From time to time, I am reminded of just how fortunate I am
to be in a school like Friends, where we conceive of education as a process
more than a product—one stage in a lifelong journey, rather than a ticket to be
punched. Those were my thoughts recently
after reading an article by CNBC reporter Jermaine Taylor entitled “Are Private Schools Worth the Hefty
Price Tag?” My quarrel is not with the author’s reference to the price tag. I agree
that the tuition at any independent school is undeniably hefty and represents a
significant degree of sacrifice for all but the very wealthiest of families. Indeed,
the fact that so many families willingly undertake this sacrifice humbles and motivates
all of us whose work is supported by those tuitions. What I found utterly indefensible about the
article was its premise; that the “worth” referred to in its title can be measured
entirely by the selectivity or the perceived prestige of the college to which
some members of its graduating class are accepted.
In attempting to determine the “return on investment” that
parents get from independent schools, the author notes that, at one New York
school, “over 20% of last year’s class attended Ivy or Little Ivy schools,” as
if this criterion could possibly purport to capture the cumulative value the
school imparts to its students. Even
putting aside the fact that 80% of the school’s students are completely
disregarded by this calculus, the logic of this means of assessment is absurd
and, ultimately, insidious.
I find myself wondering, for example, how the college that a
student attends can possibly measure the effect of the powerful, life-altering
relationships that students at Friends School develop with their peers and
their teachers—relationships that have everything to do with the unique
environment they inhabit here every day.
How would this crude tool account for the weekly experience of Meeting for
Worship, which, I believe, has far more impact on the future path of a
student’s life than the prestige of the college he or she attends. Where in the methodology put forth in this
article is any measure of the values that are being developed throughout our
students’ formative years with us, values that will be the lens through which
they view every decision and experience that lies ahead?
With the college admission process so heavily reliant on standardized
measures such as SAT scores and so powerfully influenced by legacy status,
athletic prowess and other self-serving factors, the colleges that students attend
strike me as among the least reliable
indicators of the quality of their education.
Among its many other shortcomings, this formula completely ignores the all-important
qualities— passion for learning, a critical mindset, intellectual curiosity,
the ability to collaborate, the desire to put one’s knowledge to work in the service
of others—that, as both a parent and a school head, I see as the true “return
on investment” of the education our students receive. A system that defines
success, quality, or return solely in terms of college matriculations is, at
best deeply misguided, and at worst does a profound disservice to those who are
being encouraged to use it in making these critical decisions.
I recognize that I have the luxury of making my case from
within an institution that actually fares quite well by this form of
measurement. In fact, I am proud of and
happy for the many students from Friends School who attend the selective and
prestigious colleges cited in this article.
But I am equally proud of and hopeful for the future of their classmates
who, for a variety of compelling reasons, attend schools that fall outside the limits
of this arbitrary demarcation. An
independent school education is indeed an investment, and a hefty one at that,
but it is one whose return is not contained within the letters that our seniors
receive in early April. It unfolds,
instead, over a lifetime, long after the college admission process has faded
into obscurity for the young women and men on the receiving end of those
fateful envelopes.
