The Exeter Classroom, Then and Now

HARKNESS: THEN & NOW

Harkness for all subjects

In 1973, the Harkness philosophy — or at least the oval conference table — had not yet been fully incorporated into all of the academic subjects taught at Exeter. Science, music, art and theater classes were still conducted in the more traditional classroom environment. Today, the Harkness table is not only at the center of nearly every Exeter classroom, but also extends into all aspects of life on campus, from the playing field to the dining hall to the dorm.

Gender balance at the table

The first 39 female students enrolled at Exeter in the fall of 1970, representing just 4% of the total student population of 891. By December 1973, the Academy reported a slightly more balanced boy-girl ratio of 3 to 1. The campus looks dramatically different today. Girls account for half of the student population (546 for the 2024–25 school year, or 49.4% of a total enrollment of 1,106).

Curriculum

What students are learning around the table has expanded exponentially over the years. The catalog of course offerings for the 1973–74 school year listed just over 170 courses. Today, students can choose from more than 450 courses across 12 major departments.

The world as the classroom

Exeter began offering off-campus educational programming for its students in the 1960s through the School Year Abroad program (chartered by Exeter, Phillips Academy and St. Paul’s School in 1964) and the Washington Intern Program (started in 1966). These offerings have multiplied, especially since the creation of the Global Initiatives program in 2012. Today, the Harkness classroom extends outside and around the world, with more than 400 students participating in over two dozen travel and learning opportunities each year.

TABLE TALK

A look at the oblong structure at the center of every Harkness classroom.

In the years following the Harkness gift, Colin Irving wrote, the Academy experimented with the shape of the conference tables. Some were round, measuring 10 feet in diameter; some were more elongated, about 12.5 feet long and 4.5 feet wide.

Finally, the administration settled on a third design: a “pregnant oval” 6 feet, 11 inches wide, sized to fit through a 7-foot-high door. Twelve wooden slides were nested inside each table, ready to be pulled out for tests or whenever students needed to work independently. The design for this basic Harkness table, with the ingenious arrangement of test slides, has been credited to Corning Benton ’16 (Hon.); P’51, a skilled woodworker who was treasurer of the Academy from 1922–51.

Benton’s original design, now more than 90 years old, serves as the model for the newest Harkness tables, which are constructed by the family-owned Huston & Company in Arundel, Maine. Owner Saer Huston says that he and his employees put together some 250 to 300 pieces of wood — the most common types used are cherry and maple — for each table, consisting of a veneer top banded with solid wood and a wooden base.

As the fame of the Harkness method has spread, the cost of the tables has gone up accordingly. In the early 1930s the price for a Harkness table was $165; by 1963, a replacement was estimated at more than $1,300. Today, an 11-foot table seating 12 students runs around $16,000, while a larger table — up to 20 feet, which seats 18 students — can top $28,000.

VISUALIZING VOICES

A conversation diagram of a Harkness discussion.

“Every class, to some extent, is seeking balance,” says Tyler Caldwell, English instructor and Exeter Humanities Institute director. “That’s always the goal, and it’s never fully accomplished, because it changes day to day.”

Caldwell made the diagram above from a conversation in one of his English classes this fall to better understand the dynamics at the table. On the blank oval, Caldwell drew a line from one speaker to the next, creating a web-like illustration of the conversation in real time. The letter notations track specific textual references (TR), questions (Q), usage of students’ names (NR) and more general mentions of the text (T). The final picture shows who is speaking, how often, and what they are adding to the discussion.

Developed for the Exeter Humanities Institute — which trains educa-tors in the student-centered, discussion-based Harkness pedagogy — this tracking tool is now well known to Exeter students as well. While different teachers use it differently, it’s often employed as a collaborative tool, where students are given a chance to reflect on where they could adjust or improve their participation at the table.

HARKNESS TIMELINE

The transformation of the Exeter classroom didn’t happen all at once. This timeline explores some key moments in the evolution of Harkness at the Academy.

1930: Edward S. Harkness gives Exeter $5.8 million — the equivalent of more than $109 million today — to implement what Principal Lewis Perry calls the “conference method of instruction.”

1931: Exeter students in classics and mathematics participate in the first Harkness-style classes, which replace traditional recitation-style classes of 25 to 35 students. At the time, those are the only two subjects taught in the Academy Building, the only building with renovated rooms available for the start of the school year.

1932: The smaller class size and conference-style format of Harkness learning expand to English, history and modern languages classes with the completion of Phillips Hall.

1970: In a unanimous decision, the Trustees vote to make Exeter a coed institution, and the first 39 girls, all day students, enroll at Exeter for the 1970–71 school year. It is a significant moment for ensuring diverse voices at the table.

1998: A prototype Harkness lab-classroom is built in Room 207 of Thompson Science Building, outfitted with a temporary Harkness table and networked laptop computers at each lab table. The prototype helps science teachers determine the necessary placement and equipment adjustments for classrooms in a new science building, then in the planning phase.

2001: The Phelps Science Center is dedicated. Designed in accordance with Harkness principles, its 22 classroom-labs feature oblong tables and lab benches where groups of two to four students can work together on hands-on activities and experiments.

2015: Ground is broken on an expansion of Forrestal-Bowld Music Center. When complete, students fill the first Harkness music classrooms in the Class of 1959 Music Center, which also houses additional practice rooms, a Music Media and Technology Suite, and a 250-seat performance space, “the Bowld.”

2018: The David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Theater and Dance welcomes students to its two Harkness classrooms — the first for theater and dance classes at the Academy — as well as a 350-seat main stage theater, a 140-seat thrust stage, dance venues and practice spaces.

2020: Exeter celebrates 50 years of coeducation — and confronts the momentous challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the Harkness classroom adapted to include remote students and virtual learning.

2031: Exeter will celebrate its 250th anniversary — and a century of Harkness learning.