Greetings to every member of the Storm King School community! Dale and I arrived on campus in late June and we are slowly settling into our beautiful new surroundings, getting to know the school, the town and the region. I must comment on the warm reception that has been extended to us from all quarters. It has made our cross-country move so much more enjoyable. From trustees to townsfolk to faculty and staff, all have been most helpful and generous with their welcome. Spy Rock House is undergoing significant renovations this summer, so we've been "camped out" in Tryon Cottage awaiting its completion. We're looking forward to making Spy Rock our home and welcoming the community to the various events we will host there. And please do visit us if you are nearby. Do not wait for a formal event; we would very much like to meet you all.

This letter is the first of a series that I hope will provide SKS community members with an ongoing sense of the school today - the events, the people and programs that make the school such an extraordinary place. In addition, The Head's Desk will provide me an opportunity to share my thoughts about kids, about education, and about schools. Storm King does not exist in a vacuum, of course. We operate within a largely cooperative but ultimately competitive group of independent boarding schools in the Northeast, the USA and the world. Geography dictates so much of every school's specific culture, but in this 21st century it is critical that we prepare our students to become leaders in a global marketplace and society. This idea has become something of a cliché of late - a truism rather than simply a truth. But clichéd or not, our students will eventually take their places in a world that is very unlike the world in which I grew up. Our challenge is to identify the skills, values and habits of mind that will serve them well in their ongoing education and the careers of the future - to prepare them to succeed in jobs that still do not even exist.

Much has been written about the "21st century skills" that we should be teaching our kids, among them: co-operation, teamwork, empathy and group-think. These have been identified as some of the essential skills that are necessary for success in the new global economy. Because the nature of the workplace is shifting, I certainly understand and support this educational imperative. But I also find this particular list to be most thought-provoking. It sits in sharp contrast to the quintessentially American notions of competition, individualism, self-realization and personal responsibility that have been the mainstays of prep-school education throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. 

The character-building component of most of our schools, intended to form a strong ethical core within our future professional and social leaders, presumes the perpetuation of a culture of privilege and noblesse oblige. And while a sympathetic - if not empathetic - impulse to society's betterment underpins traditional standards of leadership, contemporary standards push for a less hierarchical approach. It is believed that successful 21st century leaders will be facilitators, not dictators; listeners, not spielers; collaborators, not autocrats.

All of this begs several questions. Should schools dramatically shift to embrace these new cultural/educational imperatives? Is the traditional meritocratic paradigm really shifting to a more collective one? Should an individual's success depend upon his or her group's success? What of grades? Accountability? Personal initiative and responsibility? And are these new values the remedy for the endemic abuse of power we have witnessed here and abroad?

Our culture has evolved away from one that anoints privilege with authority and toward one in which one's accomplishments earn respect and leadership. We have indeed become a true meritocracy - oftentimes, it seems, one without a soul. In a recent New York Times piece, columnist David Brooks writes: "Today's elite is more talented and open but lacks a self-conscious leadership code. The language of meritocracy (how to succeed) has eclipsed the language of morality (how to be virtuous). Wall Street firms, for example, now hire on the basis of youth and brains, not experience and character. Most of their problems can be traced to this."[i]

Brooks is on to something here. He argues that, contrary to glib attribution, power is itself not the source of corruption. Rather it is the lack of a solid ethical core - the product of traditional character education long a mainstay of US prep schools - that has caused our new meritocratic elites to fall from grace. I agree with his assessment and endorse the notion that ethics should be at the heart of all that we do. Twenty-first century leaders must possess extraordinary personal integrity and, I believe, employ what is "right" as the litmus test for decision making, not simply "what works." As we prepare our Storm King students to assume positions of leadership in this 21st century, traditional character education must remain at the center, not on the periphery, of our daily community experience.

To slavishly abandon traditional values in favor of new, market-driven substitutes seems to me unwise at best. Most of the uniquely American focus on the individual remains relevant today and for the 21st century. Individualism has been and will continue to be a powerful force for progress and should not be dismissed as dated and irrelevant. And it is telling that US boarding schools, most of which retain a strong zeitgeist of tradition, are today in great demand by students from around the world. Students from China, Korea, Russia, Germany, Vietnam, Thailand, and several of the former Soviet satellite states have queued up to enter US prep schools and eventually gain admission to top US universities. Kids who have grown up in "collective" cultures have dramatically increased demand for a topnotch US education that oftentimes reflects values at odds with their own.

To suppose that 21st century society will not reward competitiveness is to ignore the realities of population growth, the unequal distribution of resources around the planet and the universal desire to provide for one's children enhanced opportunities for a better life. On the contrary, it will be highly competitive on a global scale. I would offer the conjecture that inequality will not be eliminated during our lifetimes. And I submit that in a world of diminishing natural resources competition for them will be heightened, not diminished. The real question revolves around the need to embrace competition without allowing it to overwhelm our global sensibility and desire for equanimity. For that to occur, competition must be tempered.

But to force a choice between the two different educational approaches - e.g.: competition versus cooperation - is a red herring. This is not a simplistic either/or choice. Rather, I would argue for a more balanced, blended approach that draws the best from both points of view. Indeed, the Greek notion of balance, an essential value that permeates every aspect of ancient Greek philosophy and art, remains for me the single greatest gift we can give to students today. It has served for years as a guiding principle for American prep schools (mens sana in corpore sano) and, if I may, remains highly relevant in today's hyper-polarized and dysfunctional political/media environment.

So, it seems to me that the best, most forward-thinking schools today will be ones that preserve the best of their traditions and balance them with emerging educational imperatives. So much about our traditional values has proved valuable over the years, touching the core of our common humanity and providing a solid foundation for personal and cultural development. And in an interconnected 21st century society we will also greatly benefit from a collective, cooperative approach appropriate to our emerging consciousness as global citizens. The best schools will be ones that balance these two ultimately compatible value systems, and not ones that remain firmly entrenched in one camp or the other. Like our Greek forebears, we recognize that truth resides in the center, not at the extremes. Living balanced lives that acknowledge our competing natures and accommodate the range of human experience should be our ultimate goal.

Until next time, I remain,

Sincerely,

Paul Domingue

Head of School