Wooster School plans all school Open House on Saturday, October 22

All School Open House at Wooster School on Saturday, October 22 at 9:00 am.

At Wooster School, we recently asked parents to imagine their children as adults, and tell us what their greatest hopes were for them. What kind of people would they be? What would be important to them? How would they live their lives? The consensus was that parents wanted their children to be firmly rooted in a community with family and friends, to be compassionate people of principles and purpose, and to be expert learners who would always be curious, and open to new ideas. Being the father of four children, I was not surprised to find that what mattered most to our community’s parents was that their children find fulfillment in life through relationships, hard work, and engagement with the wider world. Isn’t that also what we want for ourselves? Nobody mentioned being a doctor, professional athlete, brain surgeon, hedge fund manager, or dot com billionaire. We agreed that if we got the school thing right, they’d figure out what to do for a living without our help.

This is worthy of note because if one looks at the structure of many schools, and what they signal is important through their programs and approach to education, one might end up thinking that winning competitions and being the best at something -- at anything, really -- is what life is all about. What matters most are narrowly defined measures of success. Did you get the highest grades? What about your test scores? Did you make the cut? Will you be a starter? Are you building your resume of success so that you can win the competition to get into one of the ‘best” colleges? If the axiom “what gets measured, gets taught” is any indication, it would seem that the things that matter to parents in the end -- learning, relationships, community, compassion, and the opportunity to experience, understand and get better at these things in a challenging, safe, and nurturing school environment -- are not aligned with what many schools value or choose to emphasize.

We would suggest that all parents ask themselves what matters most to them for their children when they imagine them at forty years old. Then start to think about what they’ll need to thrive in an increasingly more complex and ever-changing world. Then look at what really matters to your school.
Join us for an Open House on Saturday, October 22 at 9:00 am.

To register for the Open House, please visit: http://woosterschool.org/openhouse.

To learn more, visit http://www.woosterschool.org/ or contact Wooster School Admissions at (203) 830-3916.

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Submitted by Danbury, CT

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