The New Yorker, September 4, 2006 P. 102
OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS about King Abdullah's plans to build a boarding school in Jordan modeled on Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where he was a student… Abdullah was the first Arab student at Deerfield. He arrived in 1977, for tenth grade. He has often said that his years there were the happiest of his life… Jordan, a creation of the British after the First World War, has no natural resources to speak of. It has long cultivated an educated populace; its greatest asset may be its so-called “intellectual capital.” The King has made education and technology top priorities, and he intends King's Academy, as his Jordanian Deerfield facsimile is to be called, to be a showcase for both. One of the most vexing challenges facing the Arab world is what to do about its throngs of unemployed Arab men. Abdullah hopes that the student body will number six hundred and will comprise kids from all over the region, including Israel. 30% of them will receive at least partial scholarships…Tells about outgoing Deerfield headmaster Eric Widmer, who has been hired to run King's Academy. Widmer graduated from Deerfield, but has roots in the Middle East. Deerfield has long been considered one of the better New England boarding schools in terms of selectivity, facilities, college placement and endowment. In addition to academics, it stresses athletics and is known for turning out well-mannered, obliging young men and women… Writer visits Deerfield, where he has lunch with Widmer, and sits in on an English class where a story by John Cheever is discussed. Widmer discusses the difficulty of convincing people in the Middle East to send their daughters to a co-ed boarding school… Writer visits King Abdullah at his palace in Amman, Jordan to talk about the school. “I think initially it's going to be more conservative. I think it has to be.” Briefly mentions Abdullah's views on Palestine and the recent Israeli incursion into Lebanon. Tells about other people has hired for the school, including Safwan Masri, a former Columbia professor who is chairman of the King's Academy Board, and architect Khaled Azzam, who designed the school's buildings and grounds. The goal is to raise $100,000 for an endowment by 2008… Writer visits the site where the school is being built… On May 28th, Widmer presided over his last Deerfield commencement. King Abdullah was the commencement speaker…