At the College Board regional conference in Boston last week, I presented a session called “Embracing the New Normal” with Smith College Dean of Admission, Audrey Smith, and Brown University Director of Financial Aid, Jim Tilton.

While much of the session focused on access to and the affordability of education—both public and private—there was still time for an exchange of a more abstract bent. After my two expert colleagues presented evidence about the economic challenges facing all institutions, a counselor from Vermont spoke of the real danger of developing a two tracks in education.

The counselor dealt with many high school students who were the first in their families to head to college. These students simply could not assume the financial burden of their own flagship state university, she said.

My thoughts turned to the access that we provide at The Williston Northampton School. As a 171-year-old school founded on principles of inclusion, we embrace a remarkable socio-economic diversity. Yet our noble mission also has challenges. One of those challenges is to raise funds for endowed scholarships, as some of the elite colleges and universities have accomplished.

At the conference, it hit home to me once again that these efforts will be a priority for Williston in the future.

How fitting that, as we celebrate 40 years of coeducation at Williston Northampton, this year’s Cum Laude speaker was Professor Sheila Fisher ’72, valedictorian of the school’s first co-ed class.
 
Standing before a packed Stephens Chapel, Professor Fisher, associate academic dean and member of the English faculty at Trinity College in Hartford, extolled the talent and accomplishments of this year’s Cum Laude Society inductees.
 
Then she threw in a twist.  A “relationship with work,” she said—referring to academic prowess, rather than the effort that produces a particular result—is essential for one to have a fulfilled life.
 
What a strong message for our students to hear—no matter where their passions take them.  A scholar in her field and one who holds three advanced degrees from Yale University, Professor Fisher now stands as one of the “giants” she remembered from her own school days. Our students clearly understood the significance of her scholarship and accomplishments.
 
Indeed, Professor Fisher embodies, as a living testimony, the enduring impact that great teachers have on generations of students—not to mention individuals whose lives they steer by the magnetic pull of emulation.

Dropping in on a Williston Northampton history class the other day, I saw the best of the Socratic method taking place among a group of eager ninth-grade students. 

Sarah Klumpp’s slightly wry questions ignited instant responses from her students. They, in turn, engaged one another on the topic of the day: the range of women’s rights among a number of Arab states as portrayed in press accounts from the United States to the United Kingdom to the Middle East. 

With a terse “how do you know?” or a prying, “are you stating an ethnocentric idea?” Ms. Klumpp masterfully guided her students into higher-level reasoning skills. 

Since her students were charged with independent Internet research, they were required to be discerning synthesizers of information. Because they had to present their findings orally, they were practicing clear communication skills. Since they responded to one another without the teacher’s prompting, they had, clearly, taken an important step in becoming thoughtful listeners. 

One of the great pleasures of my day is to stop by a classroom and witness our faculty guiding students in precisely these areas as 21st century learners.