While I agree wholeheartedly that independent schools as a whole have done
a less than great job of making themselves a demographic microcosm of the
American class system, and that more than a few schools haven't tried as
hard as they might have even to approach this goal, I'm going to stand by
my idealism and even by my tone.
Here's where I'm coming from:
I've spent 58 years, all my life, in these schools--some big, some small,
some great, some good--and I like very much the idea that schools have the
permission--from the tax collectors, from the community at large, and even
from many of their constituents--to aspire to be something beyond what
they are and to hold their students and their teachers to a set of stated
ideals.
I would like to think, and I am even fatuous enough to believe it's true,
that when we speak of these schools as aspiring utopias, it reminds them
that they are just that. If this reminder can inform a school's decision
to enact something good, then so much the better.
If it sounds fatuous and self-congratulatory even to make the reminder,
well--I think an awful lot of schools should look at their Latin and Greek
and even English mottoes and at the high-falutin language of their
missions and the degree to which those mottoes and missions are realized,
and the fatuosity meter rises on their side. And they can either do
something about this--make themselves better, hold themselves to a higher
standard--or they can continue their merry way; but I think mediocrity
kills in time and that in times like these it's likely to kill even faster.
We'll never all be perfect, and we'll never serve all the students we
should serve as well as we could serve them, but we have to remind
ourselves that in our society independent schools are rather unusually in
a position to try. I think that's a pretty cool thing, and I hate to see
that opportunity lost to defeatism (and "at our school, there is no middle
class" is mild compared to some comments I've heard) or simply by
forgetting that we can.
So I guess I was speaking to an ideal and pretending that it was a
reality, but I guess I'm a cheerleader for this particular ideal and want
quite badly to see it made real. It's an old school kind of optimism, I
suppose, but I hope there's still room for it.
Maybe the economy of 2009 will resolve itself into a more equitable system
in time--that's idealism, too. It might even be that by talking about
social justice, some of our independent schools will inspire our students
to help make that happen. (OK. Even I know that might be too idealistic
and self-congratulatory, but I see an awful lot of young folks these days
who come out of schools like ours and are looking to make a positive
difference in the world as something other than hedge fund managers or
developers.)
I'm kickin' the soapbox away for now. Anyone can disagree with me, but I'm
not going to stop believing and doing what I can to remind my school and
others that we can do great things if we want to--because we have ideals
and because we aver to the world that we want to live by them.
Cheers--Peter Gow
Peter Gow
Director of College Counseling and Special Programs
Beaver Country Day School
791 Hammond Street
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467
www.bcdschool.org
617-738-2755 (O)
617-738-2747 (F)
petergow3 (Skype)
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