Welcome to Thomas Jefferson School (TJ), a small but far-reaching coed boarding and day school for grades 7 to 12. We offer a core classical curriculum to students from St. Louis to Shanghai, Little Rock to Nowy Sacz. We are a community of diverse minds who share the highest standards and seek “to lift up the world with beauty and intellect.”
In my 40 years at TJ, I have come to know a great many students. They are truly diverse and can’t be categorized as any particular type, but they share common denominators – energy, independence, an interest in their own education, and a commitment to using their teenage years wisely to get ready for college and adulthood. Here, they connect with others who have the same desire to learn. TJ is their second home.
If you’re a parent considering our school for your child, you probably have many questions. Why spend money on a secondary school in uncertain economic times? Isn’t it better to save for college? Isn’t a classical education (sometimes called traditional, essentialist, perennialist, or liberal education) possible later in life and even on one’s own?
The formative teenage years are a critical time for developing cultural literacy and analytical thinking. The liberal arts, traditionally designed for this time in life, should be started soon in order to save time and money later. If eager, able young minds are allowed to wander and waste, they may grow so bored, distracted, or empty that the tough intellectual work of the professions is simply too much later on. We want your child to be ready for pre-med (some of our graduates have been accepted into six-year medical schools as freshmen in college) or pre-law, ready to research history or to learn computer programs when they leave us. We want them to be able to choose their walk in life freely, not to have their steps determined by a weak or lopsided curriculum. We want to give them an education that is never out of date, and uncertain economic times (theyre always uncertain, arent they?) may make us all realize that this education should come before it is too late.
Every year, we look forward to greeting the remarkable group of young people we are privileged to work with. The college-placement record they achieve is simply a byproduct of their natural ability coupled with the effort they put into learning and growing here. Our role is to give them the best environment in which to grow: an unparalleled classical curriculum that emphasizes both doors of the liberal arts (numbers and words), providing true intellectual depth; varied arts and activities offerings; an emphasis on community and responsibility; and high expectations in every area of school life. That covers quite a bit of ground, doesn’t it?
Why Choose TJ?
The highest SAT scores (2150) among U.S. boarding schools*
A rigorous classical curriculum with all Advanced Placement courses by senior year
An international student body
A daily schedule that promotes personal responsibility
A student/teacher ratio of 6:1
*Thomas Jefferson School has the #1 SAT scores of U.S. boarding schools listed by Boarding School Review.