Author: Don Adams

The phrase “a school’s assets” is one that we read more than ever these days, the idea being that every school has a set of physical and non-physical assets. It’s often used to describe the school’s buildings (the physical plant), computer hardware, and the like.

I guess I’m very old school – pun intended – here, as I believe that a school’s assets begin and end with its people. Teachers, parents, students, alumni(ae), donors, administrators.

I also believe that anywhere can be a school. I’ve seen some amazing learning and teaching literally in the wilderness. The assets of a great school are intellectual ones. Couple that with a willingness to be creative and to change and you have a magical proposition.

Think about the schools where you went and where you send your children. What would you describe at their greatest assets?

Don Adams, Head of School

The New York Times very recently published an intensely personal piece about autism, entitled “The Autism Advantage.” You can read it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/the-autism-advantage.html

It is a truly remarkably piece, focusing not only on the abilities that are inherent in any disability, but how a family actually found opportunity through their son’s autism. I highly commend the piece to you, in part because it’s not just about one family or about autism. It speaks to the power of abilities of all kinds.

The opportunity the family found came through observing and interacting with their son. I don’t want to spoil the read for you, so suffice it to say that when the parents began to understand how their son’s autism worked, they realized that he, and autistic people in general, had a rare and highly specialized skill set. They also saw that, being rare, it was one that could be highly in demand in certain contexts.

Please read the piece. And in so doing, think about the ability that exists within every disability. An inability to function well on something is often balanced with a special skill, talent, insight. It’s the way the world works – the beauty of contraposition, the finding of strength within weakness, the identification of advantage in disadvantage.

Don Adams, Head of School

Last week’s education news in the US was marked by former New York City Schools Chancellor, Joel Klein, and American Federation of Teachers President, Randi Weingarten, agreeing that teachers should have to pass an exam very similar to the lawyer’s Bar Exam before being allowed to teach.

While it’s kind of bizarre that Klein and Weingarten agree on anything in education, the fact that what they’re agreeing on is a Bar Exam for teachers brings this most decidedly into the realm of the bizarre. Most experts whom I trust in the United States education world agree that the problem is how difficult it is to remove bad teachers from the system, not that the way to have fewer bad teachers is to dramatically raise the bar for entry to the profession. This is just bizarre and wrong.

I have known thousands of teachers in my life, mostly in the independent school system in the United States and Canada. Many of the best teachers I ever met and had the pleasure to work with never went to teacher’s college, though many did. What is a universal problem in North America is that there are amazing people with great work and life experience who desperately want to enter the teaching profession but can’t because of the barriers to entry, some of which are artificial.

I would love to see a system where it was significantly easier for a skilled and passionate person to enter the teaching profession. I would like to see it become much easier and accepted for these people to get their training on the job, along with any certification the system deems they need. Part of that, from where I see the world of education, should absolutely not be an additional examination that will weed out many teachers who are potentially stellar additions to the profession.

Don Adams, Head of School

This has been one of those weeks that even passive news consumption has been too much. Teaching students about world affairs has always been a complicated thing, that much more so when the events of the day revolve around potential war.

I have long advocated that schools need to not only teach peace, but to be places of peace as well. If we can make every school a better, more humane place, we are well on our way to making every city, region, nation a better place. It’s a cumulative effect throughout the world – cumulatively good when we do the right things, cumulatively bad when we don’t take the time to teach what needs to be taught.

I wonder what our students think when they consume news on their own. I worry that they sometimes assume that what they see on TV is the only version of reality, the reality actually being that reality comes in different sizes, shapes and colors. I can imagine that news weeks such as this past one make a lot of young people’s heads hurt. As it does mine.

Don Adams, Head of School

Last week was the American Presidential election. While the evening itself produced a race that wasn’t very close when all was said and done, the notion of an election is an intriguing one. We “elect” many things in our lives. We choose acts and omissions.

Every family at our school has elected be a part of our community and to entrust us with the care and education of their child. On a smaller scale, that’s as daunting as a population electing someone to serve in an office, such as President. It’s a trust that we take very, very seriously.

When we elect to do something, we also elect not to do something else. When schools in Ontario elect not to give parents of students with suspected learning disabilities the timely testing and Individualized Education Plan that they are legally entitled to receive, they are electing not to serve the needs of Ontario families.

Throughout our history at The Academy, we have elected the opposite. We have always served our populations quickly, thoroughly, passionately. From where we sit, it’s the only thing we can elect to do, given that these are families and teenagers often in dire straits. To elect to do anything less would be to elect not to serve our school’s mission, and that’s an election day you will never see at The Academy.

Perhaps you should elect to give us a call and see the school. You’re always welcome.

Don Adams, Head of School