Editing Friends Seminary (section)

==History==
[[File:Friends Meeting House.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The Meetinghouse]]
Friends Seminary, established by members of the [[Religious Society of Friends]], whose members are known as Quakers, was founded in 1786 as '''Friends' Institute''' through a $10,000 bequest of [[Robert Murray (merchant)|Robert Murray]], a wealthy New York merchant. It was located on Pearl Street in Manhattan and strived to provide Quaker children with a "guarded education." In 1826, the school was moved to a larger campus on Elizabeth Street. Tuition in that year was $10 or less per annum, except for the oldest students, whose families paid $20.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=49sX6LzaE_oC&dq=%22Friends+Seminary%22&pg=PA148 Barbour, ''Quaker Crosscurrents'', p.148]</ref> (By 1915, tuition had risen to $250.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4KFeAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Friends+Seminary%22&pg=PA346 ''Handbook of Private Schools''(1915)]</ref>) The school again moved in 1860 to its current location and changed its name to '''Friends Seminary'''.

In 1878, Friends Seminary was one of the earliest of schools to establish a Kindergarten. In 1925, it was the first private co-educational school to hire a full-time psychologist.<ref>Gibbs, Nancy Reid. ''Children of Light'', Friends Seminary, 1986. page 101.</ref> [[M. Scott Peck]], who transferred to Friends from [[Phillips Exeter]] in late 1952, praised the school's diversity and nurturing atmosphere. "While at Friends," he wrote, "I awoke each morning eager for the day ahead ... [A]t Exeter, I could barely crawl out of bed."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=sHwRvFOitvgC&dq=%22Friends+Seminary%22&pg=PA29 Peck, ''The Different Drum'', page 30]</ref>

In 2015, based on recommendations made in 2005 by the Trustees of the New York Quarterly Meeting after completion of a study, the New York Quarterly Meeting reached [[Consensus decision-making|consensus]] on the issue of incorporating the school and the New York Quarterly Meeting separately.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.friendsseminary.org/news-detail-2?pk=1012073|title = Friends Seminary and New York Quarterly Meeting Redefine and Reaffirm Their Longstanding Relationship|date = December 8, 2015}}</ref> Under the agreement, Friends Seminary will pay the New York Quarterly Meeting $775,000 annually, and both sides will contribute an additional $175,000 to a capital fund to preserve the historic buildings. The Quakers will continue naming half the members of the school's governing board, and the agreement establishes a six-person committee to foster the school's commitment to Quaker values.

The school's vision is "to prepare students to engage in the world that is and to help bring about a world that ought to be." It is currently guided by a mission statement adopted in 2015, a service learning statement adopted in 2004, a diversity and inclusion mission statement adopted in 2005, and a global education mission statement adopted in 2024. Friends Seminary is a member of [[New York City|New York]]'s Independent School Diversity Network.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.friendsseminary.org/about/our-mission|title=Our Mission}}</ref>