Cooking Up a New Class
By WILLIAM INOUE ‘27
When I first opened the Courses of Instruction the summer before coming to Phillips Exeter Academy, I was taken aback by the sheer number of classes I could choose from. I was coming from a small international school in Japan with only Japanese as a secondary language option. The options for sciences were almost nonexistent as every student took the combined science classes offered to everyone. It took me around a week to comb through the courses of instruction and find the classes I wanted to take. Even after that, I was still lost on which classes I wanted to take in each of the slots. For example, I knew beforehand that I wanted to take history classes, but I failed to realize that there were at least four to five history classes per term that I needed to choose from. There was truly an endless amount of classes to choose from. Even after a year at the Academy, I still feel surprised whenever I open the Courses of Instructions and discover a class I previously skimmed over. Take the math curriculum, for example; we are offered classes ranging from statistics to linear algebra, but we also provide in-depth college-level courses in selected topics. There are a wide range of classes that suit a great amount of student needs at Exeter.
Yet, amidst the overwhelming number of options, I have always felt like one class I would enjoy having was missing. The classes are CUL410 and CUL510, for “Principles of Culinary” and “Advanced Culinary Practice,” respectively. They are a two-term sequence offered in the winter and spring and are meant for seniors who have already completed their graduation requirements.
The first class, CUL410, will be an introduction to culinary arts, assuming the students have no previous experience. It would include classes to teach basic skills, such as using cookware and knives. The course through the winter term would slowly move to perfecting these beginner abilities and developing the student’s ability to innovate beyond the curriculum and become better chefs. In the next class, CUL510, students will be trained to create full dishes, which they will make themselves and use as practice. Further down the term, there would be options for them to develop their own dishes and present them as works of art. Both these courses would most likely be graded based on a combination of ability and paper tests (ability tests would measure the student’s ability to perform the skills developed throughout the term, and the paper test would be used to assess knowledge learned).
The class sequence may seem strange among the other courses offered at Exeter; however, its importance does not compare to other classes. Exeter, being a preparatory school, should be able to adapt to meet student needs that may not be traditional. I have friends at other schools mentioning that they want to pursue culinary arts in college yet are unable to due to the lack of proper training while trying to maintain a rigorous course load. It is also reasonable to assume there would be Exeter students who are hoping to do the same. Even further , culinary practice stems from preparing people for basic life skills. Performing culinary abilities at a high level provides benefits in countless ways, to the extent that adults often carve time out of their lives to learn such abilities. If we can introduce these skills naturally in high school, it would provide unprecedented benefits to students.
The implementation of this course would be realistic as well. Professionally, chefs often work at or have their own restaurants, and chances are there is already one in the town of Exeter. In that case, we could operate this class on a non-reserve usage schedule or meet at schedules similar to high-level science classes, where they have combined blocks for labs. We could see if any current Exeter teachers can instruct the class if there is none. With teachers’ diverse hobbies, there may just be a professionally trained culinary chef who can teach this course. If all else fails, we will be able to hire the chef like we would with any teacher.
Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the best academic schools in the world, should have classes that go beyond the average curriculum for students. Such a class would be the sequence of CUL410 and CUl510, which both develop students’ basic life abilities and potentially prepare them for college.