episcopal schools go global

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THE

LIVINGCHURCHApril 14, 2013

C AT H OL I C E VA N G E L I C A L E C U M E N I C A L

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Episcopal Schools Go Global

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By G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Serving families in northeast Florida, the Episcopal School of Jacksonville has860 day students but no boarders or dormitories. But that has not stoppedthe school from enrolling youngsters from China.

In fact, the school aims to more than double its Chinese student enrollment,

from 9 to 20 in the next two years, with help from local host families who

would provide accommodations. Screening and settling foreign nationals islabor-intensive, but the goal is so important that the school has hired an outside

firm to manage it.

The school wants more Chinese students in order to build ties across the

Pacific, such that Episcopal School of Jacksonville students could spend weeks

each year with host families in China, said Peggy Fox, admissions director.

Theres also a not-so-fringe-benefit: Chinese families always pay the full tuition

bill, nearly $20,000, and receive no financial aid.

Students at St. Timothys School, Stevenson, Maryland, celebrate their cultures (above and right). Photos courtesy of St. Timothys Sch

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Whatever countries they come from, we needthem to be able to pay, Fox said. We have enoughneed right here in Jacksonville that we need to spend

the financial aid here in town.Like many of the 1,198 Episcopal schools, Epis-copal School of Jacksonville is adjusting to realitiesof a post-recession world and finding that interna-tional students have a pivotal role to play. Havingmore nationalities, languages, and religions repre-sented on campus makes for unprecedented learningopportunities, administrators say, both formal andinformal. It also challenges schools, they add, topursue their Episcopal missions with new, vigorousintentionality.

As Americas economy faltered after 2007, reli-

gious schools saw enrollments drop 10 percent,according to data from the U.S. Department of Edu-cation. But international studentshave helped fill the gaps. Asianstudent enrollments in U.S. reli-gious schools are up 75 percentsince 2008, from 10,611 to 18,591.Most of the growth has been fromChina.

If some of our schools wantedto, they could fill up many timesover with full-pay Chinese alone,said Peter Upham, executive direc-tor of the Association of BoardingSchools, which includes 37 Epis-copal schools. Theres an enor-mous demand in China for schoolsin the U.S., and its far in excess ofthe students that are actually en-rolled today.

The trend is reflected in Epis-copal schools. They have seensteady growth in international students since therecession began, according to the National Associa-tion of Independent Schools.

On average, Episcopal boarding schools now drawabout 20 percent of their students from abroad,according the National Association of EpiscopalSchools (NAES). Some, including St. TimothysSchool in Stevenson, Maryland, and St. MargaretsSchool in Tappahannock, Virginia, draw closer to 30percent of their students from foreign countries.

Others are deciding its time to take the interna-tional plunge. St. Thomas Episcopal School, a dayschool in Houston, announced in February it wouldbegin accepting international students for the firsttime this year.

One of several driving factors behind internation-alization has been the economic downturn. ThoughEpiscopal schools largely weathered the hard times

without calamity, many saw endowments and budg-ets shrink, said Daniel Heischman, executive direc-tor of NAES. At the same time, more parents withenrolled children came to need financial aid. Schoolshave adjusted to meet the need, Heischman said, asvirtually all Episcopal schools came to devote alarger portion of a shrinking resource pie to financialassistance.

Had full-paying international students not matric-ulated in growing numbers, schools likely wouldhave had to eliminate more staff or make cuts else-where. Yet because internationals helped keep cof-

fers sufficiently filled, schools have for the mostpart been able to maintain expected levels of serviceand quality.

Americas economic woesdo not fully explain, however,why one might hear German,Mandarin, or Portuguese spo-ken in prep-school dorms orday-school lounges these days.Strong economies in Brazil,Germany, India, South Korea,and especially China haveenabled more families to affordprivate education in the UnitedStates. Governments, includ-ing those of the United Statesand China, have also becomeless restrictive with visas asyears have passed since theterrorist strikes of September2001. Eager to educate globalcitizens, schools have relished

the chance to turn their classrooms into microcosmsof the world.

Schools are embracing the new landscape. Con-sider Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, Vir-ginia, where one year for boarders costs $44,100,most of the 200 students are boarders, and almost 25percent come from overseas. Before the recession,the school had 250 students. But the economy tooka toll, and now administrators see 225 as an idealnumber, including a few internationals who takeclasses without seeking a diploma. Casualties of therecession include such non-essentials as a fencingteam, afterschool cycling, and a Russian historyclass, said Garth Ainslie, director of admissions.

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Foreign students, however, are verymuch here to stay.

Adjusting to smaller numbers, atleast for the time being, has been amajor storyline of late at EpiscopalSchool of Jacksonville, too. As hardtimes squeezed household budgets,the school saw enrollment levelsshrink by 5.5 percent, from slightlymore than 900 before the recessionto about 860 today.

Times are somewhat better now,but Jacksonville area families stillstruggle to afford full tuition. To keep

students enrolled, the school nearlydoubled its financial aid budget from $1.4 millionbefore the recession to $2.4 million today. Tuition-paying international students are more importantthan ever to the schools economic model and to itsambition to restore enrollments to 900.

Challenging times have forced some hard choices,Heischman said. Oversight boards have needed toidentify what is central to their mission and what isextraneous. Educators are learning to weave moreand more international students into Episcopalschool communities.

What the recession did was help a great numberof our Episcopal schools identify and articulate theirEpiscopal mission better, rather than to water itdown, Heischman said. It forced our schools tounderstand their niche. That led them to re-exam-ine and be able to articulate what it means to be anEpiscopal school.

Fostering healthy diversity in these settings, itturns out, is not as easy as admitting more studentsfrom overseas. Because demand from China andSouth Korea is so strong, private schools find theymust be careful when shaping new classes, lestentire sub-communities take root and become insu-lar.

The school doesnt want to create a situationwhere there are these language islands, which hap-pens sometimes if there are too many internationalstudents who speak the same language, said MyraMcGovern of the National Association of Independ-ent Schools.

To help schools strike an optimal balance in theirstudent bodies, the National Association of Episco-pal Schools has been bringing school representa-tives along for recruiting fairs, not only in Asia butelsewhere, such as Turkey and Latin America. Rep-

resentatives from St. Stephens Episcopal School inAustin, Texas, have traveled recently with NAES toLatin America in a bid to ensure its substantial inter-national population reflects the world, not just Asia.Virginia Episcopal School officials made a recruitingtrip for the first time this year to Saudi Arabia.

It seems natural and normal to want to diversify[the international student population], but its hardbecause that requires an investment to travel andrecruit, Ainslie said. The demand coming out ofChina especially is strong, and [enrolling those stu-

dents] doesnt cost us very much.Once international students have enrolled, todaysnew intentionality about Episcopal mission comes toshape how they engage campus communities. Exam-ple: at Virginia Episcopal School, post-recessionchanges include meals with assigned seating twice aweek. Adults are present at every table. And becauseseating charts change regularly, students expandtheir social circles by getting to know more of theirpeers.

You get to meet new teachers and new students,Ainslie said. Theres not going to be Chinese spokenat those tables.

Its all part of learning social skills, sustainingpolite conversation, and showing respect for thosewho are different all values and abilities that VESaims to foster. Having a large percentage of interna-tionals has helped catalyze the school to assure thistype of character formation happens with thoughtfulguidance and is not left to chance.

Religious differences, which inevitably come withinternationalization, are not causing schools tochange their worship practices. Most of those thathave chapel require attendance for students and fac-ulty, though some offer an alternative activity that

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Episcopal SchoolsGo Global

Photos courtesy of St. Stephens Episcopal School

St. Stephens Episcopal School in Austin recently sponsored an international

festival (above and right).

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students must do if they opt out

of chapel. Schools usually require

at least one religion course. And

in the spirit of bearing authenticwitness, if international students

come to faith in Christ, that step

is at least on some campuses

regarded as cause for cele-

bration.

St. Thomas Episcopal School forbids Muslim head

coverings on the grounds that they make individuals

stand out in a setting where students wear uniforms.

Students must attend daily Episcopal worship serv-

ices regardless of their religious affiliation. And

although they do not have to pray or sing, the hope

is they will, said Donna Cropper, the schools com-munications director.

At Virginia Episcopal School, an African student

last year got baptized and the community celebrated

with him, Ainslie said. At Episcopal School of Jack-

sonville, no one tries to change a students beliefs

and all faiths are respected, Fox said. Still, the hope

is that some might come to

faith in Christ.

We just hope that by

being associated with theChristian community and

going to chapel they may

at some point learn more

about Christianity and per-

haps decide that theyd like

to become Christians, Fox said.

To be sure, schools welcome religious diversity in

these post-recession days and make a point not to

pressure students about faith. Some provide access

to Jewish and Muslim chaplains, for instance.

But one effect of the recession is renewed resolve

to own the tradition of Episcopal education. Thatincludes sharing all the tradition has to offer, from

liturgical worship to communal values, and hoping

some of its wisdom rubs off.

G. Jeffrey MacDonald is a TLC Correspondent

based in Massachusetts.

episcopal schools go global

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