Another Brick in the Wall

I know that a lot of you might think I am crazy about school reform, but I am not. When you spend all day on a particular topic and you read article after article after book after website after tweets and memes, of course you are going to sound crazy.  This is how I know I am not crazy:  I work with an incredible group of intelligent people who think exactly the same way about education that I do.  We could all go to the same school at different times in different rooms and come out with the same assessment--that is in fact what we do.

For those who do think I am insane, or at least read too much, it would not surprise you to hear that my husband said today "you don't even know what you are looking for."  I am sure there are those who would agree since most of my jabber sounds alll the same anyway.

I am pleased to say that I could articulate what I was looking for--but I think what he was really trying to ask me about is how I would know if I found it.

To answer his question because I know you are all so excited to hear my answer, I look for key words.  I don't care how they are put together or the meaning of the sentences, I look for buzz words, particularly for words that are subtly trying to buck the system.  Here is an example of a school that is NOT trying to buck the system:

BLANK school assists parents in their stewardship of developing the hearts and minds of children by creating a safe and nurturing environment of classical education that fosters patriotism, cultural literacy, moral virtue, individuality, self government, and excellence, thereby, inspiring a lifelong love of learning, leadership and service.


Those are words that mean something specifically to me as a reformer-though I love the idea of "lifelong" learning, it has become such a buzz phrase that unless it is with something provocative, my eyes tend to glaze over.  When I see patriotism and cultural literacy accompanied by moral virtue, I know they mean the canon, not multicultural literacy that we have anxiously been trying to embrace for years.

So here is an edgy, exciting mission statement to me:


The BLANK community will take responsibility for the well-being and growth of our students and staff. We will promote the qualities of explorers by encouraging knowledge, strength, persistence, diligence, imagination, resilience, courage, and enough faith in ourselves to take risks.

What do I like about this?  I love the word strength, persistence, and risk.  I love the idea of courage and resilience (read- you must fail and then bounce back).  I see those words and I hear that inside of that school they refused to pay homage to the "lifelong learning" and use words that kids might actually like--explorers and imagination.  I know that if a school like that lives up to its mission statement, my kids are going to be doing something cool.

I am going to explore this place tomorrow and see what I can discover about their fidelity to their own mission.

What words do you love about the mission statement at your kids school?