The Academic Village

Relationships take time. They have to begin sometime, however.

Ours starts today.

This blog entry begins what I hope will be a weekly correspondence. My intent is to create the ongoing conversations that I believe are vital to any learning community.

Sometimes these blog entries will be commentaries on books I have read or news events that affect us all.  Sometimes they will be serious in nature. Other times they will be humorous.   I just believe that it’s very important for you to know who I am and what I stand for.  I hope that you will enjoy reading them and take advantage of the comment box if you wish.

Each Friday Musings will conclude with a Dinner table question of the week.  This is a single question that I hope you will generate meaningful discussions within your own family.

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Those of you who know me well understand that I have long admired Thomas Jefferson.  What has drawn me to him over the years is his active mind, breadth of interests, and spirit of optimism.  His home, Monticello, nestled upon a mountaintop in Albemarle County, Virginia, is one of my favorite places to visit.  It is beautiful, but what I like most is that it personifies the man and his many interests.  As you walk thought the entry hall to the parlor,  through the dining room and into the sitting room, you begin to get a sense of his passions.  But it’s his book room, cabinet, bedchamber and greenhouse that really tell his story. (More on that later. Jefferson will be a frequent subject of my Friday Musings. I plan to devote an entry to each of these rooms and what they mean to me.)

It was in these rooms – Jefferson’s sanctum sanctorum – that he envisioned and planned the “academical village” that would become America’s first secular public college, the University of Virginia.

I am no Jefferson scholar, but I like to think he envisioned his academical village to be a safe, beautiful place, bustling with inquisitive students who accept the responsibilities of service within our democracy and the trials of academic rigor.  These students are welcomed each morning by professional teachers, lifelong learners who embrace their role as mentors and scholars who welcome and encourage lively debate.  Administrators accept their roles as problem-solvers and are devoted to freeing students and teachers from the unnecessary distractions that keep them from their teaching and learning tasks.

Jefferson’s village is progressive without deviating from established core values, and it is committed to the ideal that the moral and ethical development of young people is a fundamental responsibility.

Sound like a place you would want to go to school?  Me too.

Can you envision this school in Fort Worth?

I can.

Let’s build it together.  Starting today.  Today.

Before we can do that, I want to explain what I believe are the three key components to the village.

1.  Our Physical Space.  It is safe and quiet.  Conducive to reflection.  Beautiful.  Lots of trees.  Its buildings are clean and comfortable.  The environment matters.  Learning spaces are well-equipped and pleasant. The fields and facilities are to be admired.  It makes you want to think and create.

2.  Our Students. They are selectively admitted.  They take full advantage of what we offer.  Need-based financial assistance is provided for deserving students.  Honorable conduct, energy, and service required.  They are committed to one another and their school. They see education as an exciting act of enchantment.  They believe they are in it together and the effort is worth it.

3.  Our Adults. We believe in the mission of the school and exhibit its core values.  We are genuinely interested in our students’ well-being.  We articulate and enforce clear expectations based on reasoned judgment. We are the village elders.  

Over the course of the year I'll visit with you, your children, and the Upper School faculty about ways we can create our academic village at Fort Worth Country Day.  This will be a theme this year.  If we all understand and embrace the roles we play in our village, we can ensure that our school - the place where we spend so many of our waking hours - remains one of the finest independent schools in the United States.

Dinner table question of the week:

"Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities...because it is the quality which guarantees all others." (Winston  Churchill)

Do agree with this statement?  Why or why not?