Today is the final revisit day, as we hosted another 53 recently-admitted students and their 90 relatives. The kids simply become Proctor students for a day; the parents attend panels, a thematic program fair, and schmooze with volunteers from the Parent Association. The panel sessions have revealed something. To a large degree, these parents get it; they already appreciate that this school has defined a mission that values college preparation as a means to an end.
As our iconoclastic nature is revealed to the world, those who are attracted to our definition of education are finding Proctor on their own. We've created a distinct category within independent schools...a category we now occupy as the leader. "With whom do you compete?" asks a parent. "With no one." Below, in a crowded lunch room, Admission Director Chris Bartlett (right) chats with a mom while Jon, a ninth grader, elaborates for his tour and the boy's dad.
At this morning's opening session, Steve Wilkins quoted Virginia Postrel (website: Dynamist) from The Future and Its Enemies in which the author scores the distinction between those attracted to stasis, a regulated, engineered world, and those of us who embrace dynamism, a world of creation and discovery in which we face the uncertainties of the future without fear. Consider the nature of education for students entering a world of--not disorder--but of unpredictability and spontaneity. Below, Sam, just back from Proctor in France, mans the Overseas programs kiosk at this afternoon's fair.
For a couple of recent visitors, Proctor's focus on the big picture...of producing highly diverse, resilient, flexible thinkers...seemed disconcerting. For these, prestigious college placement as the stepping stone to success is so ingrained that our celebration of adolescents in this particular moment must be maddening.
Sure, we recite SAT scores and college placements to address concerns that a more academically homogeneous population might be better for Johnny or Mary, and we honor those who--knowing Proctor this well--choose alternative schools. How agonizing that decision must be!
