Personally and professionally, I have a deep interest in the well-being of adolescents. Personally, I am the father of two children ages 15 and 17. As the Head of School, I bring the same cares and concerns to the 40 current students and roughly 100 alumni as I do for my own children and worry about how they are faring in our modern world. As such, I find myself reading a number of articles about the well-being of teens, mental health concerns, and the like. This week, I read a particularly interesting Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, which was provocatively titled, “What if Kids Are Sad and Stressed Because Their Parents Are?”
David French, author of this piece, notes that “Teens do not exist on an island. The connection between parental emotional health and the emotional health of their kids is well established.” Likewise, I would think that emotional health of non-parental adults is similarly impactful. Moreover, the culture of the school, where children spend the majority of their weekdays, is also connected to children’s wellness.
As such, I have asked the faculty to consider this and to realize the weight of their impact on both the students and the climate of the school community. While it is important that we help our students develop strong habits of mind by holding high academic standards, it is equally important that we help the students to see that the world is full of wonder. Part of our job as teachers is to be ambassadors of joy – to convey to our students that they need not be stressed or fearful, rather that they should be excited about learning and the opportunities that exist in the world.
In a world that can be scary or overwhelming, it is important that our children are surrounded by those that are genuinely optimistic and hopefully about the world in which we live.