Top U.S. School Offers Songdo Expertise

“This is the first time that Milton Academy has forged a partnership with a foreign school. I look forward to active cooperation with Songdo International School,” said Joe Warren (photo), a special advisor to the principal of Milton Academy, a prestigious private school in the eastern U.S. in a telephone interview with Dong-A Ilbo Wednesday. “The Milton Academy will play an active role in our partnership, offering advice to Songdo International School.”

Milton Academy signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NSC, a developer of New Songdo City project, to create an official partnership.

When asked, “Does the partnership include a teachers and students exchange program?”, he answered “Nothing has been decided yet. The exchange program is one of the issues to be discussed later. Songdo International School should have its principal first, in order to make progress in the discussion.”

He said that John B. Hynes, the CEO of Gale International and an alumnus of Milton Academy, was behind the partnership between the two schools. Gale International is participating in the New Songdo City development project in consortium with POSCO.

To the question “What does it take for Songdo International School to be a success?”, he answered “There is nothing more important than a good curriculum.”

“It is crucial to have a good curriculum in place: for example, good content to cultivate students’ analytic thinking. In addition, extra attention should be paid to helping improving students’ writing skills and securing a pool of competent teachers. In this regard, I believe that Milton Academy can contribute a lot to the success of Songdo International School.”

He said, “Milton Academy makes sure to encourage students to develop their interests, embrace diversity and pursue excellence. At the same time, we place a lot of emphasis on community service.”

Milton Academy, established in Massachusetts in 1798, is a distinguished private school in the eastern U.S. with a history of more than 200 years. It is unrivalled in terms of the ratio of graduates admitted to prestigious universities, as 32% of its graduates entered Harvard, Brown, Yale and Stanford Universities this year.

Among alumni of the school are T.S. Elliot, a Nobel Prize laureate in literature, and Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts senator.

Jong sik Kong kong@donga.com