Tracing Proctor's distinctions to an essential causal factor, as I did several thousand times for the benefit of visiting families in Admissions, I would start with the extraordinary management style that grants policy-making to the full faculty. This is a faculty-defined school, and the evolutionary process never stops.

Friday's marathon end-of-term faculty meeting began with someone claiming that this was the best winter--healthiest, most productive, best tone--that anyone could remember. Coming only moments after the ultimate final exam of the term, consensus on this buoyant observation was a shock.

That established, we went about the business of debating emerging challenges and problems of real weight and substance. Instant Messaging (IM-ing) links self-selected clusters of kids in fluid chatrooms worldwide, and Proctor students waste too much time doing it.

What's stopping a 14-year-old, let's say, from staying up after midnight IM-ing a buddy across campus or back home? How could we enforce hours of prohibited use while retaining our relatively non-adversarial style? Shall we look into automated systems to frustrate Instant Messaging during study hall?

Another issue of titanic proportion: to what extent shall we excuse elite athletes--in their pursuit of excellence--from whole blocks of regular classes (to be made up through off-campus tutorials and extra help back here)? Then this insight: the number of class hours in the year has decreased in recent years. Following wide ranging debate and a straw vote that may resolve existing tension between special athletic programs and academic class time, Steve exclaimed, "What a remarkable group of people!".