July Musings
7/24/2011
It has been a month since I last added to this Blog. There are a number of reasons why I have not been an active blogger this summer. One is that I have traveled a great deal calling on RMA alumni and Board members, capturing a little vacation, visiting with RMA parents, and working on a second book or a new embellished version of the first (So You Want to Be a Leader).
Summer school (SOAR) has come and gone, and we are presently preparing for the arrival of cadet athletes and Leadership Camp cadets. As we get closer to August, I invariably hear rumors that some cadets will not be returning. I wish the parents of these cadets would review my April 8, 2011 blog entitled Planet Female. I sense that some parents see the improvement in their sons' behavior and grades and conclude that previous issues with grades and behavior are "fixed," and the boy can return to the previous school and will no longer succumb to the enormous pressures that led to Riverside enrollment in the first place. How do we convince these well-meaning parents that 2-3 semesters at Riverside is insufficient to inculcate a permanent change in work habits, attitudes, judgment, integrity, respect for others (especially adults), and moral reasoning? After all, these whole person dimensions are subject to instruction with repetition and reinforcement on a daily basis at Riverside.
I have written often of my admiration for the educational philosophy of Josiah Bunting III (President of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundaton headquartered in New York City). Recently, he wrote that the ages of 13-17 are the most important developmental period of education in a young life. Yes, more important than the college years of 18-22. Bunting reminds us of the extraordinary Americans who were raised and educated in the mid-1700s. There was no parental obsession over SAT/ACT scores, no Blackberries, and few cared what college youth attended according to Bunting. Yet, the era produced many ethical leaders of purpose and sound judgment.
Similarly, Bunting recently wrote of General George Marshall and General Douglas MacArthur (both born in 1880) informing the reader that this period of leaders grew up in the shadow and influence of many veterans of the Civil War. Subsequently, during the non-war period of the 1920s and 1930s, military officers had time for solitude, thinking, and writing. They were preparing themselves for the inevitable World War II. Bunting concluded that these leaders were not infected with the culture of "visible busyness" observed today.
In conclusion, I remind my readers once more - what good is a so-called education without the enabling personal characteristics of honesty, practical wisdom (we don't hear that term in academic circles anymore), and moral reasoning that serve as its foundation? Those enabling characteristics that permit one to develop and grow into a leader of substance can be discovered at RMA.