Editing Phillips Exeter Academy (section)

===Harkness Gift and financial independence===
[[Lewis Perry]] was appointed principal in 1914 and ran the academy until 1946. Although his early years were marked by grave financial difficulties, including a $200,000 bill to rebuild the Academy Building (destroyed by fire five months into Perry's administration) and the disruption of [[World War I]],<ref>Williams, pp. 100, 105-06.</ref> he had a "talent for getting wealthy men to part with their money."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Whitman |first=Alden |date=1970-01-28 |title=An Informal Innovator |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/28/archives/an-informal-innovator-by-alden-whitman.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> A professional fundraiser, he did not teach classes; instead, he "spen[t] much time away from school spreading Exeter's fame and obtaining endowments."<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1931-06-15 |title=Education: Exeter's 150th |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,846896-3,00.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> Exeter's endowment increased ninefold during his tenure.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |last=Price |first=Lucien |date=1946-06-01 |title=Perry of Exeter |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1946/06/perry-of-exeter/656887/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |work=The Atlantic |language=en |issn=2151-9463}}</ref> In 1936, Exeter boasted an $8 million endowment for roughly 700 students, making it the richest boarding school in New England in both absolute and per capita terms.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baltzell |first=E. Digby |title=Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |edition=Revised |location=New York, NY |pages=306}}</ref>

Perry used the money to improve student quality of life, expand access for the underrepresented, and build a more cohesive and higher-achieving student body. Under Perry's leadership, Exeter was able to provide housing for all its students for the first time.<ref name=":6" /> Perry also adopted a policy that scholarship students should comprise at least 20% of the student body.<ref>Williams, p. 140.</ref> He imposed greater restrictions on students' after-class activities, culminating in the abolition of fraternities in 1940.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1945-11-26 |title=Education: Goodbye, Mr. Perry |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,776449-2,00.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> Perhaps counterintuitively, these restrictions limited the number of disciplinary cases and helped students improve their academics. From 1922 to 1931, the number of students expelled or asked to leave for academic reasons declined from 136 to 40.<ref>Williams, p. 111.</ref> When Perry retired, the school educated 725 boys.<ref>Williams, p. 209.</ref>

Despite Perry's reforms, Exeter retained a certain informality, which was reflected in the school's "unwritten code that there were no rules at the academy until you broke one."<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Lamb |first1=David |date=January 5, 1986 |title=Exeter Remembered: Prep School Gambler Who Finally Makes His Point |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-05-vw-24821-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411194732/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-05-vw-24821-story.html |archive-date=April 11, 2019 |access-date=August 26, 2019 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> Expelled alumni include the journalist [[David Lamb (journalist)|David Lamb]] and the writer and editor [[George Plimpton]].[[File:Edward S Harkness Met.jpg|thumb|[[Edward Harkness|Edward S. Harkness]], benefactor]]
Perry's largest financial windfall came on April 9, 1930, when philanthropist and oil magnate [[Edward Harkness]] wrote to Perry to propose a new way of teaching and learning, for which Harkness would donate funds to foot the bill:{{blockquote|What I have in mind is a classroom where students could sit around a table with a teacher who would talk with them and instruct them by a sort of tutorial or conference method, where each student would feel encouraged to speak up. This would be a real revolution in methods.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bass|display-authors=etal|first=Jo Ann F.|title=A declaration of readers' rights: renewing our commitment to students|year=2007|publisher=A & B/Pearson|location=Boston|isbn=978-0205499793|page=67|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o2vuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=September 24, 2016|archive-date=April 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418122403/https://books.google.com/books?id=o2vuAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

The result was "The Harkness Method," in which a teacher and a group of students work together, exchanging ideas and information in a seminar setting.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1930-12-01 |title=Education: House Plan in School |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,930713,00.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> In November 1930, Harkness gave Exeter $5.8 million (approximately $110 million in February 2024 dollars) to support this initiative.<ref name=":5" /> To support the more intensive teaching style, Exeter's faculty grew from 32 teachers in 1914 to 82 in 1946.<ref name=":8" /> In addition, through Harkness' largesse, the academy was able to avoid cutting faculty salaries during the [[Great Depression]], making it a rarity among boarding schools.<ref>Williams, p. 123.</ref>

Since 1930, Exeter's principal mode of instruction has been by discussion, "seminar style," around an oval table known as the [[Harkness Table]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/phillips-exeter-harkness-table-2014-11|title=Why the Classes at Phillips Exeter Are Different Than at Any Other Private School|work=Business Insider|access-date=April 10, 2018|archive-date=May 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501235138/https://www.businessinsider.com/phillips-exeter-harkness-table-2014-11|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Phillips Exeter Academy {{!}} Harkness |url=http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/109_1220.aspx |access-date=January 2, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121220030626/http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/109_1220.aspx |archive-date=December 20, 2012 }}</ref> Today, all classes are taught using this method, with no more than 12 students per class.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1981-05-25 |title=Education: Brains Plus Something More |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,924774,00.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>