Recently, I was fortunate to spend a few days visiting Paris with my youngest daughter. Much of our trip was focused on reviewing the history that she learned this year at school. We saw sites related to monarchy, enlightenment and revolution. As I viewed the magnificent Arc de Triomphe, I could not help but think of the images of the Nazis marching through that arch during the second world war. Helping support my daughter with her history homework revived an interest on my part with the lessons that can be learned from these events. Who were the individuals who led revolutions? Who succumbed to invasions? Who fled? Who resisted? From my perspective, the individual personalities that have shaped our world for the positive, taking personal risks for the sake of others, were people who shared extraordinarily strong moral identities. How do we as a school help create those historical forces for the future?

In my professional learning this summer, I was fortunate to attend a workshop session led by Richard Weissbourd, who heads the Making Caring Common Project at Harvard's School of Education. In his talk, he pointed out that most of our students know basic values by the end of kindergarten, the challenge is bringing about the internalization of those values and building compassion for others. He pointed out that the original schools (all private) were mostly focused on building "men of character". Over time schools' roles shifted to become the place to create a workforce. With the self realization and actualization movements of the 60's and 70's, schools today tend to focus on individual achievement, with little devoted to promoting care for the common good. And while ultimately I believe that character should be prioritized over academic achievement, the two are far from mutually exclusive.

Reflecting on our own community, I feel that we have a good foundation for building students of character. Practices like the Keshet of Kavod, Morning Siach, Middle School Advisory and Council, are all programs that help show our students the importance of caring and being compassionate. The way that our students interact with each other continues to be a primary focus for all of our teachers, and I imagine (and hope) one that is also reinforced at home.

As I view the progress of our new construction, and get excited over the incredible faculty that we have lined up for next year and look forward to the return of our growing student body, I also continue to think a lot about how we continue to build students of character that are caring and compassionate. More than anything, our world needs a new generation of "mensches" to lead us into the future. I look forward to hearing from you and sharing many more of my own thoughts on this topic throughout the coming year. Wishing you a continued wonderful summer break and a Shabbat shalom -Zvi