Lifelong Learning
Source/Author: Nancy L. Spencer, Head of School
September 22, 2023
In keeping with our focus on lifelong learning for students and teachers, Shorecrest also offers numerous programs and workshops designed for parents. These include sessions on curricular aspects, providing important insight into ERBs, presentations about how we teach reading and math, and more. This week, our Director of Technology and Media Services, Dr. Anna Baralt, led a parent discussion on technology about digital devices and parental controls for them. The College Counseling Office provides many opportunities for parents to learn about the college application process, with additional parent sessions focused on athletic recruitment for students who wish to compete in college sports and other sessions geared towards those students interested in pursuing visual and/or performing arts in college.
Earlier this school year, Shorecrest partnered with the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) to provide two parent workshops. The premise of PCA is that in athletics, it is understood that everyone wants to win. That’s the first goal in sports. But in youth and high school sports there is a second, more important goal: teaching life lessons through sports. In this workshop, sports parents learned why and how to focus on that second goal.
PCA’s perspective aligns directly with Shorecrest’s athletic philosophy which states:
Athletics at Shorecrest play an essential role in the School's education program, providing experiences that help our student-athletes physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Although student-athletes are encouraged and inspired to excel and win, good sportsmanship is our primary goal. Shorecrest offers its student-athletes opportunities to accept responsibility for their actions, express ideas and solutions to problems, and learn the value of fair play, honesty, and teamwork.
Recently, I discovered the author Jennifer Breheny Wallace and her book "Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic and What We Can Do About It." Wallace has written articles about achievement in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and other publications, and she will be a keynote speaker at the National Association of Independent School (NAIS) national conference this February.
I read "Never Enough" in one sitting on a Sunday afternoon at the beach. I was so impacted by it that I came home and immediately ordered 14 copies, one for each member of the Administrative Team, for us to read and discuss. Will Conroy, our Board Chair, read the book the same week and ordered copies for every Trustee, and says it will be his holiday gift this year to friends and family.
The message that Wallace conveys speaks directly to independent school environments such as Shorecrest. Our students are high achievers. We all know that and we are proud of it. Yet it is also important to understand that our Core Values go beyond achievement and that we seek to honor students who add value to our community in so many different ways.
Wallace defines a high-achieving environment as becoming toxic when children absorb the idea that their worth is contingent on their performance, not for who they are; or when children feel that they only matter to the adults in their lives, to their peers, even to the larger community, if they are successful.
The author uses the word “matter” deliberately here. She goes on to say that:
“Since the 1980s, a growing body of research finds that mattering – the feeling that we are valued and add value to others – is key to positive mental health and to thriving in adolescence and beyond. ‘Mattering’ offers a rich, almost intuitive framework for understanding the pressures assailing our kids – and how to protect them from it.”
I’ve been talking about the importance of connectedness, which is part of it, but I think that mattering, the feeling that we are valued for who we are and that we add value to others, distills this concept even better. And I appreciate the author’s perspective on the inherent pressures on our children today, while also providing strategies to help provide a better environment.
I think that we do a good job at Shorecrest of ensuring that every child is valued and adds value to our community, that they matter. And with support from Shorecrest parents and families, we will continue to enhance this sense of “mattering” for all students. That is what is special and, I would say, unique about the Shorecrest community.
As lifelong learners, we are always trying to grow and be exposed to new ideas. If you have any suggestions for good books, please don’t hesitate to send them my way.
All the best,
Nancy
