This school is the beneficiary of an intangible that endures year after year.
We don't talk about it much, nor do we consciously cultivate it, but it is powerful and easily recognized by visitors. Not every visitor likes it; in fact, many no doubt hate it (which is fine.) I'm speaking of the social
tone or
ethos of the community.
It is tough to capture with words. We could use a whole set of adjectives: informal, non-adversarial, egalitarian, humanistic, student-centered, positive.... This elusive quality is powerfully evident today, in the first week of school.
With 127 new students, comprising 39% of the on-campus population, it is interesting to consider where it comes from. What are its causal factors?
To some degree it must be contagious, easily communicated from returning students. Certainly it is engendered through relationships with a faculty whose stability and constancy is remarkable. These relationships
elevate teenagers to interact with adults as young adults in accordance with values of respect, responsibility, compassion and honesty.
Intolerant of harassment, (indeed, we seem to
celebrate individuality,) Proctor offers a quality of
safety that encourages this social dynamic.
Now we're touching on support, a quality that crosses freely into academic life. Some schools actually avoid being known as supportive, fearing that structures enabling student success might be seen as diluting academic rigor.
This is ironic, because we operate knowing the opposite to be true: support enables greater academic challenge and superior levels of achievement. It is common sense that students who anticipate success are willing to work hard, while those anticipating failure are less willing to risk trying (and hitting the self-created wall of personal limits.)
We are fortunate that the commitment to student success is so integral to Proctor. Effort grading, extra help and Learning Skills support go back far in the school's history. The tone of a community is not easy to fabricate, implant or mimic. Whatever its source, it is here today, and apparently here to stay.
