"Best Schools"

9/12/2014

It is abundantly clear to me that the best schools are wholisticly focused on developing the heart, soul, mind, and spirit of their students. Their mission statements may use synonyms of same, but their intent is to develop the character of their students. But character is forged in the furnace of discipline, hardship, and repetition. It must be deliberately pressed by demanding headmasters and teachers in a planned and deliberate way.

Public and independent schools have changed over time from wholistic academies to academic factories where the primary objective revolves around SAT/ACT scores and GPAs that lead to acceptance at Tier I universities. At Riverside, we don't just educate the cognitive dimension of our cadets; we educate, train, and develop them in the affective dimensions to include integrity, moral reasoning, social skills, ethics, leadership, judgment, and physical fitness. Through deliberate instruction and repetition in word and action, we change what they think is good enough in terms of character, effort, and achievement. Riverside is a birthplace for manhood where boys escape a soft and lethargic society to become men of substance and citizen leaders for a free republic.