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Devon School Vs. A Separate Peace

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Princeton High School vs. Devon School
A school is defined as an institution dedicated the education of children. John Knowles’ coming-of-age novel, A Separate Peace, brought to life the characters Gene and Phineas. The two boys are attending a preparatory school located in New Hampshire at the time of World War II. Knowles’ fictional school set years ago is unlike public school in the modern age. Princeton High School is a public school located in Princeton, Minnesota. It is interesting to see how these two schools, with the same goal of educating their children, go about their business. The Devon School as portrayed in A Separate Peace and Princeton High School are both places of education, yet they are distinctly different in their student body, faculty, academic courses, buildings and grounds, and attitude towards sports. To begin, the two schools have dissimilar student bodies. The Devon School is a boys only elite preparatory school with a class of 200 students. The majority of the young men attending the school are from wealthy families that have the intention of sending their boys to college or off to fight in the war post graduation. At Devon, the grades levels are Lower Middler, Upper Middler, and Senior. QUOTE. In contrast, Princeton High …show more content…
At the Devon School, the teachers are stern and often middle aged. The faculty has more jurisdiction at the Devon school than at the Princeton High School. Gene explicates the teacher’s authority by saying, “If you broke the rules, then they broke you” (66). Princeton High School, different from Devon, has a faulty that is made of mostly young teachers. The teachers at Princeton exercise more sympathy for their students and are far less controlling than the teachers at the Devon school. The higher level of authority in the faculty at Devon makes for a more respected staff and at

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