promoting creativity and virtue--a tool belt for the future

CFS views creativity and virtue as two essential tools for solving the problems of the world. To solve a problem, we must have creative solutions and the virtue to carry them through. CFS promotes creativity and virtue by creating an environment in which it is acceptable to make mistakes. Discipline is a supportive, constructive process at CFS. Teacher/student relationships are friendly and collaborative. The staff encourages the students to take risks by trying new things and taking leadership roles. If students believe in themselves and trust that they are supported by their community, they are likely to allow their creativity to go uncensored and to try out embodying virtue, even through mistakes and failures. In this way, CFS promotes creativity and virtue, two essential tools for students to be empowered citizens of society.

Creativity is prized at Friends School. The importance of a healthy body to support a healthy mind is broadly accepted. At CFS, though, dance is celebrated for its own sake. In contrast to what Sir Ken Robinson reported about the tendency of public schools to teach only the head (and slightly to one side), Friends School tries to teach the whole body. We see this in the long lunch we are given to unwind between classes, the much disputed PE requirements, and our teachers' general willingness to let restless students leave class to stretch their legs. We at CFS also value the arts. There are certain limits because most of the students do want to earn admission to a college, which directs the curriculum to a somewhat mainstream selection of required subjects like math, science, social studies, literature and foreign language. Nevertheless, creativity is celebrated when a student finds a new way to answer a math problem, draws an impressive picture, or has a cool idea.

Friends School's mission includes the goal of teaching students that they can, and should, make a positive impact on the world. The teachers at CFS strive to teach students to appreciate the world and the people in it, and to embody virtue--bravery, fairness, generosity--as we engage in that world. From a young age, we Friends School students are taught to think not only of ourselves but also of our friends and classmates. We are told about the world, and paired with children in Afghanistan to write letters. As we grow older, we are shown a fuller picture of what goes on in the world. In the sophomore Global Citizenship Capstone class, my classmates and I were urged to consider whether our complex economic relationships with people in poverty around the world gave us a moral obligation to help them. Different students gave different responses to the question, and our discussion was dynamic. In addition to facilitating theoretical thinking about our world responsibilities, Friends School strives to inspire students to embody virtue by taking action. This is evident in service days, class raise-awareness projects like Susan's class's water bottle wall, and End of Year Trips.

Carolina Friends School provides students with an unusually supportive and engaged community. Students can reflect on the world, express themselves, and try out their virtue on trips and in clubs. Not to mention that if students are unsatisfied with the Upper School experience, we can talk to teachers or Clerks to try to change it. This is one of many ways in which CFS allows students to practice being virtuous, empowered citizens.