ong relationships with acquaintances and colleagues, but very few friends (=
meaning, "let your hair down and say what you really think," within the dom=
ain of their work (but blessedly, many have deep friendships outside of the=
ir work domains). Besides, the intimacy of these email exchanges and their=
frankness and honesty, as we all know, can come back to haunt school leade=
rs, when they are used by adversaries to betray the apparent honesty of the=
moment. Take this issue, for example, as the paradox of independent scho=
ols and colleges, dependent upon great wealth financially, yet staffed by p=
eople who are suspicious of it. Hard for school leaders to come down on on=
e side or the other of that dilemma.
Cheers.
PFB
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a =
habit." (Aristotle, 384-322 B.C.)
"What we learn to do, we learn by doing." (Aristotle, 384-322 B.C.)
Patrick F. Bassett, President
NAIS - National Association of Independent Schools
1620 L St., NW, Washington, DC 20036
202.973.9710 (office) 202.746.5444 (cell) 202.973.9709 (fax)
bassett@nais.org www.nais.org www.twitter.com/patbassett www.fac=
ebook.com/NAISnetwork
-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Bartels [mailto:fredbartels@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 6:00 AM
Subject: Re: Wondering what others think of the information in this intervi=
ew?
David,
I wonder if courage isn't more closely tied to friendship (and the trust th=
at develops with friendship) than we often think. Gladwell writes in his ar=
ticle about how a strong friendship between a group of college roommates ga=
ve them the courage to hold a sit in at a local whites only restaurant. It =
is knowing I have supportive friends on this listserve (friendships develop=
ed over many years) that gives me the courage to sometimes bring up controv=
ersial issues here. I wonder if some strong and deep friendships between in=
dependent school leaders might provide a source for the courage needed to t=
ake a stand against growing economic inequality?
Fred
On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 8:01 PM, David Withrow
<davidwithrow@harfordday.org>wrote:
> I know several heads, several board members, and at least one, if not
> two, execs of associations who have taken that approach, in large part
> because of the recession, who have expressed hesitation at putting
> these kind of ideas forward in any real way.
>
> Hard to times can make cowards of the powerful.
>
> (so how do we fit in and challenge the status quo?)
>
> I believe we (the long termed) must continue to speak out along these
> lines.
>
> There are the obligations of the fortunate.
> Sent from my iPod
>
> On Oct 25, 2010, at 7:45 PM, Fred Bartels <fredbartels@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > David,
> >
> > So many myths, and so many of them being spread via the "very
> > strange political doings afoot" that Peter mentions.*
> >
> > Recently, many of my fellow technorati jumped on Malcolm Gladwell
> > for the New Yorker article in which he questioned whether social
> > networks and twitter will be able to drive significant social change.
> >
> > http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell
> >
> > I found much of what Gladwell wrote quite convincing. In essence he
> > asks
> how
> > will people find the courage to stand up and fight a terrible injustice=
?
> In
> > the Civil Rights movement the people who literally put their lives
> > on the line (not career setbacks mind you, but lives) had to trust
> > each other
> and
> > know that there were serious organizations with substantial
> > resources watching their backs. I think Gladwell is right, we are
> > going to need
> more
> > than blogs and twitter to have a chance at winning this fight.
> >
> > David, here is something I don't understand. There must be lots of
> wonderful
> > independent school administrators who are late in their careers
> > (gray
> beards
> > like us) who know that economic inequality has gotten way out of hand.
> These
> > folks have their TIAA/CREF stash safely tucked away. Why aren't they
> > speaking out? Have they too fallen prey to the myth that "making
> > money separates you from the crowd."?
> >
> > Fred
> >
> >
> > *http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
>
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