"Jake takes place during one of the single most powerfully shaping times
in a person's life--secondary education. Through the metaphor of the
utopian and fictitious St. Stephen's Episcopal School, author Arch
Montgomery shows us how our humanity can only be fully realized through
other humans. The book depicts three deaths and one near-fatal disease
while simultaneously tracking the rebirth of Jake, the titular and main
character. He moves from a transparent ""only-good-as-I-have-to-be""
mentality to a lifestyle of excellence and three-dimensionality with the
help of his school, which is personified through the characters of Mary
White, rector; George Meader, teacher; and Joel Kohn, student.Jake
presents both Montgomery's view of public school systems (which Jake,
without a drop of nostalgia, refers to as ""out in the county"") and his
view of an ideal school, which, in this case, comes in the form of an
independent school, though the tenets that make it so admirable could be
applied to almost any school--public, independent, parochial, or
otherwise. Mixing real-world models with an informed idealism,
Montgomery creates St. Stephen's in order to demonstrate the most
positive influence a school can have on one person.On the flipside of
that coin, however, remain numerous questions about what kind of
negative effects sub-par schools can have on their students. While St.
Stephen's gives its students a three-dimensional education--mind
(academics), body (athletics), and spirit (chapel and community
service)--do public schools scratch the surface of even just one
dimension? While Mary White, the head of St. Stephen's, plays roles as
varied as disciplinarian, spiritual leader, and friend, in what light do
most public school students view their own principals? While the
educational events of the highest consequence happen to Jake outside the
classroom, how many public school students interact with their
classmates, teachers, or administration beyond a school setting?On a
continuum of education quality--satisfactory, good, great, excellent,
ideal--where does St. Stephen's fall? Where does the school you went to,
or your children go to, fall? These and many other questions arise in
Jake, and beg to be discussed, because once problems are recognized,
they can begin to get solved."
