Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Education

PYM Connect Launches Addressing Climate Change Channel

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The yearly meeting-wide witness on climate change began when Friends with care for the environment asked that all of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting be part of this concern. In March 2021, PYM agreed to carry climate change as a shared witness. This past weekend, PYM Connect launched a new channel that helps PYM Friends stay connected, share ideas, and support each other to continue this work in Addressing Climate Change.

JOIN PYM CONNECT!
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Annual Sessions to Address Deferred Question: How Are We Called at This Moment?

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Photograph of a building at Cheyney University.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s Annual Sessions will take place from Wednesday, July 23 – Sunday, July 27 at Cheyney University’s campus, offering a space for Friends to worship in community and practice our faith. The theme of sessions, Members One of Another, reminds us that our faith is not just about the places we meet, but the relationships we build, nourish, and support. [Read more…] about Annual Sessions to Address Deferred Question: How Are We Called at This Moment?

Honoring Cheyney University Legacy and Deepening Quaker Connection

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The 188th Founders’ Day celebration at Cheyney University brought together alumni, students, and guests to honor the school’s long history as the first HBCU in the country. Among those attending were Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s presiding clerk Nikki Mosgrove and general secretary Christie Duncan-Tessmer, who were guests at the event. The celebration included speeches, music, and reflections on Cheyney’s past and future. Throughout the event, speakers mentioned Cheyney’s Quaker roots, recognizing the role Quakers played in helping to establish the school and its focus on education and opportunity.
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Quakers in Education: Nitobe Inazo, Elizabeth Gray Vining, and Joseph Wharton

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This is the second in a series of articles about Quakers who’ve impacted the fields of education and contributed to global scientific, medical, political, or economic leadership. The first article was published on September 23 and covered Elise Goulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins.

Nitobe Inazo (1862-1933) was a Japanese Quaker who became the first Under Secretary General for the League of Nations. Nitobe was born into a samurai family on Honshu, the main island of Japan. While in college, he became a Christian and later a Friend. In 1884, He moved to the US for post-graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University. There he began attending Quaker meetings, telling friends, “I very much like their simplicity and earnestness.”

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Quakers in Education: Elise M. Boulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins

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Quaker education has always been grounded in basic principles of the Religious Society of Friends. Each child has that of God within, and Friends’ education is centered in truth, practical learning, scientific inquiry, simplicity, and concern for civic society.

Quakers have a long history of questioning power and engaging in social action for human rights and peace. Today, many Quaker schools or Quaker affiliated institutions of higher education frame their learning environments with social or civic responsibilities and define community expectations through the lens of Friends’ values while still honoring the individual.

As the United States grew from colony to nation, the Quakers advocated for and delivered universal pubic education in Pennsylvania, built colleges, and created private Quaker secondary and elementary schools. The motto of the William Penn Charter School; “Good Instruction is Better than Riches” dates back to its founding in 1689 and still serves to describe Friends’ fundamental belief that knowledge outperforms wealth over time.

In the United States, Quakers were key to the founding of Haverford College (Pennsylvania), Guilford College (North Carolina,) Earlham College (Indiana), Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania), Johns Hopkins University (Maryland), Cornell University (New York), and the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania). All that does not mean that Quakers were perfect. As we see in the stories below, the were human and also strongly influenced by their own time and place.

[Read more…] about Quakers in Education: Elise M. Boulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins

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