a grand partnership

 

as a village raising the kids

when I worked in middle school,

I knew the challenges of those ages,

we worked hard to support the students,

to develop and adjust program,

so that we could help the individuals 

come into the fullness of realizing who they are,

of realizing what gifts are inherent to them,

of realizing how to share those gifts in service to others,

then from that position of self-awareness and strength,

we could seek how the individual

could connect into larger and larger wholes,

when I would ask my advisees 

what they were most proud of during a term,

I didn't hear about tests, or projects, or sports, or theater,

instead "my friends" would be the answer from person after person,

validation of self a gift from those friends,

the students before us were already

well on their way to definition and expression of self,,

often in a continuity from their earliest days,

even at the early school as 3-5 year olds,

the students live the truth of who they were before birth

and the lessons learned from their earliest childhood,

their prospective teachers work 

to visit them at home before school starts, 

to appreciate their present,

learn their back stories,

 and get ready for the new chapters,

throughout C.F.S. at its best, each unit of the school 

sees truly the students before them,

appreciates all that is forming true,

and strives to create whatever way

might help in their learning 

so that tomorrow builds upon today,

as each expresses their own truth,

as each learns the truth of how the world works,

and expresses the truth of the joy of learning 

that should infuse us all,

I was lucky to be able to attend some upper school senior seminars,

where the understanding and discussion felt like the best

of what I remember from college,

and I saw the students as they must have been about age 6,

when gifted teachers supported them in getting the trick

of letters becoming words, of words becoming sentences,

when a campus early school teacher celebrated her students hugging trees,

I felt a continuity of that early time with upper school students

going to the Galapagos to marvel and learn,

each member of the whole staff is of the village 

raising these young people,

the more the grand work is a partnership,

the better for the students, 

and for the school,

and for the world,

as educators, we are challenged

to see each student as who they have been, 

as who they are now,

as who they can become

if school and self work together,

to allow each student to birth their best.

by Henry H. Walker

September 14, ‘26