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I am interested to hear more about what Deb and Jill have to say about culture and their teaching experiences at a Quaker school.  I took a class on Quakerism at Haverford (which is a Quaker school) and we spent a little bit of time talking about consensus. For those that don't know much about it, here is a quote from wikipedia:

"On some occasions a single Friend will hold up a decision because they feel the meeting is not following God's will; occasionally, some members of the Meeting will "stand aside" on an issue, meaning that these members do not share in the general sense of the meeting but are willing to allow the group to move forward."

At Haverford, they make schoolwide decisions by using consensus.  To me, it just seems like it takes such a long time to come to a decision.  Additionally, isn't one major advantage of culture to have many different viewpoints?  By coming to a consensus, I feel like many people just agree with the majority of other people and that many of the views aren't heard because they just want things to move faster.  This is just some of my thoughts from the feedback I have gotten from friends at Haverford.  Thoughts welcomed.