After Horace Mann, college was easy. At 13 and 14 I learned organizational, time management, and study skills that many of my peers were still struggling with in their senior year of college. Admittedly, I was pretty miserable while these skills were being drilled into me. However, over the long term, the work ethic I learned at Horace Mann has been extremely valuable. Horace Mann has a strong academic program in the humanities and hard sciences. Performance and visual arts are views as 'fun' activities rather than real subjects. This distinction says a lot about the student body. HMer's are interested in traditional styles of teaching and learning. Anything that seems in anyway 'alternative' or new aged is quickly dismissed as fluff. Generally, classes are 12-20 students. In certain subjects, such as foreign language, classes are often as small as 5. On average, I expected an hour of work per subject each night. Since most students take 5 classes that meet 4 times a week, 4-5 hours a night is a reasonable expectation. However, I also remember having courses with only 10 pages of reading a night. The ninth grade writing program is definitely a highlight. This program gave me a solid grounding in expository writing. You can never write TOO well, so you might as well start-out writing a bit well. 找机会再写吧。
