Montgomery Bell Academy
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BESTMBA.GIF
"MBA", as it is often called, was established in the 1860s in the aftermath of the American Civil War. It is the successor to at least two well-known predecessors, the Western Military Institute, which was attended by Sam Davis, the "Boy Hero of the Confederacy", and the preparatory school for the former University of Nashville. (Indeed, the school's board still operates under the corporate title, "Board of Trustees of the University of Nashville", although that institution was otherwise disbanded in the early 20th century.) It was later moved to an estate which was at the time well west of downtown Nashville which was previously known as "Totomoi". The military nature of one of the predecessors notwithstanding, under its current name it has always operated as a civilian institution, and as a day, rather than a boarding, school. The school is named in honor of Montgomery Bell, a Pennsylvania native who made his fortune as the early 19th century "ironmaster" of Middle Tennessee and whose will endowed it, with the stipulation that it forever be an all-male institution. That this practice has survived into the 21st century has proved to be quite startling to some, but in recent decades there has been little local sentiment in favor of a change since a number of excellent girls-only and coeducational academic options have developed in Nashville. Probably more of its graduates go on to attend Vanderbilt (down to 7% in recent years) than any other university, but no single institution of higher learning attracts a very large proportion of the graduates.
The 1989 motion picture Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams, depicts a school patterned on Montgomery Bell Academy. The Alumni Department of Montgomery Bell Academy, according to a website [1] (http://www.deliriumsrealm.com/delirium/movies/dps.asp) about the film, has stated:
- The movie Dead Poets Society was written by Thomas Schulman, a 1968 graduate of Montgomery Bell Academy. The teacher portrayed by Robin Williams in the movie was based on one of Mr. Schulman's teachers while he was at MBA, Mr. Sam Pickering. The events in the movie, however, are purely fictional.
MBA also has extensive exchange links with boys' schools throughout the English-speaking world; arrangements are in place with Eton College and Winchester College in England, Michaelhouse and Kearsney Colleges in South Africa, and The Southport School and The King's School in Australia.
Racial desegregation was very late in coming to MBA, as it was to many simliar Southern prep schools; the school was all white as late as the 1970s.
The school is noted for a large number of National Merit and other scholarship winners; whether this is a product of the quality of the school or the relative privilege into which most of its students are born and raised is debated. Like many old-line prep schools, MBA is still governed by a traditional honor code in which students vow not to lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do so.
External links
- MBA website (http://www.montgomerybell.com/)
- Recent Graduates' College Choices (http://www.montgomerybell.com/atschool/academics/counseling/collegechoices2004.php)
- Charity Navigator rating of MBA (http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/5605.htm)
- Privatebug.org page on MBA (http://www.privatebug.org/school-A9300845.html)
- Richard Speight address to MBA students about his role in Band of Brothers (http://www.geocities.com/agencytv/richardspeightjr/z-rsjr-montgomerybell.html)