АҚШ-тағы Беркшир мектебі: Жатаққа арналған жеке білім беру мекемесі

Private, boarding school in Massachusetts, United States

Berkshire School is a private, co educational boarding school located in Sheffield, Massachusetts, USA.

Berkshire’s academic year is divided into trimesters. The average class size is 12, and the typical course load is 5 classes per trimester. Each student’s course of study is planned in conjunction with his or her advisor and overseen by two academic deans and/or a college counselor. Advanced courses are offered in all academic subjects. As of 2023, Berkshire had designated 17 classes as “advanced placement,” with an expectation that students would then take the national AP exam. Dependent on student interest, additional AP classes can be offered in such subjects as economics, music theory, and psychology. Berkshire has Signature programs—such as Advanced Math/Science Research and Advanced Humanities Research—that lead to independent studies projects presented at a spring exhibition. All students are also offered a range of subjects that can be studied during the week long Pro Vita Winter Session. More than 50 Pro Vita courses are offered. Most of these are on campus, but opportunities in 2024 included a week of studying environmental issues in the Bahamas and learning outdoor leadership skills on a dog sledding trip in northern Minnesota.

Berkshire’s 2023 24 day student tuition was $55,400 with an additional $2,000 in fees. Boarding tuition was $73,200. One quarter of Berkshire’s students receive financial assistance, with an average award of $54,000. In addition to tuition, 2/3 of Berkshire parents also contribute to the annual fund, which typically nets almost $3 million each year. As of 2023, the overall school endowment was $195 million, or $435,000 per student. When combined with tuition and large, targeted gifts, these funds pay for the school’s overall operation and the creation and renovation of buildings on campus. In addition, they support student recruitment and financial aid, as well as extracurricular, athletic, and academic opportunities for students and faculty. Berkshire appears to have also made an explicit, ongoing financial commitment to two challenges of modern life: environmental sustainability and the development of a diverse, accepting global community. The school has invested heavily in projects related to sustainability, with 100% of its electrical needs now being met with renewable resources. Similarly, the school asserts a strong commitment to actively recruiting a global community of students, faculty, and administrators who possess a breadth of identities, genders, perspectives, races, and religions; the curriculum includes perspectives and programming on “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” but the school indicates that DEI issues are central to the school’s sense of purpose and community.

Berkshire School (for boys) was established in 1907 at the foot of Mount Everett, one of the highest mountains in Massachusetts, by Seaver Burton Buck, who led the school until 1943. Buck was reportedly a "Victorian disciplinarian sometimes subverted by a pixieish manner."

A Boston Globe once commented that Berkshire had "what must be one of the prettiest campuses in Massachusetts, or anywhere."