Welcome by Interim Head of School Judy Fox

Good morning and welcome, Mr. [Manish] Parikh and members of the Board of Trustees, Dr. [Greg] Martin and members of the faculty and staff of the Upper School, members of the Class of 2015 and your families and guests.

 

It is my honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to welcome you on this wonderful occasion. I would like to tailor my brief remarks to both the graduating seniors and to their parents.

 

Parents: here’s a tip for you for the future. The way you communicate with your graduating senior is about to change. Right now, you rush your words together in the hope they will find their mark as your senior rushes through the house from something important to something important, seldom pausing, so your words seem to dangle in the air. Next fall, you will have the pleasure of your child’s total attention during those periodic phone calls home from college. The length of those calls and their frequency will be directly proportional to your use of the following four phrases which I suggest you memorize. They are:

 

First: “Mm, hmm.”

Second: “A ‘C’ sounds perfectly acceptable given your busy schedule.”

Third: “Certainly you can keep college hours when you come home for vacation.” Fourth…and most important: “How much do you need?”

 

Seniors, the amount of spending money that is the answer to that last question is directly proportional to your use of the following four phrases, which I suggest you memorize and use when you call home.

 

First: “I study when everyone else goes out to party because the dorm is nice and quiet then.”

Second: “The laundry room is right down the hall, which makes it easy to keep my things clean.”

Third: “They enforce the drinking laws VERY strictly on campus.”

Fourth…and most important: “I miss you, mom and dad.”

 

And seniors, you will miss mom and dad, but you will find your own ways as your education continues. I hope, in your next school environment, you stay both conscious and critical of what you are learning and how.

 

In his 1947 book, The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis wrote about education’s contribution to developing a sense of morality in students. He describes human behavior as the product of instinct, or our gut feelings. He describes reason as that which resides in the head. Everything else are what we might call qualities of the heart. Lewis identifies these qualities as humanity, judgment, magnanimity, mercy, competence, wisdom and justice. The rest of Lewis’ book pokes fun at the education of his day, but his notion of the values of the heart is a useful one.

 

I heard a conference speaker use three of Lewis’ “heart” values as examples of how a good education prepares one for life. He said, “True education makes one competent, wise and just. Competence makes life possible. Wisdom makes life meaningful. Justice makes life fair.”

 

And so, graduates of 2015, you have demonstrated competence by graduating from Country Day. You are acquiring wisdom with each experience and encounter you have, and you must hold justice dear for that will preserve this world we bequeath you until you are ready to take your places in it and make it better for us all.