Comments to Our Gathered Employees - June 13, 2013
“We’re
building something … and all the pieces matter.”
What
Is It that We’re Building?
My
guiding metaphor in considering this question is hardly original, but
nonetheless seems appropriate to me. We
are, I believe, building a home, a structure, a sanctuary for the kind of
experience that we are uniquely equipped to offer to our students, and through
them, to the wider world. And when has
the world needed it more than it does right now?
We
are not, of course, the original owners of this home. We have inherited
it from a long line of ancestors who, each in their own way, have stewarded,
maintained, and expanded on the original foundation that goes back to
1784.
The
walls of this house provide the necessary shelter for the “guarded education”
that we seek to offer. As our culture moves
forward, sadly, it seems to become ever coarser, ever less civil, and ever more
insistently focused on the self and the here and now. In the face of these changes, our value
as a refuge from the worst of them grows.
The winds that are whipped up by the forces at work in our society
buffet this house, requiring that we constantly shore it up and strengthen it
so that it will survive and thrive in even the most inhospitable weather. And new developments in the world beyond these
walls call for us to modernize this house and add the necessary additions to
keep pace with these developments.
As
anyone who has ever owned an older home knows, it is not always easy to balance
the appreciation for the past with the exigencies of living in the present and
the need to prepare for the future. And
this is the dilemma we as a school find ourselves so often on the horns
of. We’ve all heard the expression, “of
those to whom much is given, much is expected.”
Well, much has been given to us, whether we realized it or not when we
initially signed on at this school. We
are all the recipients of a rich and long-lived legacy. We are part of an institution that has been
working to make the world a better place for 229 years. Our predecessors were hard at it while George
Washington was still 5 years away from being inaugurated as the first president
of the United States. And like many
gifts, this legacy is both a boon and a burden.
We take pride in a lineage of extraordinary education, but we cannot,
and ultimately would not want to, escape the concurrent responsibility of
carrying that legacy forward and impacting our students and our community as
those predecessors did before us.
And
we’ve been given as well the gift of a future of vast and far-reaching possibilities. During the past five years, we’ve seen other
schools ravaged by the twin storms of an anemic economy and unfavorable
demographics. In the absence of the
capital, both financial and emotional, that those who came before us at Friends
built up, many schools have been scattered to the wind, deprived of any future
at all and of the possibility of affecting change in the world.
What
does it require of us?
We
inherited a legacy of excellence that follows us unrelentingly, and we know
that the excellence that has preceded us at Friends did not come about as the
result of complacency and standing still.
That spirit, that legacy is why we push ourselves so hard to constantly
grow and progress. We work so hard at
continually improving because we believe in our motto, that the world needs
what our children can do. And we are
driven just as fiercely by the desire to live up to that ambitious statement
and all its implications as by the legacy of those who came before us.
This
legacy, if it is to be maintained, demands vigilance and vigor. We must shore up and steward that legacy
while also boldly moving into the future.
Part
of what this task requires is that we hold onto an accurate understanding of
our school. So many positive attributes
accompany the rootedness that characterizes Friends. The institutional memory, the deep personal
investment, the unusual sense of continuity that comes with the lengthy tenure of
so many of us here are absolutely invaluable.
But it would be wrong for us to be blind to the potential downsides of
this same quality. Chief among these, in
my opinion, is the inevitable loss of perspective and appreciation for the very
uniqueness of Friends that comes with time.
We see this routinely in our students.
Those who have been with us since their earliest memory often come to
take for granted the environment that they have so long inhabited. They can hardly be blamed for doing so, as
they have a limited frame of reference beyond our campus. But we adults are not immune to this phenomenon. I’m finishing my 8th year here and
was fortunate enough to teach for 10 years at another Friends School prior to
that time. It is perhaps not terribly
surprising, therefore, that I catch myself falling prey to the assumption that ours
is a school much like the other long-established independent schools that
surround us. We are not, of course, and
I forget this fact at my own peril.
What
cures me most effectively of this illusion is my involvement in the hiring
process. As I speak with the candidates
who come to campus, several themes emerge each year. One of the most consistent is the observation
that there is a palpable, though not easily articulated, difference in the
atmosphere here at Friends. I also hear
frequently how amazed prospective employees are by the level of cooperation,
collaboration, and genuine friendship they see among our faculty and
staff. It is no accident that virtually
every candidate who was offered a position at Friends this year accepted that
offer – this is, quite simply, a uniquely fantastic place to be. Its desirability has many sources – first and
foremost, all of you. Recognizing that
they will spend the majority of their waking hours at work, candidates want to
be surrounded by interesting, engaged, and dedicated colleagues. They want to be in a place where they receive
the qualities that the author Daniel Pink has identified as the essential
components of satisfaction - 1. Autonomy – the desire to direct our
own lives. 2. Mastery — the urge to get better and better at something
that matters. 3. Purpose — the yearning to do what we do in the
service of something larger than ourselves.
We are blessed with each of these qualities in abundance, and people
know it.
In
short, I believe that there is a profound desire in all of us to go beyond the
ordinary, and, if there is one thing I am certain of about Friends, it is that
this is no ordinary school.
When
I am in Meeting for Worship – whether with seniors and their families as we
were last Sunday or with younger students and their families the week before – and
I hear the members of our community speak of their gratitude for all the ways
in which Friends has so powerfully affected their lives, it occurs to me that
this is no ordinary school.
When
I listen to our teachers talk about the ways in which they have reimagined
their practice as educators time and again during their careers and are eagerly
looking forward to continuing to do so for as long as they teach, I realize
anew that this is no ordinary school.
When
I speak with the professionals who receive our 12th graders for our
senior projects and I hear from them over and over again how astonished they
are at the poise and self-possession, the diligence and responsibility of
Friends School students, I’m reminded that this is no ordinary school.
When
I go to concerts and productions by MS students – a group not universally known
for their composure and general body control - that truly rival the quality of
some professional performances I’ve attended, I am acutely aware that this is
no ordinary school.
When
I hear about some of our youngest students working collaboratively to raise
thousands of dollars to help provide the people of South Sudan with clean
water, I am affirmed in the knowledge that this is no ordinary school.
When
I talk with coaches, players, and parents from other schools and they tell me
that Friends School is well known for the sportsmanship and positivity of their
athletic teams, I’m reminded once again that this is no ordinary school.
When
a parent who has worked with students from all the local public and private
schools in the area through the Peabody music program tells me that she always
knew which kids went to Friends because they were the ones who were most
comfortable in their own skin, I realize anew that this is no ordinary school.
When
I hear the mother of one of our LS students talk about the fact that the
hardest part of their family’s move will be that they cannot possibly recreate
the experience they’ve had at Friends in their new setting, what she is really
saying is that this is no ordinary school.
When
I visit with alumni or meet them at reunion and hear them say, more times than
I can possibly remember, that Friends School was indisputably the highlight of
their educational experience, and when I stop to remind myself that many of
these folks have attained the highest honors in their professions and attended
the most distinguished universities and graduate schools in the country, I am
humbled by the fact that this is no ordinary school.
When
I attend our phenomenal all-school art show and can’t decide which is most
impressive – the astonishing quality of the student artwork, the brilliant
performance of the Acoustic Music Club or the genuine respect and appreciation
that the students there show for their peers’ artistic works, I remember that
this is no ordinary school.
When
I hear a student say that when she arrived at Friends she spent the first few
weeks wondering why everyone was being so nice and waiting for them to go back
to acting normally, only to find out that this WAS normal here, it is brought
home to me that this is no ordinary school.
When
I sit on stage at graduation as I did just two nights ago and hear three
speakers whose words so powerfully bring to life the promise of a Friends education
and so vividly illustrate the impact that all of us are having on the lives of
our students and their families, I cannot escape the realization that this is
no ordinary school.
The
house we are all building and maintaining exists in order to provide this
extraordinary education and through it to prepare our students to do the work
the world will need from them. It is a
constantly-challenging, but deeply rewarding task, and I’m grateful to be
partnered with all of you in doing it.
