MASKED THE PLAY

We are often asked about our purposes (though the word “goals” is more typically used). Yet we don’t often engage in serious discussion about purposes, those guiding principles that inform our teaching practices, curriculum patterns, organizational structures, and relationships with students and their parents. They are not fully enough within our consciousness as the source of our work. But they must be. When large purposes lose their centrality, schools tend to drift, forfeiting their independence and their educational and social power. I believe we know this intuitively, yet there is a reluctance to pursue serious questions about purposes. It may be that such discussions appear too philosophical, too abstract, too far removed from the daily tasks of schools. They needn’t be removed; such discussions are foundational, times to focus on first things.

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