Practicing Virtues: Moral Traditions at Quaker and Military Boarding Schools

by Kim Hays

Practicing Virtues is about learning to be good in the distinct moral worlds of Quaker and military boarding schools. Both types of schools bind their communities with shared codes of conduct, the military schools' conservative tradition emphasizing discipline and hard work, the Quaker schools' liberal tradition favoring tolerance and togetherness. At the heart of this contrast are two sets of pride, loyalty, and leadership among the cadets; simplicity, equality, and concern among the students at Quaker schools.

During the course of a year Kim Hays lived in six schools, attending classes and staff meetings, sharing meals and informal conversation, and participating in the nonacademic side of boarding-school life.

Despite the outward contrast between the Quaker and military settings, Hays found surprising similarities. Both systems cherish individualism while encouraging group identification and service to the school community. Hays shows that orderliness, obedience, and harmony do not in themselves create a vital moral environment. To reach that goal, teachers, students, and administrators need to disagree, question rules, and fight for change.

This book has much to say about the role of education in developing moral responsibility. Every educator, student, and parent who cares about the future of American schooling will find valuable lessons here.

Hardcover

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

Kim Hays is a dual citizen (Swiss/American) who has made her home in Bern since she married a Swiss. Before that, she lived in San Juan, Vancouver, and Stockholm, as well as the US, her birthplace. Since the age of seventeen, she has worked at a wide variety of jobs, from factory forewoman to director of a small nonprofit and, in Switzerland, from sociology lecturer to cross-cultural trainer. She began writing mysteries when her son left for college. PESTICIDE (2022), the first book in her Polizei Bern series, was shortlisted for the 2020 Debut Dagger award by the Crime Writers’ Association; and mystery writer Deborah Crombie called it “a stand-out debut for 2022.” The second book in the series, SONS AND BROTHERS, was published in April 2023.

Hays has a BA in English history and literature from Harvard and a PhD in cultural sociology from UC-Berkeley.