Why Quaker Values Still Matter in Modern Education

In a world that often feels like it’s spinning faster than young people can catch their breath, the enduring clarity of Quaker values offers something rare: a compass. At Brooklyn Friends School, these principles—simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship—continue to ground our students in ways that are both timeless and urgently contemporary.

Students today are navigating global headlines, civic tensions, technological acceleration, and shifting cultural landscapes. Quaker values offer them not just a moral vocabulary, but a way of being. In Meeting for Worship, students learn to listen inwardly and outwardly, to hold silence without fear, and to trust that their voices matter. This practice strengthens their capacity for discernment—an increasingly essential skill in an era of noise.

Community is everywhere in education these days—and that goes for BFS in every way—but in a Quaker school it’s less a concept and more a heartbeat. Students collaborate across differences, create space for multiple perspectives, and learn to navigate conflict without leaving compassion behind. These are not abstract ideals—they are daily, lived commitments that shape everything from classroom discussions to peer leadership to how students show up for one another.

Quaker education nurtures young people who act with purpose. At BFS, students engage thoughtfully with social justice, global citizenship, and the well-being of others. Whether participating in the Social Justice Incubator, addressing food insecurity through our Global Social Impact pillar, or speaking up in a Socratic seminar, students learn that their choices ripple outward. They carry forward a sense of responsibility—not as a burden, but as a calling.

Quakerism affirms that there is something precious at Brooklyn Friends School, revealing itself as a light in every student, colleague, and friend. In a school community, that translates to belonging that is authentic rather than performative. BFS students know they are seen. They know they are valued. And that belonging fuels academic risk-taking, creative expression, and compassionate action far beyond the classroom.