Saint Grottlesex

The term Saint Grottlesex refers to several American boarding schools in New England. Frequently, these schools send their graduates to the nation's most prestigious universities. All schools are members of the Independent School League.

The schools are:
*St. Paul's School
*St. Mark's School
*St. George's School
*Groton School
*Middlesex School

The term is a portmanteau of the St. part of St. Paul's, St. Mark's, and St. George's, then part of Groton, an extra t, and then ended with Middlesex. The St. Grottlesex schools were founded in the mid- to late nineteenth century for well-to-do Episcopalian boys (excepting nondenominational Middlesex, founded in 1901) and were consciously styled as the American equivalent of famous English public schools (for example Eton, Harrow, Charterhouse, Shrewsbury, Winchester, and Rugby). In contrast, the so-called academies, such as Andover, Exeter, Deerfield, and Milton, were generally founded in the late eighteenth century as places to "combine scholarship with more than a little Puritan hellfire" and, originally, were often the first educational step in preparing men for the Puritan ministry. [Cookson and Persell, "Preparing for Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools" (Basic Books, 1985).] While the term has been used for decades, it gained popularity after its inclusion in the tongue-in-cheek satirical reference book, The Official Preppy Handbook.Fact|date=February 2007

References

*http://www.newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/articles/051010crat_atlarge

Footnotes