Phillips Exeter Academy Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Phillips Exeter Academy (also called Exeter or PEA) is a co-educational independent boarding school located on 471 acres (1.9 km²) in Exeter, New Hampshire, one hour north of Boston. It is considered by many to be the finest secondary school in the United States. Phillips Exeter currently has the largest endowment of any secondary school in the United States at a market value of $563,634,089 (per Tax Form 990). The school was established in 1781 by John and Elizabeth Phillips. Due to this, it shares a long standing (and friendly rivalry) with its sister school, Phillips Academy, also known as Andover.
Like Andover, the Academy's primary Latin motto is Finis Origine Pendet, meaning "the end depends upon the beginning," and it is scrolled across the bottom of the school seal. The school's secondary motto, Non Sibi, located in the sun, means "not for one's self." Exeter graduates may, if they wish, receive a class ring with the school seal with the text Sigill Phillip Exoniensis Academiae - Nov Han 1781 surrounding it. The Deed of Gift, written by John Phillips at the founding of the school, articulates a second pedagogical philosophy in addition to that of self-sacrifice: "Though goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous."
Since a 1930 gift by the oil magnate and philanthropist Edward Harkness, the Academy's principal mode of instruction has been by discussion, "seminar style," around an oval table (known as the "Harkness table.") Classes are restricted to small sizes to encourage participation of all the students.
Phillips Exeter has been co-educational since 1970. Prior to that time, it was an all-boys school.
The Academy is also known for its uniquely modern library, designed by Louis Kahn. At present, the library houses 145,000 volumes and has a shelf capacity of 250,000 volumes. It has a quite unique architectural shape, being formed to resemble four books resting against each other.
Philips Exeter was the inspiration for the Devon School in John Knowles' novels, A Separate Peace and Peace Breaks Out.
As Exeter, NH, was the birthplace of author John Irving, it is said that the town and the school appears in many of his books, most notably, A Prayer for Owen Meany.
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