Why Shared Values Make a Difference

by Dr. Mike Davis, Head of School

One of the things I enjoy about summer is the chance to read – a lot. This summer I read fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, and journals. One New York Times article, “The Fundamental Way that Universities Are an Illusion,” by Kevin Carey caught my attention.

 

I urge you to read the article, as it raises some challenging questions about higher education and the importance of continuity within an educational institution. At Colorado Academy, we get to see how the college admission process plays out. I often lament the pressure and anxiety that this process places on young people and on their parents.

 

This article helps explain why so much of that anxiety is misplaced and points to a central problem in higher education. Carey notes the significant role a college education can play in a young person’s development: “Many collegiate programs require students to work hard and acquire valuable knowledge, skills, and habits of mind. Students often form lifelong relationships with peers and learn how to act like a college-educated person.” But, his article mainly deals with how we assess the quality of higher education and what is missing from most schools. As I read this, it made me appreciate the intentional efforts we make at Colorado Academy to have a cohesive educational program.

 

Carey’s article draws upon the 2005 study “How College Affects Students,” which is a collection of research studies on higher education published by Ernest Pascarella of the University of Iowa, and Patrick Terenzini of Penn State. The study reaffirms the ways in which college can be critical to one’s professional and personal success. But, Carey reports that the most enlightening aspect of this study is how little difference exists between and among colleges. Pascarella and Terenzini find that, “Students tend to learn more in colleges where they have closer relationships with faculty and peers.” But, Carey also notes that, “These findings are overwhelmed in both size and degree by the many instances in which researchers were trying to detect differences between colleges and found nothing.”

 

In other words, despite the efforts of colleges and universities (primarily through athletic programs) to create an identity, Carey argues that, “Universities hardly exist as unified teaching organizations.”

 

Every one of our students should consider this as they go into the college admissions process. According to Carey, Pascarella and Terenzini find that, “The real differences exist at the department level, or within the classrooms of individual professors, who teach with a great deal of autonomy under the principles of academic freedom.” He notes that many schools will defend the quality of their programs, noting some “shared sense of educational excellence.” But, the reality may be different. Carey quotes a former university president who noted that most instructors at the college level are “a series of individual faculty entrepreneurs held together by a common grievance over parking.” My father was the Vice President of a major university. I think he would disagree with that statement, but he would also note that consistency of quality could vary from one professor to the next and among departments.

 

At Colorado Academy, we are intentional about creating and pursuing a consistent educational vision. To be sure, we value autonomy and a diversity of styles and approaches among teachers. Some of this difference is intentional. As a Pre-K through 12 school, we are going to approach different age groups differently. But, underlying each of our approaches is a deliberate effort to fulfill our mission statement. We have had a number of very intentional, school-wide initiatives that we have rolled out in my eight years at Colorado Academy. These include:

 

There are many more initiatives that we have implemented and more that we are considering; however, the bottom line is that we as a faculty are committed to working with one another to provide an education that is intentional and deliberate. It is based on our shared understanding of what is critical for students at this age. It is exciting and rewarding to be in a school in which the faculty work so well with one another and care so deeply about their purpose. It makes CA a better school, and it makes the investment that parents make in Colorado Academy worth it.