Statement of Purpose
Oak Meadow School seeks to provide a caring academic environment in which young people are nurtured and challenged to achieve their highest potential both as students and as human beings.
How We Seek to Accomplish Our Purpose
First, we make a serious commitment to the life of each student we accept into our program. That means that we take the admission process seriously. We are not looking for “academic potential” nearly as much as we are looking for students that are open to making progress, that are, in a word, teachable. Obviously, this is quite subjective, but we are not afraid of that kind of process. In the interview process, we try to reveal ourselves, and we want to, as much as an hour or so can provide, get to know those students that are considering our school. Once a student becomes a part of our school community, he or she can count on the fact that we will attend to personal needs, personal inclinations, and that we will do everything in our power to make sure that the student succeeds--again, academically and personally. We take this task of commitment to the personal well-being of our students as a top priority.
Second, our staff shares our priorities and commitments fully. If just the Directors hold this to heart, the process will not work. We choose our faculty carefully.
Third, we seek to help our students balance their lives. Independent study is designed for busy people. Our program is academically challenging (this is not an easier way to get through high school; it is a different way), and will prepare our graduates for the rigors of college and university if that is what they choose to do. But we do not believe that “school” should be all-consuming in the lives of young adults who are trying to understand who they are, what they are passionate about, and how they might fit into the world. Students who are seeking a school that will provide many co-curricular activities and options will not enjoy our independent study program. Our students come to us either already busy, or wanting more flexibility and space to get busy. Through the years we have had students pursue music, dance of all kinds, athletics of all kinds, the visual arts, employment, and much more. High school cannot be seen as a sidelight or addition to whatever these students are pursuing, but the academic endeavor can be designed in such a fashion that room is left for balance.
Fourth, our program is therefore flexible. This flexibility occurs on two levels. First, the curriculum is flexible. While we do use a set curriculum (mostly that which has been developed and published by Oak Meadow School in Vermont), this curriculum by its nature has flexibility built into it, and we are willing and able to depart from our set curriculum whenever that is needed and justified. Our focus is on the needs of each student, not on jamming a particular student into “our curriculum.” Second, the manner in which the learning process proceeds is flexible. That means that there are some options when it comes to the educational process, which allow our students to pursue extra-curricular activities, family needs and activities, and other interests. We work on how this plays out in any student’s life in conversation with parents, attending to the need for balance and taking seriously the need for academics to remain a top priority in the student’s life.
Fifth, we are constantly seeking innovation. We want to find new and better ways to do what we do. Every year we ponder long and hard what happened last year, to figure out how we can do it better. We are open to helpful, constructive suggestions from our families. We invite the participation of parents in the program.