Core Tenets
“Ethics is a verb.” When Kaia Stern ’90 said this, she was evoking one of our foundational beliefs: ethics cannot exist solely as an idea or a sentiment; we must put our values into action.
We nurture our students’ capacity for morality and empathy, helping provide the framework and knowledge necessary to live an ethical life. We teach our students how to think critically and then act with compassion. We teach our students to ask, How am I contributing? and Is this right? We teach our students to confront questions of power and privilege and who gets to tell their story. We lean into difficult conversations.
Ethics in Our Curriculum
Throughout our curriculum, both teachers and students are encouraged to broaden their worldviews, question the status quo, and practice ethical decision-making.
In “Ethical Issues in Science,” 11th and 12th Graders explore the role that science plays in how we make personal and political decisions. Each year, the curriculum is determined in part by the students: they choose which core topics to focus on based on articles they’ve read or news they’ve watched. They debate the issue from all sides, paying close attention to which values are at stake and who the stakeholders are.
Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and malign, but stories can also be used to empower, and humanize.
Chimamanda Adichie
Embodying Ethics in the Classroom
Combining the study of English, history, and ethics is an interdisciplinary course called “Freedom,” which asks students to confront what it means to be an American and what it means to be free. 10th graders in this team-taught course are encouraged to embrace the tensions that emerge from these questions — whether found in works of literature by Nathaniel Hawthorne or Toni Morrison, or as seen through the lens of American history.
Our community spends time throughout the year tackling ethical issues head-on in small-group and community-wide sessions. One of these programs, called Modified Awareness Days, allows us to discuss the themes of a shared book. In 2017, Angie Thomas visited Fieldston Upper after students read her book "The Hate U Give."
Beyond ECFS
The goal of our progressive education in New York is to improve the world around us, not just within the walls of our school. Fieldston Upper students organized a day of service with Rise Against Hunger, an organization that aims to end global hunger by 2030 — by the end of the day, volunteers had packed and shipped over 10,000 meals to developing nations around the world.
Ethics is central to all that we do. We consider multiple perspectives, practice radical empathy, nurture care and compassion, and tackle difficult questions about issues and problems that are seen and unseen throughout our curriculum and our community.
At every age, in developmentally appropriate ways, our educational program not only serves our students’ growth as citizens, but strengthens their skills as scholars.
We believe the most valuable learning experience involves reflection, detailed investigation, critical analysis, and contextualized understanding. We place ethics at the heart of all that we do, so we know that feeling empathy, offering a balanced and fair argument, and making ethically-informed decisions requires approaching a subject from multiple angles or lenses.
Growth Mindset Education at Fieldston Lower
By approaching a single subject from different angles, our students are able to view their education as holistic and interconnected. In Kindergarten at Fieldston Lower, one such subject is boats — students research a type of boat, build it in woodshop, write stories about it, then compile their work into a book, culminating in a class visit to a real boat like a marine fireboat or Coast Guard icebreaker.
Moving up to 1st Grade, students study birds in depth, writing stories and bringing their bird to life with clay and paint. The Hudson River acts as a perfect backdrop for our 3rd Graders to learn about the environment, testing the water's pH and salinity, and eventually taking part in the Billion Oyster Project, an initiative aimed at restoring oysters to the harbor to filter pollution.
Fieldston Upper’s Uniquely Challenging Curriculum
At Fieldston Upper, in “Writing for the Stage and Screen,” 11th and 12th Graders transform short scenes into full-length plays and movie scripts, workshopping each other's writing and seeing their work produced in the School’s black box theater.
We encourage all of our students to discover and pursue what excites them. For one student, this meant scuba diving into a Pennsylvania quarry to study zebra mussels as part of the Fieldston Science Research Program, a two- to three-year commitment for students pursuing intensive independent scientific research.
As ethical citizens, we are called not only to learn, but to use our education to improve the lives of others — to confront the questions our society faces, to navigate obstacles with our neighbors, to know when we should listen and when we should shout.
Our curriculum is never stagnant; our teachers are constantly updating their courses to reflect the most pressing issues of the day.
To enable our students to grapple with current issues and address problems, we must provide the resources and tools required to be well-informed and capable of making change.
Curriculum That Drives Change
Within our ethics curriculum, Upper School students examine contemporary culture — “fake news,” social media — to explore how media shapes our identities, creating mini-documentaries that are exemplars of digital activism, and studying the relationship between media and free speech.
While studying fractions, our 7th Graders perform real-world financial calculations for food-related companies, then consider why healthy foods cost more than fast food — examining the ethical ramifications of food cost and access.
Beyond the ECFS Classroom
In 2017, we partnered with Narrative 4, an organization that uses personal stories to build empathy between strangers, pairing 10 students from ECFS with 10 students from Swain County High School in North Carolina. By the end of the year, students from both schools acknowledged that the biases they came in with were based on stereotypes — and once shattered, they connected on a deeper, more human level.
At ECFS, we offer an academic experience that is demanding and challenging — yet at the same time, we understand that joy, laughter, play, and movement are integral to our human development. When our 3rd Graders visit the Hudson River to study its ecosystem, they play with the water, write poems, and paint watercolors of what they see.
Playfulness in Practice
We create opportunities for fun and playfulness in our curriculum in a variety of ways. When students in our lower schools practice Spanish, they do so playfully by recreating everyday activities like visiting a restaurant or going to the doctor. At Fieldston Upper, we offer a science course all about food — exploring what makes a French fry so delicious while practicing advanced chemistry. And one of our 5th Grade math teachers wrote a song about pi — both catchy and informative.
The Greeks are their names names names names And geometry’s their game game game game...
To the tune of "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz
In our play-based learning, sometimes the outdoors comes in: our 1st Graders raise chickens or ducks inside their classroom, caring for the baby birds from incubation to hatching. In our digital studio, students of all skill levels learn to create musical compositions using state-of-the-art technology.
The Results of Hands-On Learning
Play and movement are vital to our work at all ages. In keeping with progressive practice, students learn by doing. For us, challenge and laughter are often complementary. Above all, we find ways both intentional and spontaneous to demonstrate joy, gratitude, and excitement for our experience and each other.
We are committed to making our school a place that truly belongs to all of us. This responsibility of creating an inclusive school environment in NYC is shared among the administration, the faculty, and our students and families — it cannot be achieved by one person alone.
In 2013, we launched a structured program called CARe (Conversations about Race, Ethnicity, Ethics, etc.). The program involves students and families at Fieldston Lower and Ethical Culture, creating opportunities to talk about race, ethnicity, and ethics in school. We also offer other affinity spaces for students — for example, Students of Color, Jewish students, LGBTQ+ students, and students thinking about their gender identity.
Bettering Our Community
Each year, 5th Graders at Fieldston Lower study a variety of cultures, focusing on how each one is multi-layered and unique. In recent years, students visited the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, Queens, learning about Hindu cosmology and sampling traditional dosas.
Another way our students learn about a different culture is through our partnership with the Lerata Primary School in Kenya, where students at each school contribute stories about themselves to an ongoing project entitled “A Life Like Mine.”
Nurturing Ethical Citizens at ECFS
We start with essential questions in building our curriculum at Fieldston Middle. A recent essential question was: “What were the roles of men, women, and children in ancient societies?” In 8th Grade history, our teachers and students used this to guide their learning, exploring primary sources through lenses of equity and fairness.
Spend an hour talking to any of our faculty and staff, and you’ll hear one word used constantly: process. At ECFS, what matters more than the final product our students deliver is the learning process — the practices and procedures they have mastered so they can repeat their achievements again and again.
Building Foundational Skills
From the outset, we make sure our students know how to work with their hands. Students in Pre-K at Ethical Culture tend to the honey locust trees on 64th Street. In their math classes, 2nd Graders learn to measure liquids, and in shop class, they craft their own spoons from blocks of wood.
Every year, 4th Graders at Ethical Culture are commissioned to build something the division needs; projects have included a magazine rack, a foot stool, bookshelves, and tables. At Fieldston Middle, 7th and 8th Graders built and carved a storage box for the Admissions Office.
Spotlighting Soft Skills
Just as important as learning to work with one’s hands is learning to master “soft” skills like listening, leadership, and empathy. In 7th Grade English, students participate in “fishbowl” discussions in which half the class debates a topic while the other half observes and gives feedback.
The Foundation for a Successful Future
Many of our electives at Fieldston Upper teach skills valuable in the workplace and beyond, from professional photography to coding to Photoshop and InDesign. 11th and 12th Graders are required to take two electives exploring the ethical issues inherent across fields of study and in daily decision-making.
We aim to promote collaboration and dialogue, both within and beyond the classroom walls. In challenging our students to relate their personal growth to the growth of others, we encourage them to see their inherent interdependence, within our own school community and beyond.
Our students bring a diverse range of backgrounds to the classroom, and we encourage them to reflect on and celebrate the communities that have shaped who they are. Kindergarteners cover their neighborhoods as journalists, interviewing local personalities and business leaders.
In Practice: Service Learning at ECFS
Visit one of our lower divisions, and you may find our Pre-K students passing snacks to building maintenance, security, and other staff. When they are older, students make sandwiches for a local food kitchen and help hand them out.
One service learning project has become a much-anticipated part of the curriculum for Ethical Culture 4th Graders: The Spanish Book Project, in which students create books for unaccompanied minors entering the United States, to be included in a welcome bag.
Upper School students befriend and collaborate with peers whose educational experiences differ from their own, working together on community service projects and hosting discussions on issues like gun violence and race relations.
Case Study: A Year of Social Learning
In their Social Studies unit on immigration, 4th Graders at Ethical Culture might partner with KIND, an organization protecting children entering the U.S. immigration system, to create audio books and study materials for immigrant families preparing for the citizenship test.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a classroom at ECFS in which students sit silently, taking notes as they listen to a teacher. Our curriculum is rooted in lessons and projects that engage their hands, hearts, and bodies as much as they engage their minds.
One example is an interdisciplinary unit for our Pre-K students that bridges science and music — after becoming familiar with sound and vibration, students construct their own instruments from recycled materials and perform for the class.
The Art of Learning Outside the Classroom
A trip to the Adaptive Design Association, a non-profit serving children with special needs, gave a group of 7th Graders the chance to design tools and furniture for differently abled people.
At Ethical Culture, our 2nd Graders — having sewn quilts for the Lerata School in Kenya as 1st Graders — knitted scarves for Win, an organization that seeks to empower the homeless women and children of New York.
Experiential Learning Through City Semester
One of our signature academic programs is City Semester, an elective that immerses selected 11th Graders in the city as their classroom — an interdisciplinary program addressing urban policy challenges affecting sustainability and equity as students travel across all five boroughs studying topics like immigration, arts and literature, and water.
A three-day canoe trip down the Bronx River serves as a chance to explore a complex ecosystem. As part of their service learning work, students partner each year with local organizations — last year, participants transported unwanted chickens from New Jersey to Mott Haven and planted tomato plants in a community garden.
In our community, we strive to prioritize self-care and attentiveness to others. Our faculty and staff take on the role of caring mentors who support students’ physical, social, and emotional well-being. To ensure that our students are learning, we must first ensure that they are healthy.
Across both lower divisions, teachers facilitate open sessions in which students anonymously share their anxieties with the class and their peers respond, empathizing and offering solutions. Many teachers also implement a “humble thumbs” policy, allowing teachers to gauge overall comprehension without competition or embarrassment.
Our Commitment to Health in the Classroom and Beyond
Fieldston Outdoors is a six-week summer day camp that allows lower school students to engage with nature, from hiking the Palisades to canoeing the Piermont Marsh.
At ECFS, our College Office tries to mitigate application stress by making the process student-centered and driven by fit. Our lunch encourages healthy eating and features daily vegan and gluten-free options, including a full salad bar. Students in all divisions are required to take physical education or an equivalent substitute, such as a sport or dance.
Supporting Student Well-Being at ECFS
Through our Student-to-Student (STS) program, Fieldston Middle mentees are paired with Fieldston Upper mentors, who coach them twice a week on ethical issues — building a positive social framework where younger students have role models and older students take on responsibility.
Our commitment to progressive education gives our teachers the freedom to tailor their curricula to the needs and curiosity of their students. Where our students find inspiration can vary from a recent world event to a shared culture to a new passion — no matter the origin, our teachers are ready to respond.
When one 2nd Grader at Fieldston Lower asked how researchers know about deep sea creatures, the ensuing talk led the teacher to take the class on a field trip to see a former World War II submarine. Back at school, students designed a cardboard submarine that filled half the classroom — now a much-anticipated part of second grade.
The Meaning of Responsiveness at ECFS
Sensing that their students were finding multiplication tables too abstract, 3rd Grade math teachers took their classes to Whole Foods, where the rows and columns of fruits, vegetables, and cans helped students visualize “4 x 8” and “6 x 7.”
Beyond Our Curriculum: The Alternative Learning Program
Every two years, Fieldston Upper students, faculty, staff, and administrators choose niche subjects to probe in a two-day experiential learning experience called ALP — past topics have included Bollywood dance, designing Rube Goldberg machines, and the art of roasting and cupping coffee.
A deep interest in a specific area of study leads many of our students to pursue senior projects and independent studies, ranging from art shows to research presentations, presented each year in an exhibition for the entire community to see.
