Last week I did what millions of parents nationwide do each year – attend parent-teacher conferences at my children's school. I took a little over an hour to meet with their teachers and receive an update on their progress.
I left the conferences stunned. No, I wasn’t unhappy with the teachers, but precisely the opposite. I cameaway stunned with gratitude at the incredible gifts which my kids, and particularly my two daughters, receive at our little classical school. Here’s what I mean.
I had three 15 minute meetings with my daughters’ teachers. All of the ones with whom I met were women. All of them, before they got into teaching, had very successful careers in their respective fields. One was a University of Virginia trained engineer. One, with a UVA medical degree, practiced family medicine for many years before teaching science full time last year. And one was a corporate attorney, who had come from the often cut-throat environment of Washington DC.
All of these highly accomplished women had left their careers, and were now investing their talents into the lives of my daughters. Amazing.
As I left school that evening, two thoughts ran through my mind. First, none of them are “credentialed” teachers, per se. None studied to be a teacher. None had a master’s in education, and none were “certified” in the traditional sense of the term. They didn’t go to education schools or teacher’s colleges to get their current jobs.
But they didn’t need these things. Instead, their life experience, their passion for their subjects, and their willingness to serve as role models for my daughters was more important than some hollow imprimatur of a faceless government agency.
Unfortunately, my daughters could only have interaction with women like this in a nonpublic educational setting. This is a shame. How many more women are out there who have achieved significant professional accomplishments, and would love to share these with the next generation as teachers, but simply cannot because of the vagaries of a government regulation.
Maybe some schools have women teachers like this, but not Veritas. Instead, my girls get to learn from highly accomplished, highly credentialed women who’ve made it in their chosen fields, and who now are investing in the lives of young people.
Yes, we have a number of our families whose theology and practice is more conservative than my own. Yes, we struggle to raise the funds necessary to provide many of the “bells and whistles” of other schools (like a great facility, or great athletic options). But what we do have in terms of our accomplished and motivated faculty more than makes up for what our fellow public or more affluent private schools may offer. My girls get to learn from the best, and that makes all the difference.
