How could advice that encourages unconditional love, balance and sanity be controversial?

There are people who think that the reason they invest in an independent school education is to get their child into a US News & World Report highly ranked university and  ideally with a scholarship. Great marketing has made that idea as attractive as front row seats at a Beyonce concert.

One of our goals at Shorecrest is to provide students with the skills, habits of mind and experiences that will allow them to thrive at their universities and in their careers and community lives. We know that we share responsibility for obtaining that goal with our parents, guardians and students.

If a student is the right fit for one of those highly ranked universities, great. If a student is a better fit at some other university that will allow him or her shine, that is equally great. We all have happy and successful friends who have attend universities that are and are not well known.

Ultimately, we realize that there are great opportunities and great people in many settings. Admittedly, some schools and universities provide better and more opportunities than others, but no one institution has cornered the market on happiness and success.

The following TED Talk  by Julie Lythcott Haimes was recommended to me by Shorecrest parent Kim Craig who received it from her mother-in-law, Diana Craig who was once the Director of Admissions at Shorecrest. 

Kim and Diana are not the only adults in our community who are worried about the check list approach to parenting that has been imposed on the parents and children of our country.

The helicopter parent has merged with the snowplow parent to become the master of Uber-parenting. I realize that is takes courage for a parent to rise above the trend that demands parents drive their children to sacrifice childhood for well intentioned but not necessarily healthy goals.

I want our students, their teachers and our families to Be More. I want us to be more than we might have been if we did not share the wonderful opportunities provided at Shorecrest.  

Yet, Being More does not mean sacrificing childhood, mental health and friendships in order to check all the boxes that one thinks will lead to the golden ring of a US News & World Report top ranked school.

Find a quiet place and share in a thoughtful parent’s view on the balancing act we all strive to achieve.