Editing Phillips Exeter Academy (section)

=== 19th Century ===
In the early 1800s, a deep religious divide opened up between [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] Harvard and [[Reformed Christianity|Calvinist]] Yale.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allis Jr. |first=Frederick S. |title=Youth from Every Quarter: A Bicentennial History of Phillips Academy, Andover |publisher=University Press of New England |year=1979 |location=Hanover, NH |pages=120–28}}</ref> As a result, Unitarian-friendly Exeter developed a closer relationship with Harvard and Calvinist-friendly Andover with Yale.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McLachlan |first=James |title=American Boarding Schools: A Historical Study |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1970 |location=New York |pages=228}}</ref><ref>Allis, p. 148 (outlining that due to its closer ties to Harvard, Exeter was "less positively religious in its influence," and "concentrate[d] ... upon its special work of preparing boys for admission to college").</ref> Although originally, most Exeter graduates did not go on to further formal education (as with most 18th and 19th Century secondary schools), the ones that did placed at Harvard in substantial numbers.<ref>McLachlan, p. 223.</ref> From 1846 to 1870, Exeter supplanted [[Boston Latin School]] as Harvard's largest feeder school, supplying 16% of all Harvard students during that period.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Story |first=Ronald |date=1975 |title=Harvard Students, the Boston Elite, and the New England Preparatory System, 1800-1876 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/367846 |journal=History of Education Quarterly |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=291–92 |doi=10.2307/367846 |jstor=367846 |issn=0018-2680|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the latter half of the 19th century, graduates of Exeter and the now-defunct [[Adams Academy]] of Quincy, Massachusetts were "dominant socially" on Harvard Yard.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harvard 1900 – Student Life – The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation |url=https://fdrfoundation.org/the-fdr-suite/harvard-1900-student-life/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=fdrfoundation.org}}</ref>

Exeter's first recorded minority student was Moses Uriah Hall, a young Black man, who entered the Academy in 1858, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was known for many years as a skilled stonemason and businessman in nearby [[Epping, New Hampshire]].<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-05-03 |title=Who was Moses Uriah Hall? |url=https://exeter.edu/who-was-moses-uriah-hall/ |access-date=2024-10-16 |website=Phillips Exeter Academy |language=en-US}}</ref> Exeter's official records indicate that six years later, five White students from a border state, Kentucky, threatened to leave the Academy because another young Black man had enrolled as a member of their class. Exeter's Principal at the time, [[Gideon Lane Soule]], is said to have told them "You may do as you please — your classmate will stay."{{Cn|date=October 2024}}

After a brief interlude in the 1880s when Exeter's focus partially shifted from college preparation to general education and only 18% of Exeter students went on to college,<ref>McLachlan, pp. 223, 229 (explaining that the percentage of Exeter students attending college fell from 40% (1873–83) to 18% (1884–89), and the percentage of Exeter students matriculating at Harvard declined from 20% to 10% during this timeframe).</ref> [[Charles Fish|Charles Everett Fish]] (p. 1890–95) restored academic standards by adopting a policy of expelling students who could not attain a C average.<ref>McLachlan, p. 233.</ref> A student in the Class of 1892 recalled that "[t]here was no real discipline ... the only measure of a boy's quality was his scholarship. If that was satisfactory, little else mattered."<ref>Williams, p. 71.</ref> The percentages of students going on to college recovered rapidly to 1870s levels, although the student body shrank significantly, dropping from 355 in 1890 to 123 in 1895.<ref>McLachlan, pp. 222-23.</ref>[[File:Philips Exeter Academy advertisement 1909.png|thumb|1909 advertisement for the school, proclaiming that "[s]tudents are dropped from any class, at any time, if they fail to do satisfactory work."|left]]Fish's successor [[Harlan Amen|Harlan Page Amen]] (p. 1895–1913) solidified Exeter's mission as a college-preparatory school. Amen cleaned up Exeter's social image, as the student body had acquired a reputation for unruly behavior.<ref>McLachlan, p. 224.</ref><ref>Williams, pp. 66-68.</ref> He doubled tuition from $75 to $150 between 1895 and 1899,<ref>McLachlan, pp. 237, 240.</ref><ref name=":5" /> and claimed in 1903 that he had expelled 400 boys in eight years.<ref>McLachlan, p. 238.</ref> He also improved the academy's residential facilities; by 1903 two-thirds of Exeter students were living on campus.<ref name=":6">McLachlan, pp. 237-38.</ref> Despite the expulsions, Exeter's new-look mission resonated with parents, and enrollment jumped to 390 in 1903 and 572 in 1913.<ref>McLachlan, p. 240.</ref> From 1890 to 1894, 67% of Exeter's college-bound students went on to Harvard, Yale or Princeton.<ref>McLachlan, p. 223.</ref> 60-odd years later, in 1953, the corresponding number was 67% for the entire academy.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Gordon |first=Michael |date=1969 |title=Changing Patterns of Upper-Class Prep School College Placements |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1388210 |journal=The Pacific Sociological Review |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=24–25 |doi=10.2307/1388210 |jstor=1388210 |issn=0030-8919|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[File:Exeter Baseball.JPG|thumb|Exeter baseball team in 1881, including a student from the [[Chinese Educational Mission]].]]From 1879 to 1881, Exeter (and several other schools) participated in the [[Chinese Educational Mission]], hosting students from [[Qing dynasty|Qing China]] who were sent to the United States to learn about Western technology. However, all students were recalled after just 2 years due to mounting tensions between the United States and China, as well as growing concern within the Chinese government that the students were becoming Americanized.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rimkunas|first=Barbara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMeACQAAQBAJ&pg=PT81|title=Hidden History of Exeter|date=2014|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-1-62585-264-9|page=81|access-date=September 6, 2018|archive-date=April 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418135432/https://books.google.com/books?id=YMeACQAAQBAJ&pg=PT81|url-status=live}}</ref>