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"Does Success Have Purpose?"
October 2011
As Head of School, each day and each year, I try my best to define the concept of success for our school and for our students. I still do not have the complete answer, but I do have a plan. My plan
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is to continue to provide a learning environment that is happy, meaningful, safe, and certainly challenging. I think this formula will help create an atmosphere for our students that will develop a respect of the learning process and may ultimately establish the needed curiosity within our students to learn for the rest of their lives.
It is important to remind you that I am not necessarily talking about learning for the grade alone. I believe we must provide a challenging environment that teaches our students to learn how to absorb information so that they can form ideas of their own and apply what they have learned in their daily lives. I hope our students learn information and use their knowledge for delivering acts of goodness in society. As individuals, I believe our students will find ways to have a productive contribution in society as a child today and as a future adult.
 Swain School believes at its core value that we are responsible to help prepare children to be good in character and thoughtful in action. Character education is a very important part of Independent School education. Of course the academics are essential, but giving our students this "academic foundation of character" will make it easier to develop good citizens, confident people and thoughtful leaders. We must not only focus on the IQ (intelligence quotient), we must also develop, nurture, and celebrate the EQ (emotional quotient) of our students.
We must teach children to be good, how to be good friends, how to read people's emotions, and allow time for them to define for themselves what it is to be good. Teaching character and emotional awareness will help each person in their daily lives forever.
 This type of education and these types of discussions have been proven to help guide children to be thoughtful and happy citizens in our world. I know from my experiences in competitive Independent Schools that students require and should also be provided an environment that enables them to be challenged, to reach for the goal to master skills, to gain a high level of academic confidence, and develop the ability to communicate (both written and orally).
This challenging, yet safe and meaningful environment, will ultimately prepare our students to leave our school with acquired academic and social skills to make good sound decisions in school and in life. This clearly structured academic program must be in partnership with a friendly learning environment that establishes a happy place to learn.
When students are encouraged to question, and allowed to experiment, they learn. What is special about Independent Schools and Swain is that the students and teachers are given the opportunity to challenge their thinking, pursue their interests, and expand their love for learning. All of these areas need to be developed and nurtured over the many years and the earlier these lessons take place the more successful our students will be.
This does not mean that our students should find  immediate success in everything they do. I believe that our students at Swain need to experience failure. The students who experience failure are often the students who learn how to ask questions. In turn, they will learn how to get answers by developing the needed perseverance in their work ethic, and the confidence to ask for help.
Learning is not always easy, and sometimes we worry that our children don't understand the material right away. That is why we design a curriculum and provide a school environment that is challenging, and yet safe. When it is safe to take risks, the students will ask the important questions, and ultimately pursue the answers that will help them learn.
I ask you, please step back and let your children fail occasionally. As a school, we will be there to help them learn what they did not understand or what they did  not do well in. It will help each one of them find their own character and help them resolve difficult situations as they grow. Knowing oneself in good times and in difficult times may help define true success for children now and in their future. We must help our students create a growth mindset. This is a mindset open to learning how to solve problems, open to learn new things that may not be easy, or open to manage difficult circumstances. If we can do this well as a school and as parents in partnership, our youngest to oldest students at Swain will be ready for life today and in their future. Because as we all know, life is not always easy, but it still should be fun, happy, and meaningful.
Please read the September 14, New York Times article, "What if the Secret to Success is Failure?", by Paul Tough. It is a very interesting message that all of us as parents should read. The message is not new, yet it is packaged neatly and relates to independent school parents.
Book suggestions...
1100 South 24th Street
Allentown, PA 18103
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