Invitational Education Overview

These schools are, to us, remarkable and highly instructive - well along the journey toward "cordially summoning....students and faculty and school leaders toward their higher potential" - intellectually, socially, psychologically, physically and spiritually.

Leadership changes are especially important is continuous improvement, and several of these schools have recently, or are coming up on, key leadership changes. Special attention is needed to insure maintaining and even extending the positive culture needed for school transformation.

Admittedly, these are schools we know, and there are many others we have not visited, and so do not know so well. And, admittedly, we are more than a bit prejudiced. With limited resources, but with tireless enthusiasm, we do want to provide both recognition of these schools and an beacon to other schools still charting their way.

Has won everything to be won. Leadership in 'Environmental' Character, with its Taoist underpinings, and strong enough to keep striving toward Invitational Leadership, in both administrative and teacher leadership.

An 80% residential private school with over 3,000 primary students, this school excells on so very many dimensions.

R. Benjamin had the honor of making a home visit, along with the teachers of an exceptional student, one who is clearly a member of an exceptional family, and has great artistic talents. The dedicated parents are clearly full partners with the talented staff. All this provided insight into what it might be like to be growing up in a country, in a school, that demonstrably treasures its children

R. Benjamin again had the honor of making a home visit with a student and had a chance for a leisurely talk with her mother. Her father is working in Foshan, because jobs are so scarce. He can only return home one or two times a year, the same frequency that the family can afford to eat chicken. There were chickens in the house, under the stairs, to supply eggs. Some of us helped cook the noon meal, with eggs cooked and folded into some vegetables. We also walked about 20-30 minutes to the family farm plot, and all helped 'harvest' some rice. Clearly the mother had the best approach. There was a small 'silo' of rice in the girls' bedroom, perhaps 5 feet high, with a 5 foot circumference. There were three children, since farmers are exempt from the Single Child Policy. A small cat, which is not fed, pulled a corn cobb from a trash basket and ate the remaining kernals off of it. This was, for me a sobering new level of poverty. The student pulled out wonderful art which she had done at home, and exhibited all the talent and excitement about her work that one would wish for in one's own child. In a pretty barren home there were three posters on the living room wall, providing assistance with math facts and language learning. This will demand much more reflection.