The American Embassy School

One of the most interesting schools that we visited was the American Embassy School in Delhi. The campus is absolutely beautiful and is, of course, in the very green area of Delhi where all of the embassies are located. Massive security surrounds the school and it feels like you are entering an oasis when you walk through the gate because it is such a dramatic difference from the outside urban challenges of modern Delhi.

During our visit, we met with the principal, Tim Boyle (so warm and friendly), and with Vera Garg, Social Studies teacher (so enthusiastic and scholarly). From our conversation, we learned that AES places emphasis on student led projects. They firmly believe that the high school student should take responsibility for his / her education so students always attend parent / teacher conferences.

AES has 1400 students, 383 in high school. There are many student clubs which do lots of community service including a project where the AES students tutor and host children from the slums.

Another impressive fact about AES is that the students are from 48 different nationalities and 40% of the students are American citizens. Global Citizenship is a major part of the school's mission and each lesson must include multiple cultural perspectives. In fact, all Social Studies essays must include views from 3 different historians with 3 different cultural perspectives.

All in all, this school is superb - I am bringing back a copy of the student newspaper to share with our UA students because it is very festive.

cmn