The Art of Schooling, "21st Century Wisdom"

Written by Jie Yan, Rain Yu Guo, Jun Lian and Vanessa Xuan Yang

(Excerpted from page 27)

Book Summary

In summary, we have been able to take a peek into how to run a school with educational wisdom. The research-based practices at Independent Day School-Corbett Campus have shown us an amazing model.

We have seen the results of a positive outlook which helps the school to create a safe, healthy, and joyful environment, where students can explore and learn in a variety of ways. People call IDS-CC "heaven on Earth", because each and every member in IDS-CC is devoted to building a safe, passionate and high performing learning community, in which students feel nurtured along with having high standards and high expectations. A positive attitude and enthusiasm create the power to motivate the "best getting better." What the staff and faculty have done facilitates a sustainable and continuously improving development for IDS-CC.

Independent Day School-Corbett Campus is guided by it's philosophy all the time and it is open to providing others with opportunities, where both students and visiting guests thrive and learn from each other. We, the students from China, received a great opportunity to share our pride in the Chinese language, culture, education, and tradition. We also shared ourselves with an IDS-CC community that embraced us openly. IDSers modeled how to value others as well as their own gifts.

We were immersed in love, pleasure and appreciation. Thank you indeed, IDSers. You gave us a wonderful experience and helped us grow amongst you. We will share your wisdom with many people in China and in other parts of the world as we explore M.O.R.E.!!

Foreward

(Excerpted from page IV of the book, The Art of Schooling, "21st Century Wisdom")

We, the authors, are four students from China who have been at Independent Day School-Corbett Campus (IDS-CC) for four months. What we have seen at IDS impressed us so much.

The "Children First" philosophy is the thread of a 38-year distinguished history of Independent Day School. What has happened in IDS is all about how to implement the philosophy. IDSers have been creating a dynamic schooling system to pursue their shared vision. This article is an interpretation of observations during the four month period.

To learn more, Headmaster Dr. Joyce Swazman recommended some videos about leadership and attitude to us. After watching them, we had some ideas and were excited about the applications to IDS, and as a result, we wrote this article. We would like to introduce these ideas to teachers, educators and parents in China. Much of the information may seem only to apply to this school. However, it is our belief that the ideas we propose can apply to multiple situations.

Through our reflections and group dialogue, we have identified three significant strategies for 21st Century wisdom. They are generic leadership, valuing attitude, and customer service. The following pages describe the ideas that we believe would help any organization become more dynamic, positive, and successful.

It is our hope that we will inspire others to re-examine their own practice and imagine possibilities.