The Harkness Difference

At Exeter, Harkness is not just a way of learning... It’s a way of life. It begins in the classroom and extends beyond it, to field, stage and dormitory. It’s about collaboration and respect, where every voice carries equal weight, even when you don’t agree.

[VittoIB]

My class just started Harkness today and this is the video I'm showing my students. Every year I've used this I've seen comprehension and test scores get a boost. Most importantly, there's complete buy-in with this system and the students look forward to Harkness every week. What a beautiful way for learning to happen.

[lauramoore]

I really like using this method with kids. I teach seniors, and this way of learning is so beneficial, especially as they enter the world of work and college.

[deputyheadmaster]

Love the idea... from I teach to we learn...

[jpenneymrcoin]

There's no more than 15 kids in each of those rooms, and each room has 1 teacher. So Phillips is recommending a teacher/student ratio of 1/15. That's great. Let's spend the money to make that happen in public schools, and let's build enough 15-person rooms for all our public school kids, and then everyone can have this great education. I guess money DOES have something to do with improving education.

[mrtromero]

Equality triggers a sense of security enabling a much more effective atmosphere to form

[dipocarew]

How can this be done with a class of 30-35? Love this!

[porschiashelton]

Has anyone found ways to transfer this to the distance learning environment? How do you build that sense of trust at the virtual Harkness "table"?

[KL-qbbp]

Super rich brilliant students at the best prep school in America. Andrew Yang, the presidential candidate, went there!

[edmund]

Mathematics should be taught like this in all schools.. instead of the teacher just lecturing you.

[megadudex]

Ouch that bell at the beginning blew out my eardrum.

[Kyald]

This looks great but I'm not too sure if Hardness works for students of different background.

[liamdonahue]

So it's just a Socratic Seminar, right?

[joshzhang]

When the girl said "charlatans" I was wondering why nobody made an Among Us Imposter joke until I saw the upload date.

[sv-xioq]

This only works with motivated students though. Never try this at any regular public school.

[jesonliu]

lol wut if the students are teaching the wrong thing to each other? so the mistakes carries on?

[jakealden]

Most of these students probably went on SparkNotes and regurgitated a few lines from the Internet in order to "contribute" to the discussion.