Prepping the next leaders
This month, while much attention was focused on the landmark opening of a branch of the Sorbonne in Abu Dhabi, a potentially more daring educational initiative was taking form in the Middle East, as Jordan’s King’s Academy officially began accepting applications for the 2007-08 academic year.
Modeled on New England prep schools
King’s Academy, which is modeled after the elite preparatory schools of New England (in particular, Deerfield Academy, where King Abdullah graduated in 1980), has given itself the ambitious mandate of introducing the prep-school ethos to the Arab world, blending rigorous American-style education and community life with Arab culture and values. More ambitious still, through a strong financial aid program—15% of tuition fees will go towards scholarships, and approximately 30% of the student body is expected to receive partial or full need-based financial aid—King’s Academy plans to host a diverse student body, where class lines and other divisions are blurred in favor of tolerance, respect, and coexistence.
No small undertaking ideologically, King’s Academy also represents a significant financial investment. The school cost around $62 million dollars to build, with King Abdullah, the founding donor of King’s Academy, contributing $7 million and a 575-dunum site southwest of Amman.
The school cost around $62 million dollars to build
The idea behind the Academy came from the King himself, inspired by his experiences at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. Several years ago, King Abdullah stayed with then-headmaster of Deerfield Eric Widmer while in town to deliver the school’s commencement address. “I knew he was thinking about [developing a school] before he brought it up,” recalls Widmer, whom Abdullah subsequently asked to serve as founding headmaster of King’s Academy. Although Widmer had planned to retire in 2006, he found the offer irresistible—partially because, by destiny or coincidence, the Middle East had always been close to his heart. Widmer was born at AUH; although his family moved away while he was still an infant, he has always felt a strong attachment to the Arab world, and he and his wife have been regular visitors to Lebanon.
King’s Academy is gleaming on paper, boasts a beautiful campus and has already begun recruiting an enthusiastic, elite faculty. However, initial success may be an uphill battle: in addition to the standard array of challenges facing a new school, King’s Academy will have to sell the prep-school concept to a wary Arab audience. In a region where children often remain in their parents’ homes until marriage, the boarding aspect in particular is likely present difficulties. A King’s Academy education also comes with a fairly high price tag—$28,000 a year for full-time boarders, $25,000 for five-day boarders, and $16,500 for day students. Although these costs are comparable to those of the New England prep schools King’s Academy is modeled on, it is significantly higher than most local fees.
Culturally conscious rules
The absence of existing prep-school culture in Jordan creates further challenges. While touring King’s Academy’s state-of-the-art athletic facilities—which would rival those of any small American college—Executive asked Widmer whether the students would be able to participate in competitive athletics, which form a core component of the traditional prep-school experience.
“Oh, certainly!” replied Widmer. Hearing his own response, the headmaster chucked. “That is, as soon as we figure out who our competition is.”
Nonetheless, King’s Academy staff are confident that they can meet these challenges. The dormitories will enforce a far stricter separation of genders than the school’s American siblings: no boys will be allowed into the girl’s dorms, and vice versa, under any circumstances; single female faculty members will live in every girls’ dorm, providing around-the-clock supervision, and single men and faculty families will live in the boys’ dorms. While costs are high, they are all-inclusive, covering everything from uniforms, meals and books to health insurance and a school-issued laptop computer; furthermore, need-based financial aid will ease the burden for lower-income families.
As for the absence of rival schools, King’s Academy hopes to organize both athletic and academic leagues and competitions throughout Jordan, initiatives that promise to benefit not only the Academy’s own students, but their peers across the country.
Preparing for university
Finally, the Academy believes that its commitment to academic excellence, fostering intellectual curiosity and promoting coexistence in an Arab setting will appeal to parents and students alike. For the many families that already consider boarding schools in Europe or the US as options for their children, King’s Academy may offer a strong alternative far closer to home and in an environment more sensitive to their needs.
As with any secondary school, the ultimate test will come when its first class reaches the cutthroat college-admissions stage
As with any secondary school, the ultimate test will come when its first class reaches the cutthroat college-admissions stage. King’s Academy students will be groomed for the best universities in the Arab world, the US, and Europe; actually placing them in these elite institutions will be essential to gaining currency and trust among prospective parents and admissions officers alike. However, as King’s Academy will only admit first- and second-year students in 2007, it will not graduate its first class until 2010.
Fortunately, timing is on the Academy’s side. As the brainchild of King Abdullah, it is widely expected that he will send his children to the school; the eldest, Prince Hussein—the likely heir to the Jordanian throne—would matriculate in 2008. The King’s vote of confidence will obviously carry tremendous cachet—as likely will the prospect, especially to Jordanians, of placing their own children in such an intimate setting with a future monarch.
Overall, the prospects for King’s Academy seem encouraging. And in the Middle East in particular, a new generation of creative, tolerant, independent-thinking leaders could not be more welcome.
