title: Independent school

text: Independent school fees can vary from under $100 per month to $2,000 and upwards, depending on the student's year level, the school's size, and the socioeconomics of the school community. In late 2018 it was reported that the most expensive independent schools (such as the APS Schools, the AGSV Schools in Melbourne, the GPS Schools, QGSSSA Schools in Brisbane and the NSW GPS Schools, Combined Associated Schools and the ISA Schools in Sydney and New South Wales) charge fees of up to $500,000 for the thirteen years of an independent school education.


title: Independent school

text: There are two main categories of private schools in Australia: Catholic schools and Independent schools.


title: Independent school

text: Catholic schools form the second-largest sector after government schools, with around 21% of secondary enrollments. Most Australian Catholic schools belong to a system, like government schools, are typically co-educational and attempt to provide Catholic education evenly across the states. These schools are also known as "systemic". Systemic Catholic schools are funded mainly by state and federal government and have low fees.


title: Independent school

text: Catholic schools, both systemic and independent, typically have a strong religious focus, and usually most of their staff and students are Catholic.


title: Independent school

text: Independent schools make up the last sector and are the most popular form of schooling for boarding students. Independent schools are non-government institutions that are generally not part of a system.


title: Independent school

text: Although most are non-aligned, some of the best known independent schools also belong to the large, long-established religious foundations, such as the Anglican Church, Uniting Church and Presbyterian Church, but in most cases, they do not insist on their students' religious allegiance. These schools are typically viewed as "elite schools". Many of the "grammar schools" also fall in this category. They are usually expensive schools that tend to be up-market and traditional in style, some Catholic schools fall into this category as well, e.g. St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace, Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview, St Gregory's College, Campbelltown, St Aloysius' College (Sydney) and St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, as well as Loreto Kirribilli, Saint Scholastica's College, Monte Sant Angelo Mercy College and Loreto Normanhurst for girls.


title: Independent school

text: Lower-fee independent schools exist and are often conducted by religious affiliations such as the Greek Orthodox church and other less prominent Christian denominations.


title: Independent school

text: In Canada, "independent school" refers to elementary and secondary schools that follow provincial educational requirements but are not managed by the provincial ministry; the term "independent" is usually used to describe not-for-profit schools. In some provinces, independent schools are regulated by the Independent School Act and must offer a curriculum prescribed by the provincial government. Ontario has the most independent schools in Canada. These include Ridley College, Havergal College, Crescent School, St. Andrew's College, Columbia International College, The York School, Niagara Christian Collegiate and Ashbury College. Examples of independent schools in British Columbia are Brentwood College School, Little Flower Academy, Shawnigan Lake School, St. Margaret's School, and St. Michael's University School. In Quebec: Bishop's College School and Lower Canada College.


title: Independent school

text: Many independent schools in Canada meet National Standards and are accredited by a national not-for-profit organization called Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS).


title: Independent school

text: Independent schools in British Columbia are partially financed by municipal governments by Statutory and Permissive tax exemptions. The objective of the legislation appears to be to level the playing field between the private and public sector schools. These tax exemptions over a period of time result in considerable investment by municipal governments in the private school sector, yet legally they have no stake in the properties, as they remain in private hands. Depending on the financial structure of the school, parents may have a financial stake while their offspring are enrolled, but the investment is not continuous, and the enrollment deposit, which finances the school's capital expenditures, is returned upon leaving the school. The returned deposit is paid from the subsequent new enrolment, and it follows that no parent makes a long-term investment in the school. The municipal governments appear on balance to be the only long term investors, through the statutory and permissive tax exemptions, with no right to recapture these costs if the school is dissolved or any part of the assets is disposed of.


title: Independent school

text: Robert Land Academy in Wellandport, Ontario is Canada's only independent military style school for boys in grades 6 through 12.


title: Independent school

text: In 1999, 5.6% of Canadian students were enrolled in private schools, some of which are religious or faith-based schools, including Christian, Catholic, Jewish, and Islamic schools. Some private schools in Canada are considered world class, especially some boarding schools with a long and illustrious history. Private schools have sometimes been controversial, with some in the media and in Ontario's Provincial Ministry of Education asserting that students may buy inflated grades from private schools.


title: Independent school

text: The right to create private schools in Germany is in Article 7, Paragraph 4 of the Grundgesetz and cannot be suspended even in a state of emergency. It is also not possible to abolish these rights. This unusual protection of private schools was implemented to protect these schools from a second Gleichschaltung or similar event in the future. Still, they are less common than in many other countries. Overall, between 1992 and 2008 the percent of pupils in such schools in Germany increased from 6.1% to 7.8% (including rise from 0.5% to 6.1% in the former GDR). Percent of students in private high schools reached 11.1%.


title: Independent school

text: There are two types of private schools in Germany, "Ersatzschulen" (literally: substitute schools) and "Ergänzungsschulen" (literally: auxiliary schools). There are also "private Hochschulen" (private colleges and universities) in Germany, but similar to the UK, the term private school is almost never used of universities or other tertiary institutions.


title: Independent school

text: "Ersatzschulen" are ordinary primary or secondary schools, which are run by private individuals, private organizations or religious groups. These schools offer the same types of diplomas as public schools. Ersatzschulen lack the freedom to operate completely outside government regulation. Teachers at Ersatzschulen must have at least the same education and at least the same wages as teachers at public schools, an Ersatzschule must have at least the same academic standards as a public school and Article 7, Paragraph 4 of the Grundgesetz, also forbids segregation of pupils according to the means of their parents (the so-called "Sonderungsverbot"). Therefore, most Ersatzschulen have very low tuition fees or offer scholarships, compared to most other Western European countries. However, it is not possible to finance these schools with such low tuition fees, which is why all German Ersatzschulen are additionally financed with public funds. The percentages of public money could reach 100% of the personnel expenditures. Nevertheless, Private Schools became insolvent in the past in Germany.


title: Independent school

text: "Ergänzungsschulen" are secondary or post-secondary (non-tertiary) schools, which are run by private individuals, private organizations or rarely, religious groups and offer a type of education which is not available at public schools. Most of these schools are vocational schools. However, these vocational schools are not part of the German dual education system. Ergänzungsschulen have the freedom to operate outside government regulation and are funded in whole by charging their students tuition fees.


title: Independent school

text: In Italy education is predominantly public; about one-fifth of schools are private, attended by about one out of 10 Italian schoolchildren. The Italian constitution states that education is to be public, free, and compulsory for at least 8 years.


title: Independent school

text: The majority of schools not administered by the state are Catholic. In the period 2008–2009 Catholic schools were about 57% of all private schools, with a tendency to decrease.


title: Independent school

text: In India, private schools are called independent schools, but since some private schools receive financial aid from the government, it can be an aided or an unaided school. So, in a strict sense, a private school is an unaided independent school. For the purpose of this definition, only receipt of financial aid is considered, not land purchased from the government at a subsidized rate. It is within the power of both the union government and the state governments to govern schools since Education appears in the Concurrent list of legislative subjects in the constitution. The practice has been for the union government to provide the broad policy directions while the states create their own rules and regulations for the administration of the sector. Among other things, this has also resulted in 30 different Examination Boards or academic authorities that conduct examinations for school leaving certificates. Prominent Examination Boards that are present in multiple states are the CBSE and the CISCE, NENBSE


title: Independent school

text: Legally, only non-profit trusts and societies can run schools in India. They will have to satisfy a number of infrastructure and human resource related criteria to get Recognition (a form of license) from the government. Critics of this system point out that this leads to corruption by school inspectors who check compliance and to fewer schools in a country that has the largest adult illiterate population in the world. While official data does not capture the real extent of private schooling in the country, various studies have reported unpopularity of government schools and an increasing number of private schools. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), which evaluates learning levels in rural India, has been reporting poorer academic achievement in government schools than in private schools. A key difference between the government and private schools is that the medium of education in private schools is English while it is the local language in government schools.


title: Independent school

text: Private schools can be found across Indonesia. All private schools in Indonesia are established by foundations. The costs of education are not subsidized by the government. The differences between private schools and public schools depend on each school. Each private school applies policies from the Indonesian Government, and all private schools give the opportunity of additional activities whether cultural or for sport. Lots of Private schools in Indonesia are also influenced by religions (Islam, Christian, Catholic, Hindu, Buddha). But there are also national private schools that are not influenced by religion but rather have a special program.


title: Independent school

text: In Ireland, the internationally recognised definition of "private school" is misleading and a more accurate distinction is between fee-charging schools and non-fee-charging schools. This is because approximately 85% of all schools are private schools () by virtue of not being owned by the state. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest owner of schools in Ireland, with other religious institutions owning the remaining private schools. Nevertheless, despite the vast majority of schools being under the ownership of private institutions, a large majority of all their costs, including teachers' salaries, are paid for by the Irish state. Of these private schools, only a very small minority actually charge fees. In 2007, 'The number of schools permitted to charge fees represents 7.6% of the 723 post primary level schools and they cater for 7.1% of the total enrolment.'


title: Independent school

text: If a fee-charging school wishes to employ extra teachers they are paid for with school fees, which tend to be relatively low in Ireland compared to the rest of the world. Because state funding plays a fundamental role in the finances of all but one fee-charging school, they must undergo similar state inspection to non-fee-charging schools. This is due to the requirement that the state ensure that children receive a certain minimum education; Irish state subsidised fee-charging schools must still work towards the Junior Certificate and the Leaving Certificate, for example.


title: Independent school

text: The single fee-charging secondary school in Ireland which receives no state funding, the Nord Anglia International School Dublin, does not have to undergo the state supervision which all the other fee-charging schools undergo. Students there also sit the International Baccalaureate rather than the Irish Leaving Certificate which every other Irish secondary school student sits. In exchange, however, Nord Anglia students pay some €25,000 per annum in fees, compared to c. €4,000 – €8,000 per annum fees by students in all other fee-charging Irish schools.


title: Independent school

text: Many fee-charging schools in Ireland also double as boarding schools. The fees for these may then rise up to €25,000 per year. All the state-subsidised fee-charging schools are run by a religious order, e.g., the Society of Jesus or Congregation of Christian Brothers, etc. The major private schools being Blackrock College, Clongowes Wood College, Castleknock College, Belvedere College, Gonzaga College and Terenure College.


title: Independent school

text: There are also a few fee-charging international schools in Ireland, including a French school, a Japanese school and a German school.


title: Independent school

text: In Lebanon the vast majority of students attend private schools, most of which are owned and operated by the Maronite Church. Government owned schools do exist, but only a small percentage of the population attend these aging structures, most of which were built in the mid-twentieth century. Educational standards are very high in Lebanon, but only those who can afford them are found in these schools. This presents a massive issue as not only does it place a burden on parents and younger families, but it also prevents certain individuals from realizing their full potential.


title: Independent school

text: Lebanon utilizes an unusual mixed system, with French, English and American systems intertwining, sometimes in the same facility. As of 2015, approximately 85% of Secondary and High School graduates continued on to university.


title: Independent school

text: Chinese schools were being founded by the ethnic Chinese in Malaysia as early as the 19th century. The schools were set up with the main intention of providing education in the Chinese language. As such, their students remain largely Chinese to this day even though the school themselves are open to people of all races and backgrounds.


title: Independent school

text: After Malaysia's independence in 1957, the government instructed all schools to surrender their properties and be assimilated into the National School system. This caused an uproar among the Chinese and a compromise was achieved in that the schools would instead become "National Type" schools. Under such a system, the government is only in charge of the school curriculum and teaching personnel while the lands still belonged to the schools. While Chinese primary schools were allowed to retain Chinese as the medium of instruction, Chinese secondary schools are required to change into English-medium schools. Over 60 schools converted to become National Type schools.


title: Independent school

text: In much of Nepal, the schooling offered by the state governments would technically come under the category of "public schools". They are federal- or state-funded, and have no or minimal fees.


title: Independent school

text: The other category of schools are those run and partly or fully funded by private individuals, private organizations and religious groups. The ones that accept government funds are called 'aided' schools. The private 'un-aided' schools are fully funded by private parties. The standard and the quality of education is quite high. Technically, these would be categorized as private schools, but many of them have the name "Public School" appended to them (e.g., the Galaxy Public School in Kathmandu). Most of the middle-class families send their children to such schools, which might be in their own city or far off, like boarding schools. The medium of education is English, but as a compulsory subject, Nepali or the state's official language is also taught. Preschool education is mostly limited to organized neighbourhood nursery schools.


title: Independent school

text: In the Netherlands over two-thirds of state-funded schools operate autonomously, with many of these schools being linked to faith groups. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, ranks the education in the Netherlands as the 9th best in the world as of 2008, being significantly higher than the OECD average.


title: Independent school

text: As of April 2014, there were 88 private schools in New Zealand, catering for around 28,000 students or 3.7% of the entire student population. Private school numbers have been in decline since the mid-1970s as a result of many private schools opting to become state-integrated schools, mostly due of financial difficulties stemming from changes in student numbers or the economy. State-integrated schools keep their private school special character and receives state funds in return for having to operate like a state school, e.g. they must teach the state curriculum, they must employ registered teachers, and they can't charge tuition fees (they can charge "attendance dues" for the upkeep on the still-private school land and buildings). The largest decline in private school numbers occurred between 1979 and 1984, when the nation's then-private Catholic school system integrated. As a result, private schools in New Zealand are now largely restricted to the largest cities (Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch) and niche markets.


title: Independent school

text: Private schools are almost fully funded by tuition fees paid by students' parents, but they do receive some government subsidies. Private schools are popular for academic and sporting performance, prestige, exclusivity and old boys/girls networks; however, many state-integrated schools and some prestigious single-sex state schools, such as Auckland Grammar School and Wellington College, are actively competitive with private schools in academic and sporting achievement, history and character.


title: Independent school

text: Private schools are often Anglican, such as King's College and Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland, St Paul's Collegiate School in Hamilton, St Peter's School in Cambridge, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in Wellington, and Christ's College and St Margaret's College in Christchurch; or Presbyterian, such as Saint Kentigern College and St Cuthbert's College in Auckland, Scots College and Queen Margaret College in Wellington, and St Andrew's College and Rangi Ruru Girls' School in Christchurch. However, the Catholic schismatic group, the Society of St Pius X in Wanganui operates three private schools (including the secondary school, St Dominic's College).


title: Independent school

text: A recent group of private schools run as a business has been formed by Academic Colleges Group; with schools throughout Auckland, including ACG Senior College in Auckland's CBD, ACG Parnell College in Parnell, and international school ACG New Zealand International College.


title: Independent school

text: Oman retains a number of independent private coeducational day schools of international renown and a majority of which are private educational grammar establishments offering Classics beyond Latin and Greek to include the ancient literary studies of Sanskrit, Hebrew and Arabic. Notable ones include the American British Academy, the British School Muscat, the Pakistan School Muscat, the Indian School Al Ghubra and The Sultan's School.


title: Independent school

text: In the Philippines, the private sector has been a major provider of educational services, accounting for about 7.5% of primary enrolment, 32% of secondary enrolment and about 80% of tertiary enrolment. Government regulations have given private education more flexibility and autonomy in recent years, notably by lifting the moratorium on applications for new courses, new schools and conversions, by liberalizing tuition fee policy for private schools, by replacing values education for third and fourth years with English, mathematics and natural science at the option of the school, and by issuing the revised Manual of Regulations for Private Schools in August 1992.


title: Independent school

text: The Education Service Contracting scheme of the government provides financial assistance for tuition and other school fees of students turned away from public high schools because of enrolment overflows. The Tuition Fee Supplement is geared to students enrolled in priority courses in post-secondary and non-degree programmes, including vocational and technical courses. The Private Education Student Financial Assistance is made available to underprivileged, but deserving high school graduates, who wish to pursue college/technical education in private colleges and universities.


title: Independent school

text: In the school year 2001/02, there were 4,529 private elementary schools (out of a total of 40,763) and 3,261 private secondary schools (out of a total of 7,683). In 2002/03, there were 1,297 private higher education institutions (out of a total of 1,470).


title: Independent school

text: In Portugal, private schools were traditionally set up by foreign expatriates and diplomats in order to cater for their educational needs. Portuguese-speaking private schools are widespread across Portugal's main cities. International private schools are mainly concentrated in and around Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Coimbra and Covilhã, across the Portuguese region of Algarve, and in the autonomous region of Madeira. The Ministério da Educação acts as the supervisory and regulatory body for all schools, including international schools.


title: Independent school

text: In Singapore, after Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), students can choose to enter a private high school. ("Private Schools." "Private Schools in Singapore | Private Education", www.actualyse.com/prv/private-schools.aspx?c=SG&alang=en.)


title: Independent school

text: Some of the oldest schools in South Africa are private church schools that were established by missionaries in the early nineteenth century. The private sector has grown ever since. After the abolition of apartheid, the laws governing private education in South Africa changed significantly. The South African Schools Act of 1996 recognizes two categories of schools: "public" (state-controlled) and "independent" (which includes traditional private schools and schools which are privately governed).


title: Independent school

text: In the final years of the apartheid era, parents at white government schools were given the option to convert to a "semi-private" form called "Model C", and many of these schools changed their admissions policies to accept children classified to be of other races. Following the end of apartheid government, the legal form of "Model C" was abolished, however, the term continues to be used to describe government schools formerly reserved for white children. These schools tend to produce better academic results than government schools formerly reserved for other "race groups". Former "Model C" schools are state-controlled, not private. All schools in South Africa (including both independent and public schools) have the right to set compulsory school fees, and formerly model C schools tend to set much higher school fees than other public schools.


title: Independent school

text: In Sweden, pupils are free to choose a private school and the private school gets paid the same amount as municipal schools. Over 10% of Swedish pupils were enrolled in private schools in 2008. Sweden is internationally known for this innovative school voucher model that provides Swedish pupils with the opportunity to choose the school they prefer. For instance, the biggest school chain, Kunskapsskolan ("The Knowledge School"), offers 30 schools and a web-based environment, has 700 employees and teaches nearly 10,000 pupils.


title: Independent school

text: Non-governmental schools generally prefer to be called independent schools, because of their freedom to operate outside government and local government control. Elite institutions for older pupils, which charge high fees, are typically described as public schools. Preparatory schools in England and Wales prepare pupils up to 13 years old to enter public schools. In Scotland, where the education system has always been separate from the rest of Great Britain, the term 'public school' was used historically to refer to state schools for the general public.


title: Independent school

text: According to "The Good Schools Guide" about 9% of children being educated in the United Kingdom are at fee-charging schools at GCSE level and 13% at A-level. Some independent schools are single-sex, although this is becoming less common. As of 2011 fees range from under £3,000 to £21,000 and above per year for day pupils, rising to over £27,000 per year for boarders. Costs differ in Scotland.


title: Independent school

text: On 15 August 2010 "The Observer" reported that the gap in A-Level achievement between independent schools and state schools in the UK was set to widen, with three times as many independently educated students achieving the new grade A*. The paper also noted that according to the "fair access watchdog" bright students from the poorest backgrounds were seven times less likely to go to a top university than their richer peers.


title: Independent school

text: However, one in four independently educated children come from postcodes with the national average income or below, and one in three receives assistance with school fees. However, pupils' actual family incomes, which may be below or above the average for a particular postcode area, were not determined.


title: Independent school

text: Evidence from a major longitudinal study suggests that British independent schools provide advantages in educational attainment and access to top universities, and that graduates of such schools have a labour market advantage, even controlling for their educational qualifications.


title: Independent school

text: In the United Kingdom, independent education (or private education) has grown continually for the past twenty years.


title: Independent school

text: In England and Wales, the more prestigious independent schools are known as 'public schools', sometimes subdivided into major and minor public schools. A modern definition of a public school refers to membership of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, and this includes many independent grammar schools. The term 'public school' originally meant that the school was open to the public (as opposed to private tutors or the school being in private ownership).


title: Independent school

text: In Scotland, schools not state-funded are known as independent or private schools. Independent schools may also be specialist or special schools – such as some music schools, Steiner Waldorf Education schools, or special education schools.


title: Independent school

text: Scottish independent schools currently educate over 31,000 students and employ approximately 3,500 teachers. Schools are represented by the Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS). All schools are still inspected by the state inspectorate, Education Scotland, and the Care Inspectorate. Independent schools in Scotland that are charities are subject to a specific test from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, designed to demonstrate the public benefit the schools provide.


title: Independent school

text: In the United States, the term "private school" can be correctly applied to any school for which the facilities and funding are not provided by the federal, state or local government; as opposed to a "public school", which is operated by the government or in the case of "charter schools", independently with government funding and regulation. The majority of private schools in the United States are operated by religious institutions and organizations.


title: Independent school

text: Independent schools in the United States educate a tiny fraction of the school-age population (slightly over 1% of the entire school-age population, around 10% of students who go to private schools). The essential distinction between independent schools and other private schools is self-governance and financial independence, i.e., independent schools own, govern, and finance themselves. In contrast, public schools are funded and governed by local and state governments, and most parochial schools are owned, governed, and financed by religious institutions such as a diocese or parish. Independent schools may be affiliated with a particular religion or denomination; however, unlike parochial schools, independent schools are self-owned and governed by independent boards of trustees. While independent schools are not subject to significant government oversight or regulation, they are accredited by the same six regional accreditation agencies that accredit public schools. The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a membership organization of American pre-college independent schools.


title: Independent school

text: Independent schools are 501(c)3 nonprofit corporate entities, independent in governance and finance, meaning:


title: Independent school

text: Independence is the unique characteristic of this segment of the education industry, offering schools four freedoms that contribute to their success: the freedom to define their own unique missions; the freedom to admit and keep only those students well-matched to the mission; the freedom to define the qualifications for high quality teachers; and the freedom to determine on their own what to teach and how to assess student achievement and progress.


title: Independent school

text: In the United States, there are more independent colleges and universities than public universities, although public universities enroll more total students. The membership organization for independent tertiary education institutions is the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.


title: Independent school

text: Private schools are generally exempt from most educational regulations at the Federal level but are highly regulated at the state level. These typically require them to follow the spirit of regulations concerning the content of courses in an attempt to provide a level of education equal to or better than that available in public schools.


title: Independent school

text: In the nineteenth century, as a response to the perceived domination of the public school systems by Protestant political and religious ideas, many Roman Catholic parish churches, dioceses and religious orders established schools, which operate entirely without government funding. For many years, the vast majority of private schools in the United States were Catholic schools.


title: Independent school

text: A similar perception (possibly relating to the evolution vs. creationism debates) emerged in the late twentieth century among Protestants, which has resulted in the widespread establishment of new, private schools.


title: Independent school

text: In many parts of the United States, after the 1954 decision in the landmark court case "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka" that demanded United States schools desegregate "with all deliberate speed", local families organized a wave of private "Christian academies". In much of the U.S. South, many white students migrated to the academies, while public schools became in turn more heavily concentrated with African-American students (see List of private schools in Mississippi). The academic content of the academies was usually College Preparatory. Since the 1970s, many of these "segregation academies" have shut down, although some continue to operate.


title: Independent school

text: Funding for private schools is generally provided through student tuition, endowments, scholarship/school voucher funds, and donations and grants from religious organizations or private individuals. Government funding for religious schools is either subject to restrictions or possibly forbidden, according to the courts' interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment or individual state Blaine Amendments. Non-religious private schools theoretically could qualify for such funding without hassle, preferring the advantages of independent control of their student admissions and course content instead of the public funding they could get with charter status.


title: Independent school

text: A similar concept, recently emerging from within the public school system, is the concept of "charter schools", which are technically independent public schools, but in many respects operate similarly to non-religious private schools.


title: Independent school

text: Private schooling in the United States has been debated by educators, lawmakers and parents, since the beginnings of compulsory education in Massachusetts in 1852. The Supreme Court precedent appears to favor educational choice, so long as states may set standards for educational accomplishment. Some of the most relevant Supreme Court case law on this is as follows: "Runyon v. McCrary", 427 U.S. 160 (1976); "Wisconsin v. Yoder", 406 U.S. 205 (1972); "Pierce v. Society of Sisters", 268 U.S. 510 (1925); "Meyer v. Nebraska", 262 U.S. 390 (1923).


title: Independent school

text: There is a potential conflict between the values espoused in the above cited cases and the limitations set forward in Article 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is below described.


title: Independent school

text: As of 2012, quality private schools in the United States charged substantial tuition, close to $40,000 annually for day schools in New York City, and nearly $50,000 for boarding schools. However, tuition did not cover operating expenses, particularly at boarding schools. The leading schools such as the Groton School had substantial endowments running to hundreds of millions of dollars supplemented by fundraising drives. Boarding schools with a reputation for quality in the United States have a student body drawn from throughout the country, indeed the globe, and a list of applicants which far exceeds their capacity.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The ""Catechism of the Catholic Church"" promulgated by Pope John Paul II considers sexual activity between members of the same sex to be a mortal sin against chastity. This teaching has developed through a number of ecumenical councils and the influence of theologians, including the Church Fathers. The Catholic Church broadly opposes the acceptance of homosexuality within society.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The church provides pastoral care for LGBT Catholics through a variety of official and unofficial channels that vary from diocese to diocese, and senior clergy and popes have recently begun to call for the church to do more. In many parts of the world, the Church is active politically on issues of LGBT rights, primarily to oppose them. The relationship between the Catholic Church and the LGBT community has been a difficult one, especially during the height of the AIDS crisis.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: There have been notable Catholics who were gay or bisexual, including priests and bishops. Catholic dissenters from the official teaching say that love between people of the same sex is as spiritually valuable as love between people of the opposite sex and that LGBT Catholics are as much members of the body of Christ as heterosexuals are. Catholic organizations that support the official teaching may campaign against gay rights, or argue that gay people should be celibate.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: According to the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "homosexual acts" are "grave sins against chastity" and "expressions of the vice of lust." Homosexual acts are included among the grave sins against chastity in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: According to the Catechism, "homosexual acts" are "acts of grave depravity" that are "intrinsically disordered." It continues, "They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved." Regarding homosexuality as an orientation, the Catechism describes it as "objectively disordered."


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The Catholic Church teaches that, as a person does not choose to be either homosexual or heterosexual, being gay is not inherently sinful. According to the Catholic theology of sexuality, all sexual acts must be open to procreation and express the symbolism of male-female complementarity. Sexual acts between two members of the same sex cannot meet these standards. Homosexuality thus constitutes a tendency towards this sin. The church teaches that gay people are called to practice chastity.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The church also teaches that gay people "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity", and that "every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided." whilst holding that discrimination in marriage, employment, housing, and adoption in some circumstances can be just and "obligatory."


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The church points to several passages in the Bible as the basis for its teachings, including Genesis 19:1-11, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, I Corinthians 6:9, Romans 1:18-32, and I Timothy 1:10. In December 2019, the Pontifical Biblical Commission published a book that included an exegesis on these and other passages.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: Research conducted in the fields of social sciences and study of religion indicates that the Catholic Church's teachings on sexuality are "a major source of conflict and distress" to LGBT Catholics.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The church opposes same-sex marriage and is active in political campaigns against it. It also opposes same-sex civil unions and does not bless them, although some priests and bishops have offered blessings for same-sex couples or spoken in favor of priests being able to bless them.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The Christian tradition has generally prohibited all sexual activities outside of sexual intercourse. This includes activities engaged in by couples or individuals of either the same or different sexes. The Catholic Church's position specifically on homosexuality developed from the teachings of the Church Fathers, which was in stark contrast to Greek and Roman attitudes towards same-sex relations, including pederasty.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: Canon law regarding same-sex sexual activity has been shaped through the decrees issued by a series of ecclesiastical councils. Initially, canons against sodomy were aimed at ensuring clerical or monastic discipline, and were only widened in the medieval period to include laymen. In the "Summa Theologica", Saint Thomas Aquinas maintained that homosexual practice was contrary to natural law, arguing that the primary natural end of the sexual act was procreation, and since said procreation is carried out from a process of sexual fertilization between a man and a woman, homosexuality is contrary to the very end of said act. He also stated that "the unnatural vice" is the greatest of the sins of lust. Throughout the Middle Ages, the church repeatedly condemned homosexuality, and often collaborated with civic authorities to punish gay people. Punishment of sexual "vice" as well as religious heresy was seen as strengthening the church's moral authority.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: In the late 20th century, the Church has responded to gay rights movements by reiterating its condemnation of homosexuality while acknowledging the existence of gay people. In January 1976, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Paul VI published "Persona Humana", which codified the teaching against all extra-marital sex, including gay sex. The document stated that acceptance of homosexual activity runs counter to the church's teaching and morality. It drew a distinction between people who were homosexual because of "a false education," "a bad example" or other causes it described as "not incurable," and a "pathological" condition which was "incurable." However, it criticized those who argued that innate homosexuality justified same-sex sexual activity within loving relationships, and stated that the Bible condemned homosexual activity as depraved, "intrinsically disordered," never to be approved, and a consequence of rejecting God.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: Earlier, the controversially liberal 1966 Dutch Catechism, which was the first post-Vatican II Catholic catechism and which had been commissioned by the Dutch bishops, had stated that "The very sharp strictures of Scripture on homosexual practices (Gen. 1; Rom. 1) must be read in their context" as condemning a trend for homosexuality among non-gay people, implying that people who were gay were not condemned for homosexual activity.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: In October 1986, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a letter addressed to all the bishops of the Catholic Church entitled "On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons". This was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as prefect. The letter gave instructions on how the clergy should deal with, and respond to, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Designed to remove any ambiguity about permissible tolerance of homosexual orientation resulting from the earlier "Persona Humana"—and prompted by the growing influence of gay-accepting groups and clergy—the letter was particularly aimed at the church in the United States. It affirmed the position that while homosexual orientation is not in itself a sin, it is nevertheless a tendency towards the "moral evil" of homosexual activity, and therefore must be considered "an objective disorder", which moreover is "essentially self-indulgent" since homosexual sexual acts are not procreative and therefore not genuinely loving or selfless.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The letter also said that accepting homosexual acts as morally equivalent to married heterosexual acts was harmful to the family and society and warned bishops to be on guard against, and not to support, Catholic organizations not upholding the Church's doctrine on homosexuality—groups which the letter said were not really Catholic. This alluded to LGBT and LGBT-accepting Catholic groups such as DignityUSA and New Ways Ministry, and ultimately resulted in the exclusion of Dignity from Church property. The letter condemned physical and verbal violence against gay people but reiterated that this did not change its opposition to homosexuality or gay rights. Its claims that accepting and legalizing homosexual behaviour leads to violence ("neither the Church nor society at large should be surprised" when anti-gay hate crimes increase in the wake of gay civil rights legislation) were seen as controversially blaming gay people for homophobic violence and encouraging homophobic violence. Referring to the AIDS epidemic, the letter, McNeill writes, blamed AIDS on gay rights activists and gay-accepting mental health professionals: "Even when the practice of homosexuality may seriously threaten the lives and well-being of a large number of people, its advocates remain undeterred and refuse to consider the magnitude of the risks involved".


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: In a statement released in July 1992, "Some Considerations Concerning the Catholic Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons," the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reiterated its position from "On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons," and further stated that discrimination against gay people in certain areas, such as selecting adoptive or foster parents or in hiring teachers, coaches, or military service members, is not unjust, and thus can be permitted in some circumstances.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: Beginning in the 1970s, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops taught that gays "should have an active role in the Christian community" and have called on "all Christians and citizens of good will to confront their own fears about homosexuality and to curb the humor and discrimination that offend homosexual persons. We understand that having a homosexual orientation brings with it enough anxiety, pain and issues related to self-acceptance without society bringing additional prejudicial treatment." In 1997, they published a letter entitled "Always Our Children", as a pastoral message to parents of gay and bisexual children with guidelines for pastoral ministers. Reiterating the church's opposition to homosexuality, it told parents not to break off contact with a gay or bisexual son or daughter; they should instead look for appropriate counseling both for the child and for themselves. Gay Catholics, the bishops said, should be allowed to participate actively in the Christian community and, if living chastely, hold leadership positions. It also noted "an importance and urgency" to minister to those with AIDS, especially considering the impact it had on the gay community.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: Bishops around the world have held diocesan events with the goal of reaching out to gay Catholics and ministering to them, and more have spoken publicly about the need to love and welcome them into the church. Pope John Paul II asked "the bishops to support, with the means at their disposal, the development of appropriate forms of pastoral care for homosexual persons.” Several assemblies of the Synod of Bishops have struck similar themes, while maintaining that same-sex sexual activity is sinful and that same-sex marriage cannot be permitted. In 2018, in a move regarded as a sign of respect to the community, the Vatican used the acronym LGBT for the first time in an official document. Pope Francis has also spoken out about the need for pastoral care for gay Catholics, adding that God made LGBT people that way.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The 2014 Synod on the Family and Synod on the Family in 2015 concerned themselves in part with "accepting and valuing their [gay Catholics'] sexual orientation" and place in Catholic communities, "without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony." The reports of the synods were noted for their unusually mild language towards gay people, such as the lack of use of phrases such as "intrinsically disordered." They also reiterated the church's opposition to same-sex marriage and suggested outreach towards gay people.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: Beginning in the 1960s, a number of organizations have formed to minister to LGBT people. Organizations such as DignityUSA and New Ways Ministry, which advocate for the rights of LGBT Catholics and dissent from Church teaching, and Courage International, which encourages Catholics with same-sex attraction to live chastely and accept Church teaching, were established in the United States in response to the push within the United States for greater recognition within the church for gay men and lesbian women. Courage also has a ministry geared towards the relatives and friends of gay people called Encourage. Courage is a recognized apostolate of the Church, while DignityUSA and New Ways Ministry have both been censured by the hierarchy of the American Catholic Church.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: There have been practical and ministerial disagreements within the clergy, hierarchy, and laity of the Catholic Church concerning the church's position on homosexuality. Some Catholics and Catholic groups have sought to adopt an approach they consider to be more inclusive. Dissenters argue that the prohibition on extramarital sex emphasizes the physical dimension of the act at the expense of higher moral, personal and spiritual goals and that the practice of total, lifelong sexual denial risks personal isolation. Other arguments include that the teaching violates "the truth of God’s unconditional love for all people", and drives "young people away from the Church". Opponents argue that it is preferable to believe that this element of church teaching is mistaken. The opinion of lay Catholics tends to be more supportive of gay marriage than the hierarchy.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: Upwards of 70 people have been fired from jobs at Catholic schools or universities because of their marriages to partners of the same sex or, in one case, support for LGBT rights campaigns. When one Jesuit high school refused to fire a teacher after he publicly entered into a gay marriage, the local bishop designated the school as no longer Catholic; the school has appealed his decision.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: In response to church policy in the area of safe-sex education, AIDS, and gay rights, some gay rights activists have protested both inside and outside of Catholic churches, sometimes disrupting Masses. This includes at the National Shrine in Washington, at an ordination of priests at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, and during Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York where they desecrated the Eucharist. Others have splattered paint on churches and drenched an archbishop with water. In 1998, Alfredo Ormando died after setting himself on fire outside Saint Peter's Basilica to protest the church's position on homosexuality.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: On 9 September 2022, over 80% of German bishops at the Synodal Path supported a document calling for a "re-evaluation of homosexuality" and for making changes to the Catechism.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organisation, has contributed over $14 million, one of the largest amounts in the United States, to political campaigns against same-sex marriage. The Catholic Medical Association of North America has stated that science "counters the myth that same-sex attraction is genetically predetermined and unchangeable, and offers hope for prevention and treatment." The Church, however, teaches that sexual orientation is not a choice. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, has been criticized for describing the church child sex abuse crisis as a "homosexual" problem rather than a "pedophilia" problem. Donohue based his claim on the fact that most of the incidents involved sexual contact between men and boys rather than between men and girls.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: Homosexual clergy, and homosexual activity by clergy, are not exclusively modern phenomena, but rather date back centuries. Donald Cozzens estimated the percentage of gay priests in 2000 to be 23–58%, suggesting more homosexual men (active and non-active) within the Catholic priesthood than within society at large.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: Instructions from Vatican bodies on admitting gay men to the priesthood have varied over time. In the 1960s chaste gay men were allowed but in 2005 a new directive banned gay men "while profoundly respecting the persons in question."


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: Although homosexuality was at variance with Catholic teaching during the Middle Ages, official penalties for homosexual behavior within the clergy, both by the church and temporal authorities, were rarely codified or enforced. Historian John Boswell noted that several bishops in the Middle Ages were thought by their contemporaries to have had gay relationships, and noted a potentially romantic or sexual tone to the correspondence of others with "passionate" male friends. Some other historians disagree, and say that this correspondence represents friendship. Although homosexual acts have been consistently condemned by the Catholic Church, some senior members of the clergy have been found or alleged to have had homosexual relationships, including Rembert Weakland, Juan Carlos Maccarone, Francisco Domingo Barbosa Da Silveira, and Keith O'Brien. Some Popes are documented to have been homosexual or to have had male sexual partners, including Pope Benedict IX, Pope Paul II, Pope Sixtus IV, Pope Leo X, Pope Julius II and Pope Julius III.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: The church has historically been politically active in local, national, and international fora on issues of LGBT rights, typically to oppose them in keeping with Catholic moral theology and Catholic Social Teaching.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: In various countries, members of the Catholic Church have intervened on occasions both to support efforts to decriminalize homosexuality, and also to ensure it remains an offence under criminal law. The Catholic Church has been described as sending "mixed signals" regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation: a 1992 teaching said that because sexuality "evokes moral concern," sexual orientation is different from qualities such as race, ethnicity, sex, or age, which do not. It added that efforts to "protect the common good" by limiting rights were permissible and sometimes obligatory, and did not constitute discrimination. The church therefore opposes the extension of at least some aspects of civil rights legislation, such as nondiscrimination in public housing, educational or athletic employment, adoption, or military recruitment, to gay men and lesbians. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published a statement that was characterized by two theologians as claiming that "nondiscrimination legislation protecting LGBT people promotes immoral sexual behavior, endangers our children, and threatens religious liberty." It also campaigns against same-sex marriage.


title: Catholic Church and homosexuality

text: There have been notable gay Catholics throughout history. Writers such as Oscar Wilde, Lord Alfred Douglas, Marc-André Raffalovich, and Frederick Rolfe, and artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe, were influenced by both their Catholicism and their homosexuality. Gay Catholic academics such as John J. McNeill who was further on expelled from the Society of Jesus in 1987 at the request of the Vatican and John Boswell have produced work on the history and theological issues at the intersection of Christianity and homosexuality. Some notable LGBT Catholics are or were priests or nuns, such as McNeill, Virginia Apuzzo, and Jean O'Leary, who was a Roman Catholic religious sister before becoming a lesbian and gay rights activist.


title: Bogd Khan

text: Bogd Khan ( – 20 May 1924) was the khan of the Bogd Khaganate from 1911 to 1924, following the state's "de facto" independence from the Qing dynasty of China after the Xinhai Revolution. Born in Tibet, he was the third most important person in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy as the 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, below only the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, and therefore also known as the "Bogdo Lama". He was the spiritual leader of Outer Mongolia's Tibetan Buddhism. His wife Tsendiin Dondogdulam, the Ekh Dagina ('Dakini Mother'), was believed to be a manifestation of White Tara.


title: Bogd Khan

text: The future Bogd Khan was born in 1869 in Lithang, Kham, in a family of a Tibetan official. He was born as Agvaanl Uvsanchoijinyam Danzan Vanchüg. His father, Gonchigtseren, was an accountant at the 12th Dalai Lama's court. The boy was officially recognized as the new incarnation of the Bogd Gegen in Potala in the presence of the 13th Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. The new Bogd Gegen arrived in Urga, the capital of Outer Mongolia, in 1874. After this he lived only in Mongolia.


title: Bogd Khan

text: As a result, from his young years the 8th Bogd Gegen was the subject of intrigues of Qing officials in Urga. Later he became the subject of propaganda campaigns organised by Mongolian Communists, which attacked him by alleging that he was a prolific poisoner, a paedophile, and a libertine, which was later repeated in belles-lettres and other non-scientific literature (e.g. James Palmer). However, analysis of documents stored in Mongolian and Russian archives does not confirm these statements.


title: Bogd Khan

text: As a monk, the Bogd had limited access to physical means of imposing power, though some enemies were executed for blasphemy. The Polish traveller Ferdinand Ossendowski recorded that he knew "every thought, every movement of the Princes and Khans, the slightest conspiracy against him, and the offender is usually kindly invited to Urga, from where he does not return alive. Ossendowski's claims for his acquaintance with the Bogd Gegen were not confirmed by comparative analysis of his book and manuscripts.


title: Bogd Khan

text: By the spring of 1911, some prominent Mongolian nobles including Prince Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren persuaded the Jebstundamba Khutukhtu to convene a meeting of nobles and ecclesiastical officials to discuss independence. The Khutukhtu consented. To avoid suspicion, he used as a pretext the occasion of a religious festival, at which time the assembled leaders would discuss the need to reapportion taxes among the khoshuuns. The meeting occurred on July 10 and the Mongolians discussed independence. The assembly became deadlocked, some arguing for complete, others for partial, resistance. Eighteen nobles decided to take matters into their hands. Meeting secretly in the hills outside of Urga, they decided that Mongolia must declare its independence. They then persuaded the Khutuktu to send a delegation of three prominent representatives—a secular noble, an ecclesiastic, and a lay official —to Russia for assistance.[10] The particular composition of the delegation—a noble, a cleric, and a commoner—may have been intended to invest the mission with a sense of national consensus.


title: Bogd Khan

text: On December 1, the Provisional Government of Khalkha issued a general proclamation announcing the establishment of a theocracy under the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. On December 29, the Khutuktu was formally installed as the Bogd Khan of the new Mongolian state.


title: Bogd Khan

text: The Bogd Gegen lost his power when Chinese governance was restored in 1919. The Tusiyetu Khan Aimak's Prince Darchin Ch'in Wang was a supporter of Chinese rule while his younger brother Tsewang was a supporter of Ungern-Sternberg. When Baron Ungern's forces failed to seize Urga in his 1920 invasion, the Bogd was placed under house arrest; then he became a puppet of Ungern shortly before he took Urga in 1921. After the revolution in 1921 led by Damdin Sükhbaatar, the Bogd Khan was allowed to stay on the throne in a limited monarchy until his death in 1924, a year after that of his wife.


title: Bogd Khan

text: The government took control of the Bogd Khan's seal after his death according to the 26 November 1924 Constitution of the Mongolian People's Republic.


title: Bogd Khan

text: It was proposed that Zhang Zuolin's domain (the Chinese "Three Eastern Provinces") take Outer Mongolia under its administration by the Bogda Khan and Bodo in 1922 after pro-Soviet Mongolian Communists seized control of Outer Mongolia.


title: Bogd Khan

text: After his death, the Mongolian Revolutionary government, led by followers of the Soviet Communists, declared that no more reincarnations were to be found and established the Mongolian People's Republic. However, rumors about a reincarnation of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu appeared in northern Mongolia in that same year. No traditional determination of the supposed incarnation was conducted. Another rumor appeared in 1925. In November 1926 the 3rd Great Khural of Mongolian People's Republic approved a special resolution that searches for reincarnations of the Bogd Gegen should not be allowed. A final prohibition was approved by the 7th Congress of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and the 5th People's Great Khural in 1928.


title: Bogd Khan

text: Nevertheless, the next reincarnation of Bogd Gegen was found in Tibet as a boy born in 1932 in Lhasa. This was not announced until the collapse of the USSR and democratic revolution in Mongolia. The 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu was formally enthroned in Dharamsala by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama in 1991, and in Ulaanbaatar in 1999.


title: Ice Princess

text: Ice Princess is a 2005 American teen sports comedy-drama film directed by Tim Fywell, written by Hadley Davis from a story by Meg Cabot and Davis, and starring Joan Cusack, Michelle Trachtenberg, Kim Cattrall and Hayden Panettiere. The film focuses on Casey Carlyle, a normal teenager who gives up a promising future academic life in order to pursue her new-found dream of being a professional figure skater. The film was released on March 18, 2005. "Ice Princess" had an unsuccessful performance at the box office, grossing $24 million in the United States during its theatrical run against a production budget of $25 million.


title: Ice Princess

text: Set in the fictional city of Millbrook, Connecticut, Casey Carlyle (Michelle Trachtenberg), a very smart and talented science student, pursues a scholarship to Harvard University. For the scholarship, she must present a personal summer project about physics. While watching a figure skating competition with her mathematically inclined best friend Ann, Casey realizes that her favorite childhood hobby, ice skating, would make a perfect project. She decides to try to improve her own skating by applying physics and what she has discovered from watching other skaters.


title: Ice Princess

text: Casey becomes proficient and skips two levels to become a junior skater, following a recital. She helps junior skaters Gennifer "Gen" Harwood (Hayden Panettiere), Tiffany Lai (Jocelyn Lai), and Nikki Fletcher (Kirsten Olson) improve their skating by using algorithms generated by her computer. Torn between her Harvard dream and her growing love of skating, Casey has difficulty juggling schoolwork, skating, and a part-time job. Joan Carlyle (Joan Cusack), Casey's mother, attempts to prevent her daughter from skating due to her declining academic performance. Meanwhile, tension arises between Casey's mother and her coach Tina Harwood (Kim Cattrall), a disgraced former skater.


title: Ice Princess

text: Tina, who manages the rink where Casey trains, has Gen on a strict training program. During a competition where both Casey and Gen compete, Tina sees Casey may outrank Gen and sabotages Casey's performance by buying her new skates. Unaware of the danger of unbroken-in skates, Casey's resulting long program is riddled with poor jumps and several falls. Upon being informed of Tina's intent behind her seemingly kind gesture, Casey lashes out at her and mistakenly assumes her children were equally involved in the plot. She ranks fifth in the competition and can only qualify for sectionals if any of the top four back out. As a result, Casey loses interest in skating and returns to her studies and goal of attending Harvard.


title: Ice Princess

text: Upset at sabotage and frustrated by all the restrictions of training, Gen quits. While Casey and Gen reconcile, Casey can now qualify for sectionals as Gen quit. She declines the Harvard scholarship competition to devote herself to skating, to her mother's dismay. Casey asks Tina to be her personal coach and train for sectionals. Her mother, upset at this change of direction in her life, refuses to watch her skate.


title: Ice Princess

text: At Sectionals, Casey is not fully focused on the competition, and falls while attempting a triple salchow jump. To her surprise, she sees her mother in the audience. Inspired, she gives a highly rated artistic performance. Sectionals ends with Nikki earning gold and Casey placing silver, both qualifying to go to Nationals and potentially the 2006 Winter Olympics. Gen's brother, Teddy (Trevor Blumas), gives Casey flowers to congratulate her; and they kiss. Later, Joan and Tina bicker about how many college courses Casey should take, her and Teddy's budding love, her sponsors, and her future in figure skating.


title: Ice Princess

text: Blumas said that he was put on hold for two months during the audition process and that there had been "a lot of switch-overs with the directors". Blumas ended up playing Teddy as a sort of father figure. He began training to drive a Zamboni soon after arriving in Toronto; according to him, he later ended up smoothing the ice on some mornings at the rink where they were shooting. Panettiere did much of her own skating, including a fast spin seen at the end of the regionals short program. Trachtenberg trained for eight months, including the time they were filming (during which time she says she worked twenty-hour days). She had to be on the ice longer than most of the other actors as she was one of the few adults on the film. She had stunt doubles to handle the falls and some of the complex moves, although Trachtenberg did learn a specific move that could not be done by a stunt double as the differences in their build would be apparent. She sustained some injuries while working on the film. According to Trachtenberg, a mistake was made in one of the physics formulas her character recites, which was later fixed; a shot of the back of her head was used and the correct term was looped in. Trachtenberg described the film as "not a Disney kitschy movie" and was somewhat apprehensive of the idea of a sequel for fear of belittling the original. Cusack noted that the relationship between Casey and her mother had already been well-developed in the script, but said that it generated a good deal of discussion during the production, and Cusack ultimately described her role as "meaningful" in terms of the acting and also how it related to her personally.


title: Ice Princess

text: The film was shot from May 3 to July 23, 2004 at several locations in Toronto, including George Bell Arena, Western Technical-Commercial School, Christie Mansion and De La Salle College.


title: Ice Princess

text: In its opening weekend, the film grossed $6,807,471 in 2,501 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #4 at the box office, behind "The Ring Two", "Robots" and "The Pacifier". By the end of its run, "Ice Princess" grossed $24,402,491 domestically and $3,243,000 internationally, totaling $27,645,491 worldwide.


title: Ice Princess

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 52% based on 109 reviews, with an average rating of 5.60/10. The consensus reads, "This likable Disney film gets points for effort, but can't stick the landing when it comes to originality." Film critic Roger Ebert gave "Ice Princess" three out of four stars and commended the film for its entertaining nature and ability to overcome cliche and "formula". Todd Gilchrist of IGN questioned the speed at which Casey becomes adept at skating and pointed out some other improbabilities and clichés, but strongly praised Cusack’s and Cattrall’s performances as emotionally powerful and fully human. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting rated the film A-I (suitable for general patronage) and provided the film a modest praise as a good family film. Oppenheim Toy Portfolio awarded the film their platinum award. It is rated G by the Motion Picture Association of America.


title: Ice Princess

text: Zahra Lari, a Muslim figure skater from the United Arab Emirates, cited "Ice Princess" as an inspiration for her career. A documentary about Lari and the film, highlighting Lari's career and Disney's influence on her, and including interviews with many involved in making the film, is currently in pre-production with Størmerlige Productions as a result of the #DreamBigPrincess campaign.


title: Ice Princess

text: Ice Princess: Original Soundtrack was released on March 15, 2005, in the United States by Walt Disney Records, features tracks by Natasha Bedingfield, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Michelle Branch, Aly & AJ, Jesse McCartney, and Raven-Symoné, and various others. It peaked at number 53 on the "Billboard" 200 and at number 2 on Top Soundtracks.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: Lee David Bowyer (; born 3 January 1977) is an English football manager and former professional player.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: As a player, he was a midfielder who featured for Charlton Athletic, Leeds United, West Ham United (two spells), Newcastle United, Birmingham City and Ipswich Town in over 18 years as a professional. He made 397 appearances in the Premier League, took part in semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League with Leeds and won the Football League Cup with Birmingham in 2011. Bowyer was capped once by the England national team. His career was punctuated by various incidents both on and off the field.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: Bowyer has managed two of the clubs for which he formerly played: after three years in charge of Charlton Athletic, he left to become Birmingham City's manager in March 2021 and was sacked at the end of the following season.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: Born in Canning Town, London, Bowyer played for youth team Senrab before joining Charlton Athletic as a schoolboy. He turned professional in April 1994. He first drew attention in 1995, when he and teammate Dean Chandler failed a drugs test for cannabis use. Bowyer was dropped from the England under-18 squad and suspended for eight weeks while he took part in a rehabilitation course organised by the Football Association (the FA). He went on to become a first-team regular, making 58 appearances for Charlton and scoring 14 goals. A particular highlight was Bowyer's hat-trick in a memorable 5–4 victory over Wimbledon FC in a League Cup second round first leg tie in September 1995.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: In 1996, he was signed by Leeds United manager Howard Wilkinson for £2.8 million, which was a record for a British teenager. Later the same year, Bowyer was convicted of affray and fined £4,500 following an incident in a McDonald's restaurant in London in which CCTV footage showed Bowyer throwing chairs and racially abusing a staff member of Asian origin.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: Initially, Bowyer was kept out of the Leeds first team by Alfie Haaland and David Hopkin; he eventually replaced Hopkin in the 1998–99 season, and from then on was a first-team regular. He was a key player in David O'Leary's Leeds side that qualified for the Champions League in 1999–2000, and which reached the semi finals of the UEFA Cup in 2000 and the Champions League in 2001. In the Champions League run he scored crucial goals against A.C. Milan, Barcelona and Anderlecht. He was voted the Leeds player of the year by supporters in both 1998–99 and 2000–01.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: Following an incident near a Leeds nightclub in January 2000, in which an Asian student suffered severe injuries, Bowyer and teammate Jonathan Woodgate were charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and affray. An initial trial collapsed in April 2001 after an article in a Sunday newspaper, and following a second trial, which ended in December 2001, Bowyer was cleared of both charges while Woodgate was convicted of affray and sentenced to community service. Bowyer was generally recognised as playing some of the finest football of his career during this period and would often go straight from court to play for Leeds. In 2005, the player agreed a £170,000 out-of-court settlement of a civil action for damages brought by the victim and his brother, who had been less seriously hurt in the assault.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: After Bowyer's acquittal, Leeds fined him four weeks' wages for a breach of the club's code of conduct. Despite having had the backing of the club during the trial and the club paying his extensive legal fees, Bowyer took exception to the fine and was placed on the transfer list. The dispute was later settled and Bowyer removed from the transfer list, though he returned to it at the end of the season after turning down a new five-year contract. A £9 million fee was agreed for a move to Liverpool, which fell through with manager Gérard Houllier not convinced the player had the "hunger or desire" to play for the club. In January 2003, Bowyer signed for West Ham United. He had made 265 appearances for Leeds in all competitions, scoring 55 goals.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: Bowyer signed for West Ham United on an initial six-month contract for a nominal transfer fee, which meant that should West Ham be relegated at the end of the 2002–03 season, the club would not be burdened with a large Premiership salary. The transfer was not popular with a section of West Ham supporters who questioned Bowyer's attitude towards racism. A protest against his signing was held outside Upton Park before Bowyer's introduction to the crowd. Claims that Bowyer would have received a £1 million bonus had West Ham stayed up were denied by the club's then manager Glenn Roeder. In the event, Bowyer was hampered by ankle injuries and made only eleven appearances for West Ham. West Ham were relegated and Bowyer was not offered another contract.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: After West Ham were relegated at the end of the 2002–03 season, Bowyer joined Newcastle United on a free transfer in July 2003.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: In April 2005, Bowyer was in the media spotlight again after an on-pitch brawl with teammate Kieron Dyer in Newcastle United's Premier League match with Aston Villa. This resulted in a red card, plus an automatic three-game ban, for each player. The Football Association fined Bowyer £30,000 and imposed an additional three-game ban, and the club fined him six weeks' wages; Dyer was not fined as Bowyer was perceived to have thrown the first punch. In addition, Bowyer was charged by Northumbria Police in connection with the brawl with offences under section four of the Public Order Act. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of using threatening behaviour and was fined £600 and ordered to pay £1000 costs.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: Bowyer rejoined West Ham United, the club he supported as a boy, in June 2006 for an undisclosed fee, declaring that he had "unfinished business" with the club. He made 22 appearances in the 2006–07 season, which was disrupted by a dislocated shoulder suffered in West Ham United's 6–0 loss to Reading in January 2007. However, Bowyer made a quick and sooner-than-expected recovery and played in five of West Ham's crucial games towards the end of the season.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: He regained a regular place in the Hammers first team at the beginning of the 2007–08 season, scoring his first goals for West Ham against Wigan Athletic and Middlesbrough, and then two more in the 5–0 victory over Derby County.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: In January 2009, Bowyer signed for Birmingham City on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season. He made his debut on 17 January at home to Cardiff City in the Championship, scoring an equalising goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time to make the score 1–1. Following the expiry of his contract with West Ham United, Bowyer signed a two-year contract with Birmingham in July 2009. He scored winning goals in consecutive Premier League matches, against Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers, to take Birmingham into a mid-table position at the end of November, and was part of the team that went on a run of 15 games unbeaten in all competitions, including a club record 12 unbeaten in the top flight, as they finished in ninth place, the club's best for more than 50 years.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: In September 2010 Bowyer was forced to apologise for verbally abusing a West Bromwich Albion supporter. The incident occurred following Bowyer's substitution after he had committed a rash challenge on Gabriel Tamaș. In the absence through injury of Craig Gardner, Bowyer returned to the starting eleven for the match against champions Chelsea in November 2010, and scored the only goal of the game to give his team a surprise victory, and then followed that up with a late equaliser against Manchester United. In January 2011, television replays highlighted incidents, unnoticed by the match referee, in which Bowyer stamped on Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna and appeared to rake his studs down the same player's Achilles. Suggestions in the media that Bowyer could receive a six-match ban prompted Birmingham manager Alex McLeish to argue that the football authorities were not treating all clubs equally when using television evidence. Bowyer received the standard three-match ban for violent conduct.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: From 2010, Bowyer held the record for most yellow cards received in the Premier League; by the end of that year, he had 98 yellow cards in the competition as well as five red.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: He made his first appearance in a major final in February 2011, in the starting eleven as Birmingham defeated favourites Arsenal 2–1 in the League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium. At that time, it was reported that he was not to be offered a contract extension, in May, McLeish indicated an offer would be made, but after Birmingham's relegation to the Championship, Bowyer left the club when his contract expired at the end of the 2010–11 season.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: On 10 July 2011, Bowyer joined Ipswich Town on a free transfer. He signed a one-year contract. He scored his first goal for Ipswich with a late winner against former club West Ham United on 27 September. He was released at the end of the 2011–12 season, having scored twice in 29 appearances, after which Bowyer retired from playing.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: During his early career at Leeds, Bowyer played for the England under-21 team, making 13 appearances for the national side.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: Bowyer's form during the 2000–01 season led to calls for inclusion in the England squad; however, the Football Association ruled that he could not be selected until the court case in relation to an assault on an Asian student was completed. The FA eventually cleared Bowyer for selection following the conclusion of the court case and England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson called him into the squad for an international friendly against Portugal in September 2002. Bowyer made his England debut in the game, setting up a goal for Leeds teammate Alan Smith. It was his only appearance for England.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: In the autumn of 2015, Bowyer spent a month as a guest coach of Watford's under-21 team, working under former Leeds teammate Harry Kewell. After coaching at his first professional club Charlton Athletic, Bowyer was appointed as their assistant manager under Karl Robinson on 1 July 2017.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: On 22 March 2018, Bowyer was named caretaker manager of Charlton Athletic after former manager Karl Robinson left by mutual consent. His managerial career began with a 2–0 win two days later against Plymouth Argyle After winning his first three games, in April he was given the role until the end of the season. His spell in charge ended on 13 May after Charlton were beaten 2–0 on aggregate by Shrewsbury Town in the League One play-off semi final. On 14 June, Bowyer was renamed caretaker manager until further notice, and on 6 September, his role was made permanent on a contract lasting until the end of the season.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: In Bowyer's first full season at the club, he guided the side to a third-placed finish in League One, and they faced Doncaster Rovers in the play-offs over two legs. Charlton won the away leg 2–1, courtesy of goals from Joe Aribo and Lyle Taylor. Doncaster's 88th-minute goal meant the second leg finished 3–3 in normal time. Both teams scored in extra time, resulting in a 4–4 aggregate score, and Charlton won the penalty shootout 4–3. They earned promotion to the Championship by beating Sunderland 2–1 in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium, returning to the second tier of English football after a three-season absence.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: On 17 June 2019, Bowyer turned down the offer of a contract extension, with the club (and owner Roland Duchatelet) announcing that Bowyer and the club were unable to reach an agreement. However, he later reversed his decision by signing a new year-long deal. In October, he received a three-match touchline ban for "improper conduct and/or questioning the integrity of a match official". Following the club's takeover by East Street Investments, Bowyer signed a new three-year deal on 22 January 2020. Charlton were relegated on the final day of the 2019–2020 season following a 4–0 defeat at his former club, Leeds United.


title: Lee Bowyer

text: On 16 March 2021, Bowyer replaced Aitor Karanka as head coach of Birmingham City; he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract. After 16 months in charge, Bowyer was sacked on 2 July 2022. During his final season in charge, Birmingham finished in 20th in the EFL Championship and won just four games in 26 after November 2021.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: The evolution of the horse, a mammal of the family Equidae, occurred over a geologic time scale of 50 million years, transforming the small, dog-sized, forest-dwelling "Eohippus" into the modern horse. Paleozoologists have been able to piece together a more complete outline of the evolutionary lineage of the modern horse than of any other animal. Much of this evolution took place in North America, where horses originated but became extinct about 10,000 years ago.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: The horse belongs to the order Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates), the members of which all share hooved feet and an odd number of toes on each foot, as well as mobile upper lips and a similar tooth structure. This means that horses share a common ancestry with tapirs and rhinoceroses. The perissodactyls arose in the late Paleocene, less than 10 million years after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. This group of animals appears to have been originally specialized for life in tropical forests, but whereas tapirs and, to some extent, rhinoceroses, retained their jungle specializations, modern horses are adapted to life in the climatic conditions of the steppes, which are drier and much harsher than forests or jungles. Other species of "Equus" are adapted to a variety of intermediate conditions.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: The early ancestors of the modern horse walked on several spread-out toes, an accommodation to life spent walking on the soft, moist ground of primeval forests. As grass species began to appear and flourish, the equids' diets shifted from foliage to silicate-rich grasses; the increased wear on teeth selected for increases in the size and durability of teeth. At the same time, as the steppes began to appear, selection favored increase in speed to outrun predators . This ability was attained by lengthening of limbs and the lifting of some toes from the ground in such a way that the weight of the body was gradually placed on one of the longest toes, the third.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: Wild horses have been known since prehistory from central Asia to Europe, with domestic horses and other equids being distributed more widely in the Old World, but no horses or equids of any type were found in the New World when European explorers reached the Americas. When the Spanish colonists brought domestic horses from Europe, beginning in 1493, escaped horses quickly established large feral herds. In the 1760s, the early naturalist Buffon suggested this was an indication of inferiority of the New World fauna, but later reconsidered this idea. William Clark's 1807 expedition to Big Bone Lick found "leg and foot bones of the Horses", which were included with other fossils sent to Thomas Jefferson and evaluated by the anatomist Caspar Wistar, but neither commented on the significance of this find.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: The first Old World equid fossil was found in the gypsum quarries in Montmartre, Paris, in the 1820s. The tooth was sent to the Paris Conservatory, where it was identified by Georges Cuvier, who identified it as a browsing equine related to the tapir. His sketch of the entire animal matched later skeletons found at the site.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: During the "Beagle" survey expedition, the young naturalist Charles Darwin had remarkable success with fossil hunting in Patagonia. On 10 October 1833, at Santa Fe, Argentina, he was "filled with astonishment" when he found a horse's tooth in the same stratum as fossil giant armadillos, and wondered if it might have been washed down from a later layer, but concluded this was "not very probable". After the expedition returned in 1836, the anatomist Richard Owen confirmed the tooth was from an extinct species, which he subsequently named "Equus curvidens", and remarked, "This evidence of the former existence of a genus, which, as regards South America, had become extinct, and has a second time been introduced into that Continent, is not one of the least interesting fruits of Mr. Darwin's palæontological discoveries."


title: Evolution of the horse

text: In 1848, a study "On the fossil horses of America" by Joseph Leidy systematically examined Pleistocene horse fossils from various collections, including that of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and concluded at least two ancient horse species had existed in North America: "Equus curvidens" and another, which he named "Equus americanus". A decade later, however, he found the latter name had already been taken and renamed it "Equus complicatus". In the same year, he visited Europe and was introduced by Owen to Darwin.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: The original sequence of species believed to have evolved into the horse was based on fossils discovered in North America in 1879 by paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh. The sequence, from "Eohippus" to the modern horse ("Equus"), was popularized by Thomas Huxley and became one of the most widely known examples of a clear evolutionary progression. The horse's evolutionary lineage became a common feature of biology textbooks, and the sequence of transitional fossils was assembled by the American Museum of Natural History into an exhibit that emphasized the gradual, "straight-line" evolution of the horse.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: Since then, as the number of equid fossils has increased, the actual evolutionary progression from "Eohippus" to "Equus" has been discovered to be much more complex and multibranched than was initially supposed. The straight, direct progression from the former to the latter has been replaced by a more elaborate model with numerous branches in different directions, of which the modern horse is only one of many. George Gaylord Simpson in 1951 first recognized that the modern horse was not the "goal" of the entire lineage of equids, but is simply the only genus of the many horse lineages to survive.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: Detailed fossil information on the distribution and rate of change of new equid species has also revealed that the progression between species was not as smooth and consistent as was once believed. Although some transitions, such as that of "Dinohippus" to "Equus", were indeed gradual progressions, a number of others, such as that of "Epihippus" to "Mesohippus", were relatively abrupt in geologic time, taking place over only a few million years. Both anagenesis (gradual change in an entire population's gene frequency) and cladogenesis (a population "splitting" into two distinct evolutionary branches) occurred, and many species coexisted with "ancestor" species at various times. The change in equids' traits was also not always a "straight line" from "Eohippus" to "Equus": some traits reversed themselves at various points in the evolution of new equid species, such as size and the presence of facial "fossae", and only in retrospect can certain evolutionary trends be recognized.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: Phenacodontidae is the most recent family in the order Condylarthra believed to be the ancestral to the odd-toed ungulates. It contains the genera "Almogaver", "Copecion", "Ectocion", "Eodesmatodon", "Meniscotherium", "Ordathspidotherium", "Phenacodus" and "Pleuraspidotherium". The family lived from the Early Paleocene to the Middle Eocene in Europe and were about the size of a sheep, with tails making slightly less than half of the length of their bodies and unlike their ancestors, good running skills.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: "Eohippus" appeared in the Ypresian (early Eocene), about 52 mya (million years ago). It was an animal approximately the size of a fox (250–450 mm in height), with a relatively short head and neck and a springy, arched back. It had 44 low-crowned teeth, in the typical arrangement of an omnivorous, browsing mammal: three incisors, one canine, four premolars, and three molars on each side of the jaw. Its molars were uneven, dull, and bumpy, and used primarily for grinding foliage. The cusps of the molars were slightly connected in low crests. "Eohippus" browsed on soft foliage and fruit, probably scampering between thickets in the mode of a modern muntjac. It had a small brain, and possessed especially small frontal lobes.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: Its limbs were long relative to its body, already showing the beginnings of adaptations for running. However, all of the major leg bones were unfused, leaving the legs flexible and rotatable. Its wrist and hock joints were low to the ground. The forelimbs had developed five toes, of which four were equipped with small proto-hooves; the large fifth "toe-thumb" was off the ground. The hind limbs had small hooves on three out of the five toes, whereas the vestigial first and fifth toes did not touch the ground. Its feet were padded, much like a dog's, but with the small hooves in place of claws.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: For a span of about 20 million years, "Eohippus" thrived with few significant evolutionary changes. The most significant change was in the teeth, which began to adapt to its changing diet, as these early Equidae shifted from a mixed diet of fruits and foliage to one focused increasingly on browsing foods. During the Eocene, an "Eohippus" species (most likely "Eohippus angustidens") branched out into various new types of Equidae. Thousands of complete, fossilized skeletons of these animals have been found in the Eocene layers of North American strata, mainly in the Wind River basin in Wyoming. Similar fossils have also been discovered in Europe, such as "Propalaeotherium" (which is not considered ancestral to the modern horse).


title: Evolution of the horse

text: Approximately 50 million years ago, in the early-to-middle Eocene, "Eohippus" smoothly transitioned into "Orohippus" through a gradual series of changes. Although its name means "mountain horse", "Orohippus" was not a true horse and did not live in the mountains. It resembled "Eohippus" in size, but had a slimmer body, an elongated head, slimmer forelimbs, and longer hind legs, all of which are characteristics of a good jumper. Although "Orohippus" was still pad-footed, the vestigial outer toes of "Eohippus" were not present in "Orohippus"; there were four toes on each fore leg, and three on each hind leg.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: The most dramatic change between "Eohippus" and "Orohippus" was in the teeth: the first of the premolar teeth was dwarfed, the last premolar shifted in shape and function into a molar, and the crests on the teeth became more pronounced. Both of these factors increased the grinding ability of the teeth of "Orohippus"; the change suggest selection imposed by increased toughness of "Orohippus" plant diet.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: In the mid-Eocene, about 47 million years ago, "Epihippus", a genus which continued the evolutionary trend of increasingly efficient grinding teeth, evolved from "Orohippus". "Epihippus" had five grinding, low-crowned cheek teeth with well-formed crests. A late species of "Epihippus", sometimes referred to as "Duchesnehippus intermedius", had teeth similar to Oligocene equids, although slightly less developed. Whether "Duchesnehippus" was a subgenus of "Epihippus" or a distinct genus is disputed. "Epihippus" was only 2 feet tall.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: In the late Eocene and the early stages of the Oligocene epoch (32–24 mya), the climate of North America became drier, and the earliest grasses began to evolve. The forests were yielding to flatlands, home to grasses and various kinds of brush. In a few areas, these plains were covered in sand, creating the type of environment resembling the present-day prairies.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: In response to the changing environment, the then-living species of Equidae also began to change. In the late Eocene, they began developing tougher teeth and becoming slightly larger and leggier, allowing for faster running speeds in open areas, and thus for evading predators in nonwooded areas. About 40 mya, "Mesohippus" ("middle horse") suddenly developed in response to strong new selective pressures to adapt, beginning with the species "Mesohippus celer" and soon followed by "Mesohippus westoni".


title: Evolution of the horse

text: In the early Oligocene, "Mesohippus" was one of the more widespread mammals in North America. It walked on three toes on each of its front and hind feet (the first and fifth toes remained, but were small and not used in walking). The third toe was stronger than the outer ones, and thus more weighted; the fourth front toe was diminished to a vestigial nub. Judging by its longer and slimmer limbs, "Mesohippus" was an agile animal.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: "Mesohippus" was slightly larger than "Epihippus", about 610 mm (24 in) at the shoulder. Its back was less arched, and its face, snout, and neck were somewhat longer. It had significantly larger cerebral hemispheres, and had a small, shallow depression on its skull called a fossa, which in modern horses is quite detailed. The fossa serves as a useful marker for identifying an equine fossil's species. "Mesohippus" had six grinding "cheek teeth", with a single premolar in front—a trait all descendant Equidae would retain. "Mesohippus" also had the sharp tooth crests of "Epihippus", improving its ability to grind down tough vegetation.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: Around 36 million years ago, soon after the development of "Mesohippus", "Miohippus" ("lesser horse") emerged, the earliest species being "Miohippus assiniboiensis". As with "Mesohippus", the appearance of "Miohippus" was relatively abrupt, though a few transitional fossils linking the two genera have been found. "Mesohippus" was once believed to have anagenetically evolved into "Miohippus" by a gradual series of progressions, but new evidence has shown its evolution was cladogenetic: a "Miohippus" population split off from the main genus "Mesohippus", coexisted with "Mesohippus" for around four million years, and then over time came to replace "Mesohippus".


title: Evolution of the horse

text: "Miohippus" was significantly larger than its predecessors, and its ankle joints had subtly changed. Its facial fossa was larger and deeper, and it also began to show a variable extra crest in its upper cheek teeth, a trait that became a characteristic feature of equine teeth.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: The forest-suited form was "Kalobatippus" (or "Miohippus intermedius", depending on whether it was a new genus or species), whose second and fourth front toes were long, well-suited to travel on the soft forest floors. "Kalobatippus" probably gave rise to "Anchitherium", which travelled to Asia via the Bering Strait land bridge, and from there to Europe. In both North America and Eurasia, larger-bodied genera evolved from "Anchitherium": "Sinohippus" in Eurasia and "Hypohippus" and "Megahippus" in North America. "Hypohippus" became extinct by the late Miocene.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: The "Miohippus" population that remained on the steppes is believed to be ancestral to "Parahippus", a North American animal about the size of a small pony, with a prolonged skull and a facial structure resembling the horses of today. Its third toe was stronger and larger, and carried the main weight of the body. Its four premolars resembled the molar teeth; the first were small and almost nonexistent. The incisor teeth, like those of its predecessors, had a crown (like human incisors); however, the top incisors had a trace of a shallow crease marking the beginning of the core/cup.


title: Evolution of the horse

text: In the middle of the Miocene epoch, the grazer "Merychippus" flourished. It had wider molars than its predecessors, which are believed to have been used for crunching the hard grasses of the steppes. The hind legs, which were relatively short, had side toes equipped with small hooves, but they probably only touched the ground when running. "Merychippus" radiated into at least 19 additional grassland species.