The Heart of the Matter

In the world of education, there have been buzz words flying around for as long as anyone can remember. Many of you may know Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, a lovely pyramid of skills to guide educators from the simplest skill of remembering through synthesis and evaluation. It was released in 1956, nearly 70 years ago. Since then we’ve seen Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (1971), Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset (1970s/80s), the Essential Schools Movement of Ted Sizer in the 1980s/90s, the power of Grit and Twenty-first Century Skills (Critical thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, Communication—a whole flock of C’s) in the 2000s. The list goes on and on, and each of these movements has something to offer educators. One of the newest ones is Mattering, and I think it has some real value.

There has been a good deal of focus over the past 5-10 years in schools on the emotional and mental health of students, with rates of anxiety and depression skyrocketing over that time period. The trap that is laid for schools like ESA (the top academic independent schools that prepare students for college and beyond) is the temptation to build a culture based on achievement. It’s an easy trap to fall into—we are rightly so very proud of our students who achieve at the highest levels. It’s easy to be proud of the fact that our school average ACT score is 28 – 30 depending on the year. Wow! What’s equally impressive to me is that we serve a range of student ability, and success in academics is not the only measure we recognize. This, combined with our amazing outdoor setting at both campuses, helps us combat the potentially toxic culture that can develop with a singular focus on achievement. ESA affords the best opportunities and outcomes to our students because of our amazing faculty and because we are a place where students matter, where every student matters, where every person matters.

In order to matter, people must not only feel valued, they must add value to the community. Such a simple and powerful concept! And I see it celebrated here every day. This past week was an amazing example of this. We had winter athletic awards, and to hear the coaches speaking so highly of the work ethic and the successes of our athletes made me so proud. The musical production of The Wizard of Oz opened last Thursday to huge success—it was an amazing performance that included students from 6^th grade through 12^th working together on stage and behind the scenes with amazing faculty mentors to bring this classic to life. And last weekend we had groups of students competing in the State Literary Rally in Baton Rouge, the middle school State MATHCOUNTS competition in Pineville, and the State Quiz Bowl tournament locally. All of these students and their faculty coaches and mentors add enormous value to this place. Every person is celebrated here for what they bring to the community. Some of the gifts are obvious and bold; others are quieter but just as important. In the Chapel service on Monday morning at the Lower School, we re-affirmed the school theme for the year, “We, not me.” It was the perfect accompaniment to the Morning Prayer service in Cade that centered around the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor. This message was followed by the announcement of the canned food drive for Solomon House and St. Barnabas. The synchronicity of all of these events made me want to share them with you. Sometimes it may seem like we have such an informal culture that the amazing successes here are happenstance, but the truth is that everyone is working like crazy to live our best lives and contribute to this community, to make sure that everything we do matters and that every person here matters. Areté!