One of the things that first drew me to Parker when I moved here in sixth grade was its unique advisory system, especially in Upper School. The four-year-long advisory and the chance to bond with students from other grades were something that set Parker apart from other schools I was looking at at the time. Recently, however, I’ve been hearing talk about the gradual shift to exclusively single-grade advisories. As someone who has a multi-grade advisory and really enjoys it, I feel this decision would be isolating for students.
In Parker, most of a student’s time is spent with their own grade. Things like graderoom and grade trips offer chances for students to bond with their own grade, but there is no set-aside time for students to be able to talk to people in other grades besides advisory. I really value advisory time as a way to get advice from upperclassmen, as a freshman, especially talking with upperclassmen who were in different clubs, sports, and had leadership roles helped me learn more about the opportunities in Upper School and what I might be interested in doing.
When I talked to Upper School Dean of Student Life Joe Bruno, he shared that some of the reasoning behind the decision was that “it could be a little intimidating or awkward when an advisory is all seniors and two ninth graders,” Bruno said. While I do understand, I think the current plan to retain some of that cross-grade communication will only make things more difficult for underclassmen. Bruno talked about the plan, stating that “the last couple of years, we’ve done partner advisories… if there is a freshman advisory, we pair them with a junior advisory. So that way, there’s still that cross-grade conversation and collaboration,” Bruno said.
Personally, I have rarely met with my partner advisory. It exists exclusively as a place to go when my advisor is sick. If the freshmen and junior advisors are also meeting fairly infrequently, I’d imagine it would only make the interactions between the two grades feel more awkward and make it so the freshmen and juniors don’t know each other well. I also think that Parker’s offering the option to request a single-grade advisory eliminates the issue of younger students feeling intimidated in mixed-grade advisories.
This change also feels counterintuitive to the values Parker holds. On re-orientation day, students were encouraged to greet people in the hallways and be friendly with as many students as possible, but without advisory as a starting point, I know I would find it a lot more nerve-wracking to greet upperclassmen in the halls or talk to them in general. Having that time set aside where there is no choice but to interact with your fellow advisees makes things feel much less awkward for me, and throughout the years, it’s inevitable that you will become friendly with those advisees, even if they are people you might not usually talk to. As someone who at times feels intimidated by the upperclassmen, I find advisory is one of the easiest times to talk to older students, and without that, those shyer freshmen will lose out on so many possible friends and connections. Even though this shift will be gradual, I already feel impacted. I was really looking forward to having freshmen in my advisory and to be able to give them advice as the upperclassmen had given me. Overall, the transition to exclusively single-grade advisories will be detrimental to the sense of community that is so integral to Parker’s Upper School and to the students who would otherwise be too nervous to talk to upperclassmen, the very people this decision was made to help.
