NMH's teaching philosophy was definitely based on peer discussion. Even in science and math classes we were constantly told to talk over homework answers with the people sitting next to us, work on group projects, collaborate with students outside class, etc. This enabled me to not depend on my teachers for help, and learn more from my peers and myself. It's not that we were discouraged to go to our teachers [they always were on dorm duty, or would come early/late to class] but they always asked us first: how long did you spend trying to figure this out on your own or did you ask any of your classmates. It was very rare to have a lecture based class, which was a strength I believe of NMH. What wasn't, was the near constant interaction between classmates and teachers. I am not the most outspoken in class, and for a few of my classes it felt like the teachers had little control over their students. The emphasis on teacher-student engagement I think gave some teachers the excuse to digress from the days lesson. This was usually good; I wanted to go to a school where the teacher didn't just lecture/give the lesson & I usually learned a lot from these digressions. But still, I believe a more distinct line between students/faculty would be beneficial. In college, there is this distinct line of respect. The teaching environment was really conducive to learning. I enjoyed all my classes and teachers and appreciated the individualized attention. Class size was always reasonable, the biggest being in the high teens. Teachers were always available; every night there was teacher supervised math, writing, and science help available during study hall for any students. The average weekly workload was heavy, and got heavier from freshman to senior year, but I would never felt so overwhelmed I missed out on a social event or anything. I'm not sure about extra help for advanced students, but I know there was for people with ADD/ADHD or other learning disabilities. It wasn't as competitive as I know other boarding schools were - of course some peers wanted to know what you got on a test, but I never felt like the teachers/overall environment encouraged academic competition. We were always told to work together on things, and I learned that working together with others on problems was how you learn/cement the learning in your brain. NMH favored the humanities [freshman must take a religion and english class that is a combined program called humanities 1, sophomores must take humanities 2, a religion and history class program]. Even in my spanish classes, we would not just do grammar we would learn about the culture of spanish speaking countries - this emphasis on global perspectives is great I think, and adds to the overall accepting attitude of NMH.