This is the time of year in independent schools when parents, teachers and students alike start thinking about the future. This is when schools start asking for our commitment as a community member and like any other renewal of commitment it provokes reflection and consideration in each of us. I have made this commitment for my children, for me and I have kept company with many students and parents over my twenty-five year career as they made their commitments. In all that time, I have learned that the value added of an independent school for each of us is a subtle but very present factor in how we choose.
I chose to leave an independent boarding school where I had served and taught children for ten years after completing a parent child outward bound Hurricane Island course. I made the decision because the course demonstrated to me the little ways in which I had put up defenses and - in essence - walled myself in – unintentionally- to cope with living and working in a residential community. I saw that for my growth I needed to move ahead in my life. This is my story and may be distinct from another faculty member. So, for me a value added is a community that encourages me to grow and learn and then creates space wherein I can do that.
When my son (now an adult) was ten years old, he moved from a traditional elementary school to a progressive Dewey based Day School. We reached this decision because he had arrived at a place in school where he did not like school and this translated into not enjoying his learning. He did his work, he did not get ‘in trouble’ but as his parent and an educator I could not see joy in his learning and wanted for him to have that experience. He did not believe that it was possible to find joy at school. He visited three schools that we researched together and when he left the progressive school he wanted to try being a student there. At the end of his first week at the new school when I picked him up he got in the car and asked me: “How was your day mom”? In asking that question of me for the first time it was clear that at last he was content enough at school to think about something other than his discontent. I knew we were in the right place. My sense of that never faltered and I credit that school with my son’s voice as a learner and his affirmed sense of self and life’s possibilities. So for us, the value added was a community that met him where he was and empowered him to further himself as a learner and a person in his own right.
As an administrator working with faculty, parents and students alike, I have many conversations with the constituents of my school and appreciate the insights these exchanges provide into the value added of this school experience for community members. Insights about curriculum, school services, processes, professional growth, personal concerns and resolutions help us engage with each other meaningfully. So in this school community, connection -feeling heard, feeling appreciated, being responded to, finding accountability and feeling validated - is a value added.
It is important in committing to a school to identify clearly what the value added is for you and your child and to recognize how schools uniquely offer and provide that to both of you - even when they share an educational approach. It is the best way to know what you are receiving from an educational experience in a school and to differentiate between schools. It is an intrinsic and qualifying part of the learning journey that profoundly informs how and who we choose to be. It is the basis of a lasting commitment.
