St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey is run by its students.
The high school, filled with inner-city youth has been running its unique program for more than three decades and it has managed to achieve some amazing results.
Benedictine Monk Edwin Leahy has been associated with the school for most of six decades as student, teacher and now the headmaster. They say the core of the school’s idea is to empower the high schoolers who attend, many who have had little control over their lives.
They make decisions on activities and rules. And if they make bad decisions, “That’s a better learning experience for them. The rule typically is if you’re going to make a decision without adult advice you had better be right,” says Leahy.
The program has been incredibly successful with a 98% graduation rate.
