Growing Up a Paideian

By MaLea Berry, M&M TIPster

"You don't wear uniforms?!"
"You get to call your teachers by their first names?!"
"You don't have a cafeteria?!"

These are the questions that I constantly have to nod my head and smile to when I'm explaining to people what my school is and how we operate. Since kindergarten, I've gone to this place that now feels like home. This school where you see just as many students with shoes as those without them. This school where a group of 5th graders could cover politics and the election, the stock market, the Biggie-Tupac rivalry, and take out the recycling and compost bins all within one class period. This school where the World Civ teacher is also the bowling coach and the guy who plays Buddy Holly albums over the speakers at basketball games. This place I love; Paideia School.

Whenever I tell people about my school they either raise their eyebrows with a look of doubt in their eyes or tell me how lucky I am and that they wished they went there too. The school is located in a part of Atlanta that is bustling with all types of people, religions, ethnicities, and activities, so of course the school reflects on its area. Our dress code is: Wear clothes...that fit...and don't show too much. The majority of the school is made up of "lifers" (those of us who have been there since pre-k or kindergarten), and almost none of them have ever opened a cafeteria milk carton in their lives. We call our headmaster Paul, because that's his name.
In the school's description it says, "Paideia's philosophy is based on the belief that schools can be informal and individualized yet still educate well. The school offers a challenging curriculum that emphasizes individual achievement...," and that's exactly what we do. Paideia, as far as I can tell, focuses on students as people, instead of just focusing on having us get worksheets done. They focus on helping us to mold ourselves into our own individuals.

In jr. high, I was put in a class that did a lot of writing. I love writing fiction, so I was excited and couldn’t wait to start writing stories. The first day, however, I walked in and my teacher, Jennifer said "We don't do any creative writing in this class. It's all personal. We want you to talk about life experiences and grow from them."

Those two years of jr. high did not only consisted of regular classes like grammar and lit. We also had classes like Time Management and Organization, Race, Class, and Gender, and GOALS, a 45 minute emotional check-in where we addressed personal or general issues and made long-term and short-term goals for ourselves.

My favorite time in school—other than Zoo Day in kindergarten, where Zoo Atlanta would come to the school and bring animals—was Jr. High because I saw so many of my peers make positive changes and they taught us how to be people. We learned about each other and our society.12 and 13-year-old students made realizations that some adults still haven't made about the world we live in, and the people in it. Those two years were key years for me, because I think I needed to be able to understand my peers in order to gain stronger relationships with them.7th and 8th grade is where those relationships blossomed.

What I like the most about Paideia is just how the student-to-student and student-to-teacher relationships are so strong and the people really begin to feel like family. As cliché as that sounds, it's so true for those of us there. Paideia is a small school, with around only 900 people for the whole school (pre-k through 12th grade). For sports, we’re a 1A school (the smallest possible sizing category), but after a while you realize that you pretty much know everyone, and everyone knows you. People there, students, parents and teachers alike, love the closeness and communal feel that comes with being a Paideian.


This past year I was a freshman. I feared the jump from jr. high to high school because of how high school has always been portrayed in movies and books. I expected to be ignored and buried under my school work, but now realize how crazy it was for me to feel that way. I met more people that I thought I'd never talk to, like juniors and seniors, and learned things about peers that I would have never known if I had been afraid of exploring it.
Generally, class sizes range from 20 to maybe 26 students, so for the semester, you really have time to get to know the people in your class. A lot of the time, when we do activities or assignments in class, they are group or partner activities, which lead to conversation amongst all types of students.
Our school does things a little differently than other private schools. Instead of having one block schedule that we follow for the whole year we have two long term semesters and two short term semesters. This means up until Holiday Break (the week before Christmas-New Years) we have six classes a day ranging from 40-50 minutes. Some people have orchestra/band or art/photography during a period, while others have study hall. Some students take seminars or AP classes later on in their high school career. When we get back from the break, however, we don't have our regular classes. We have "short term" which lasts for a month where we take "alternative learning" classes. All types of classes are offered.


Many people looking in have the misconception that we just sit around doing nothing for a month. However, even with all the cool alternative class offerings, we all still take our required core classes during both long and short term. For example, freshman are required to take Making Healthy Life Decisions at some point during their 2nd short term, and Algebra II students have to take geometry during either short term. My first short term I had classes like Poetry, Chess, and Word Games, and the 2nd short term I had classes like Race and Ethnicity and The Science of the Brain. In those courses I made friends with people throughout all class years, and I still actually learned something. Describing our short term and long term to strangers or to other private schools is never easy, because they assume we just cut off school for 4 weeks. They question what goes on during the month where we’re not taking regular classes like specifically Algebra II or biology and they think two months of our learning isn’t worth much. Much to their chagrin, however, that's not the case at all. Paideians believe just as much in learning about social interactions as they do in learning about math and science.


Like I stated earlier, our school is focused on helping us grow not only as students, but as people, too. When discussing our framework of values and attitude towards learning, our website says, “We should teach our students to use reason and logic and to apply these tools to engage with the world. Schools often err on the side of stressing the competitive and private nature of learning. We should impart the value that learning can often be a cooperative effort in which shared ideas enhance each student's experience and understanding.”

So far, in my 10 years here, I’ve experienced every aspect of what separates Paideia from other private schools, in Atlanta, and just in general.

“We hope that our students will be prepared not only to live in the world but to improve it.”-The Paideia School Framework of Values.

If that doesn’t accurately embody what Paideia hopes to represent, I don’t know what does.

MaLea Berry, 15, is a sophomore at The Paideia School in Atlanta, Georgia.