from the HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dear Country School Community:

One of my favorite sights here at Country School is one that is repeated dozens of times every day: students running to class. Not out of class to lunch or recess — though they run at those times, too — but to class. Our students love school. They love to learn.

As we work to achieve our ambitious strategic vision to “redefine childhood education for the future,” we know that the lessons — and more important, the experiences of childhood — are shaping the very fiber of who our students will become. The past several years have reaffirmed what is most important for our children today and tomorrow.

We want our students to learn how to think, not what to think.

The issues our world faces are not going to get simpler, and in short, they will need the intellectual agility to meet dynamic challenges.

We want them to value their own voice and the voices of others.

Constructive dialogue is in short supply, and we have only become more divided. Contributing and listening are important antidotes.

We want them to genuinely care about the collective well-being.

In short, we need more empathy in our world. That is why our classrooms are full of conversation between students, building relationships and community and understanding of one another’s perspectives.

We want them to remain curious and growth-oriented.

As humans, the more we enjoy something, the more we want to do it. That is one reason why our program is so active, so child-centered, so playful. It sparks joy, which inspires a desire to learn even more. A virtuous cycle for sure, and the special sauce that makes Country School Country School.

I believe we as a society need to do everything in our power to have a future where people have learned again how to speak to one another and disagree civilly, where people truly strive to understand others’ points of view, backgrounds and experiences so that they may work together more effectively and inclusively, and where we are solving more problems than we are creating. We are educating future leaders to be curious, courageous, kind and to foster community. It is only in this way that we can hope to make progress on some of the world’s biggest challenges. I believe our children can do it, I know our teachers and staff and administrators and so many of you feel the same, and for me, I can tell you that this purpose sure does make it easy to get up every morning to help them get there.

Be well,

Aaron Cooper, Head of School