Discovering Promise

“What mattered most to us as a family,” offered this parent, “was not the schedule of the day, but how you made our son feel. From the moment he arrived, and despite his nervousness, he felt that he could be himself at your school.” 

Crescent has a moral imperative to develop character in the lives of boys. Some schools view character as an add-on to the fundamentals of learning, as "icing on the cake" but not the cake itself. But today, non-cognitive character skills such as adaptiveness, resourcefulness, resilience, and equanimity are in high demand both in the working world and beyond.  And yet, the origin of these dispositions remains hard to pinpoint.

It turns out that growing talent and forging character are not accomplished by subjecting students to academic “rigour” alone but rather by carefully providing the right conditions for learning. In one major study, researchers set out to query the roots of exceptional ability among the world’s top performers from a variety of disciplines. They were surprised to discover that only a few of these people were gifted in childhood. Their unique ability wasn’t innate; it developed over time and was often sparked by a teacher who made learning fun. 

When we try to assess potential at home, at school, or at work, we often make the mistake of focusing on the abilities readily seen. If I had been judged on my first day of high school, I may not have become a teacher. If I had been graded on my first hockey tryout, I may not have grown to love the game. If I had been critiqued on my first day of part-time employment, I may not have pursued lifelong purposeful work. Perhaps this is similar to your experience as well.

As psychologist Adam Grant notes in his newly acclaimed book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Great Things, “You can’t tell where people will land from where they begin. With the right opportunity and motivation to learn, anyone can build the skills to achieve greater things. Potential is not a matter of where you start, but of how far you travel. We need to focus less on starting points and more on distance travelled … (for) Character skills do more than help you perform at your peak—they propel you to higher peaks.”

As a school dedicated to educating boys of promise the roadmap for character is of chief importance. This includes the intentional role modelling of our staff, the relational teaching of our faculty, the positive partnerships with our parents, the foundational values of our community, the active presence of our alumni, and the visionary leadership of our Board. Experience Crescent is but an initial step along the way.

While our mission might start with finding boys of promise, we know that their character truly emerges over time with those who seek to know and love them.