graduate. These groups of students become close families within the larger community.
The biggest shock for me was the price of private education. I went through the public school system, and thus far we had not spent money on our children’s education. How could people really afford to send their children to private schools, especially one-income families? The realisation came that people who send their children to International Schools already spend this amount of money on their children’s education.
A friend did the calculations and compared Canadian Academy (Kobe) with Friends’ School. The cost of commuting to and from Kobe, spending money, and tuition fees is more or less the same as sending her child to Friends’ in Hobart. This included two return trip tickets a year to Hobart, spending money, accommodation, and tuition fees. It still amounts to a lot of money and I have a new admiration for parents who have, for years, been sending their children to International School!
One concern for me is that I sometimes wonder if Friends’ doesn’t dangle the carrot too high. Friends’ School has such high expectations, and they also get the best academic results in the state, of which they are very proud. Believing in holistic education, the final grades are not important for me. I believe not all learning has a direct response.
Most is indirect and takes time to metamorphose within, and this may take years. For me, the most important lessons in life cannot be tested. School should promote a love of learning and a love for life. I think Friends’ does this, and it is more than an ordinary school. With over six generations of the same families going to the school and an increase in enrolments each year, there must be something special that draws both newcomers and the older families back year after year.
Conclusion
“Can I study here next year?”
“Yes, that’s a great idea.” I answered, not taking my son seriously. However, his choice of studying at Friends’ after a short chance visit there was the perfect stepping stone in his education. It changed my life too because suddenly we had to figure out how to pay for the unexpected, however it is worth the struggles.
I know he is happy, very busy, and being challenged to the maximum in all areas, especially the academic subjects. I would recommend this school to anyone wondering what the next step will be in their teenager’s education.
Friends’ accepts everybody, non-English speakers, people with special needs—everybody will find a niche in the school and become part of the big family. Your child will be stretched in every direction, not just academically, but sports, music, and leadership. In fact your child will be stretched in areas that you, as a parent, never dreamt they could achieve in.