Education at Buxton is composed of academic courses, activities, and community life. Each must, at times, take precedence over the others, and each contains unique and vital growth potential- hence the conviction that all three are of educational significance. Given this belief, individual course programs allow for a mixture of academic and nonacademic pursuits from a curriculum that is broad and demanding, offering a combination of traditional subjects, courses in the arts, and some studies rarely encountered before college.

The school strives to present challenges in a manner that brings new levels of insight, courage and ambition in a non-competitive and intellectually rigorous environment. Compassionate adult interaction is the cornerstone of education at Buxton.

Unlike many private and public schools, Buxton does not offer classes that are designated as "honors" level or that are AP-driven.

We do allow students to take AP tests if they want to. Individual faculty members can guide you in your study on a tutorial basis if both you and your teachers think the process will be beneficial to you.

Q:WHY DON'T WE OFFER AP CLASSES?

First of all, many of our upper-level core and elective courses are taught at what would be considered an honors level at most other schools. But we also want those classes to be available to anyone who is interested in and ready for them, whether or not they have been "tracked" to take them. We have also found that most adolescents rise to to high expectations if asked; our honors-caliber classes prove that inclusion is good for students, teachers, and classes.

As for the Advanced Placement tests, at Buxton we want our teachers to really teach their subjects, responding to their own ongoing discoveries about the topics and to the unique mix of students in their classes. When a teacher is, instead, "teaching to the test," the course is no longer about the specific aims of the teacher or the specific needs of the students. Both teaching and learning run the risk of becoming rote and uninspired.

It is our aim to make education matter to students in profound and life-changing ways; a cookie-cutter class with an externally determined goal makes little sense to us.

Q: DOES THIS MEAN THAT BUXTON STUDENTS ARE LESS DESIRABLE APPLICANTS IN COMPETITIVE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS?

In spite of our renegade stance toward the Honors and AP tracks, our college placement record is excellent. Colleges are quick to see that Buxton students are cut from a different cloth, that they are active thinkers, committed community members, and thoughtful citizens.

At Buxton, the high school experience is not just the means to the end; rather, it has an integrity all to its own. The natural outcome of this approcach is distinctive, independent-minded students who not only get into good colleges, but thrive once they are there.