The purpose of a school should be to set up opportunities for students to achieve successes in challenging, structured environments. This is in contrast to the de facto mission of much education today: to impart as much information as possible....to be measured by achievement testing (we call this "pump and dump"). No, what we want are relationships that provide growth opportunities like the one I witnessed from the bench of JV boys' roundball up at New Hampton Monday.

One of the reasons boarding schools work is that everyone is involved in an afternoon activity that is a metaphor for the classroom. Once again, the adult provides the structure, support and guidance for optimal performance. That's Dwight Erickson above, and girls' varsity hockey coach Emily McKissock below:

Emily engenders such love for the sport that girls spend time playing shinny on Proctor Pond. (My Webster's Collegiate (1977) defines "shinny" as "a variation of hockey played by schoolboys...."!

Every other Tuesday morning, my advisee group meets in my office area for 40 minutes of food and fun. My office is a kitchen, of course, so I whip up tasty treats, like today's apple pie. Below, Robin gets some supportive advice from Ariel and Meredith:

Here's my recipe for success: peel and cut up some apples...drench the pieces in brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg....put them in crust purchased at Shop n Save and drizzle a little butter before placing the other crust on top....bake until it looks and smells done. Serve with vanilla ice cream.