I have been the headmaster here for 41 years, and so I look back at 40 valedictorians. What distinguished them? Certainly it was not just brains. We have had valedictorians who were not the smartest in their cohort. Indeed, you might be surprised to learn that some of those valedictorians did poorly on standardized tests and probably always will. Yet, these determined students found their way to triumph in high school and college. Gender did not seem a factor in their success; we have had roughly an equal number of boys and girls. It was not the affluence of their backgrounds; scholarship recipients have been well represented. Nor is it true that valedictorians only came from “intact” families. So what was it?

By the time students arrive in my Ethics class in their senior year, our faculty and administration have often accurately predicted the seniors who will do well at college and could probably guarantee those who will succeed wherever they go. How we arrive at these conclusions is what this piece is really about.

Let us start at the entry to York. A student enters into the school at 6th grade or later. At orientation, the first person who talks to them is me. I tell them of the stress that we place on character. I tell them of the rules of the school. And, most importantly, I tell them of the value of education. In truth, intellectually they already know the advantages of being well educated. They don’t really need me to stress that college graduates generally have richer, happier lives than high school drop-outs. On a conscious level, they are all aware that their parents have sent them to York to get a fine education. They know the long-term gains of being successful at school. But some seem to be able to translate this knowledge into action more than others.

From what I have observed in our students—and read about, particularly the famous Stanford University “Marshmallow Experiment” of the 60s—I think the key difference between success and lack of success is the particular ability to delay immediate gratification and instead to work towards the long-term prize of success. That means giving up the impulse to avoid study, the impulse to procrastinate, the impulse to be distracted by immediate pleasures, and instead to accept that study now means success later. This self-control seems consistently to lead to success with school work and good relations with members of the school faculty.

None of this appears to be an intellectual process. Every child recognizes and articulates that he or she should study. I have still to meet the child who argues against it. So the success factor is not something that can be determined by asking the student questions. Every student will pass that multi-choice test. The success factor seems to me far deeper than the conscious articulated argument. It is an emotional or sub-conscious understanding that controls the impulse of gratification.

I am thinking of particular students as I write this. Students who struggled and triumphed. Students with learning disabilities who now have doctorates. They all shared that emotional ability to control their impulses. While everyone in their class wanted success, and everyone wanted to enjoy themselves, they were the ones who sacrificed their “enjoyment” time for this future dream. They were able to listen and work even when they were not that interested in the subject. So the question is: Who instilled in them this impulse control? There must have been a real consequence-driven emotional framework built around them. And this understanding of consequences had to be continually re-enforced as they grew to adolescence.

I remember a friend of mine at Oxford. He was a brilliant American physicist and Rhodes Scholar. He had been an All-American football player and top of his college class. His first name was Joe. He told me once that there were three things one could do at high school and college: have a social life, have an athletic life, and have an intellectual life. And he had discovered early on that if he was going to be successful, he could only do well in two of those three things. So although he had close friends, Joe gave up on a great deal of his social life and focused first on academics and secondly on his football. He went on to an incredibly successful career and has a wonderful marriage with a wide range of friends and acquaintances. He had true impulse control as a very young man.

I have known others (I think I include myself here) who say that they were driven by a fear of failure. That is what kept them at their books when the playground tried to lure them away. But fear of failure assumes that sub-consciously you understand that there are consequences for leaving study for play. In other words, these students already had accepted that long-term effort will have a reward in the future. If they did not have that understanding, their fear of failure would not have driven them forward.

Understanding consequences and controlling instant gratification are not difficult qualities to recognize in students. Hence my confidence in commenting that there are students who we are sure will succeed. Others will (happily) surprise us with their success. They will come to their epiphany later. Their valedictory moment will be after high school. Perhaps we will be more influential in their lives than those who come pre-programmed with the insight I have referred to.

It is certainly our task to make it very clear that success is earned through effort and that the rewards are positively life-changing. I try to stress this in my first talk to students when they arrive for orientation. I urge them to be their own best friend for the long run. Some do not need to hear me because they already know, and others will change in their time at York as we stress the realities of consequences. By the time of their graduation, the hope is that they have all understood the message so that they can go out and conquer the world.

Ronald P. Stewart, Headmaster
E-mail: rstewart@yorkprep.org

A special congratulations to 11-1 (Mr. Roper and Mr. Steinberg), the winning fundraising homeroom!

The College Guidance Office initiated a new elective class for seniors in the fall of 2009, College 12. The class was held twice per week and covered the common application form, SAT registration, individual college essays, and supplements. The class was designed to provide a formal fixed time to focus on college acceptance.

The class was led by Ms. Janet Rooney, and at York Prep we celebrate the class as it has accomplished a new record for York Prep: 100% of the seniors sent at least four completed applications out by Thanksgiving. In a class of 62 seniors, there were 45 Early Decision (ED) and Early Action (EA) or Rolling Decision applications, which equals 73% of the class.  20/26 ED were admitted = 77%. 6/26 ED were deferred (we are still working on these!) = 23%.

This elective course has been very successful, and the seniors have been especially grateful for the time and computer space to focus and work. In addition, they always receive instant problem solving by Ms. Rooney, who has been a fantastic instructor.

York Prep’s College Guidance program, designed and directed by Mrs. Jayme Stewart, assists students in finding and gaining acceptance to a college most suited to their needs, abilities, and preferences. To achieve this goal, the College Guidance office holds individual and group meetings with parents and students on a continual basis. Mrs. Stewart is the author of How to Get into the College of Your Choice (William Morrow & Co.)

About York Prep School. A private coeducational and independent college preparatory day school offering a traditional curriculum for grades 6-12 with a challenging yet supportive atmosphere enhanced by the diversity of New York City. York Prep School is one of Manhattan’s top private schools encouraging diversity and academic achievement in a supportive private school environment. More information can be found at www.yorkprep.org.

Here is a sampling of past years’ thesis topics:

·         The Wonderful World of Phi: The Golden Mean in Classic Rock Music

·         Going Home: A Cinematic Exploration of My Family History

·         Sweat for Nets: Service Learning and Its Impact on My Life

·         Through the Looking Glass and Into the Rabbit Hole: A Dizzying Exploration of Being a Buddhist in the Modern World

·         The Unaffecting Daydream: Five Scenes from a Drama

·         Grand Theft Auto III: The Art Behind the Controversy

·         Behind Closed Doors: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

·         The Chic Shack: A Hotel Business Plan

·         Can Dogs Think? An Inquiry Into Animal Learning

The York Prep Scholars Program offers the most motivated and able students a marvelous opportunity to work in small groups to explore exciting topics that are not part of the normal curriculum. Each Scholars Seminar is taught by a faculty member who has a particular passion for his/her subject matter. This year’s graduating Scholars will have participated in a rather remarkable set of classes that has included such representative topics as Art of the Italian Renaissance (a two-part series); Fantasy, Dada, and Surrealism; Performing Shakespeare; An Introduction to Organic Chemistry; Multi-variable Systems of Equations; An Introduction to Neuroscience; Thinking Like Leonardo Da Vinci; and Topics in Philosophy (with Mr. Ronald Stewart, York Prep’s Headmaster).

York Prep remains very proud of its Scholars and continues to take great satisfaction in watching them stretch their academic and creative muscles. In addition to the intrinsic benefits of their enhanced curriculum, participants are also receiving a gratifying degree of recognition in the form of college acceptances. Scholars who have engaged the full three-year sequence are now attending such schools as Barnard College, Brown University, Cornell University, Harvard College, Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Pomona College, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, and Williams College, among others.

This is the second year in which York Prep has expanded the program by offering an enhanced pre-Scholars curriculum to qualified 8^th and 9^th graders. They participate in a two-year pre-Scholars sequence that closely mirrors the established one for the 10^th through 12^th graders.

English teacher Paul Sturm serves as the Director of the program. He follows the progress of all participants closely; troubleshoots any problems they may be having in any of their classes; and provides support, counseling, and encouragement.

January 26, 2010 — York Prep congratulates Science teacher Nicole Grimes! The Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) has selected Ms Grimes’ research paper, “Exploring multiple outcomes: Using co-generative dialogues and co-teaching in a middle school science classroom,” for Award V: Implications of Research for Educational Practice. She received a plaque from ASTE at the 2010 Annual ASTE International Conference in Sacramento on January 16th, 2010, along with a $1,000 check. In addition, the paper will appear in a Springer book entitled Co-teaching in International Contexts, which is the awards issue of the ASTE Newsletter to be published this spring.

“I am beyond shocked yet thrilled at this honor,” said Ms. Grimes. Ms. Grimes looks forward to undertaking her doctoral defense in the very near future.

Ms. Grimes is an asset to York Prep School and her work in the classroom helps York Prep Students develop a competitive advantage in the sciences. Ms. Grimes received the award as part of her ongoing doctoral studies at the Graduate Center, the City University of New York (CUNY) where she is a full-time Ph.D student in the urban education program.

About ASTE. The Association for Science Teacher Education is a non-profit professional organization composed of over 800 members from countries across the globe. The mission of the ASTE is to promote excellence in science teacher education world-wide through scholarship and innovation. About York Prep School. A private coeducational and independent college preparatory day school offering a traditional curriculum for grades 6-12 with a challenging yet supportive atmosphere enhanced by the diversity of New York City. York Prep School is one of Manhattan’s top private schools encouraging diversity and academic achievement in a supportive private school environment. More information can be found at www.yorkprep.org

I thought of writing my usual silly stuff.  I was going to write about the song from the musical Cats called “Memory,” and then, after the first word I would write that I realized I had forgotten the rest of the song. You can sort of guess where that was going.

But, recently, one of my senior students, whose homework it is to criticize these monthly pieces, told me that he had to go back over twelve months to find a piece he really disagreed with. Since the primary reason for these “thoughts” is to write short essays that could be criticized by my students, I realize that his complaint is probably right. I have, in these essays, focused overly on humor, and “underly” (I know, the word does not exist but it fits nicely) on substance. Lately they seem to lack heft.  It is cute to write about Joy of Cooking (November thoughts), but it does not leave much for my students to attack. One of my previous summertime “thoughts” was actually about the right way to make s’mores. Though one can choose to char the marshmallow thoroughly or merely toast it, it is not exactly the kind of thing that is conducive to robust debate. So, out of respect for the correct criticism of my senior student, I will, at least in this piece, attempt to take a stand that is… well, a stand.

I am not a fan of former senator John Edwards. Hypocrite, philanderer, and potential destroyer of his political party (what would have happened if he had become the Democratic Presidential candidate and his affair was made public a week or so before the Presidential election?); it is difficult to be a fan of such a man. But his stump speech about the two Americas was not without merit. It is the old problem that the message is better than the messenger. I was reminded of this on Veterans Day when a reporter from the Christian Science Monitor called me to ask why we did not close our school on this national holiday. I answered that we had a moment of silence while standing, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month (the time all sides agreed fighting would end in the First World War) to honor those who had died for our country, that I hoped our faculty would discuss the meaning of sacrifice in that context, but that taking a day off school would not instill greater feelings of patriotic duty.

As I talked to the reporter, I realized that the present war in Afghanistan and Iraq means comparatively little to our students. Most of them do not know anyone fighting there and have no real connection with the tragedy of the conflict. We, by that I mean our community, are not fighting this war. In fact, it is almost as though we have returned to the Civil War days when you could buy your way out of the draft. The war is being fought, in the main, by our poorest citizens. Our country is indeed being divided into different Americas.

York Prep is a private school.  By definition, that means that attendance is fee-based. Without the sacrifice of some of our less wealthy parents and the opportunities provided by our scholarship program, we would be truly insular. Our students, if they only came from the homes of the wealthy, would have no idea of what it means to go to a public clinic for their health problems, to attend community centers for play opportunities, to buy food in small bodegas, to walk in the shadow of poverty, and to lead the daily life that the majority of our urban poor lead. The fact that we have bridges between these diverse worlds is due to the commitment York Prep made when it was founded in 1969. From day one it was intended to be a school of students from diverse economic backgrounds. Furthermore, we required that our students complete community service to graduate. Jayme used to call it “mandatory voluntary service.” The bridges have always been there, but I know that they are not nearly strong enough. If I found a lamp with a genie, I would ask that our school be free without tuition and still stay the same unique school that we are, offering the same program to students regardless of the means to pay. We have done our best to address this divide with our scholarship program, and we have successfully given underprivileged students the opportunity for future success. And one can dream of what one could do with greater funds. But no one can ignore reality. It is a shame about reality; it never goes away.

So I do not have a solution to the “two Americas” problem. The gap between rich and poor seems to be so wide that I cannot see a way to cultivate a sense of common concerns and values that traditionally describe one cohesive country. Realistically, our urban public schools are (and exceptions, of course, exist) disastrous at the junior high and high school level because of their inability to escape the bureaucratic paralysis that seems endemic to the system. Compounding this tragedy is the level of violence that seems to be tolerated by a frightened cohort of administrators. Therefore, private schools need to be inclusive and welcoming. But anyone who reads The New York Times knows that there are too few private schools for too many applicants, and so, places in them are very limited for the poorer segment of our society.

In our contemporary United States, what used to be the uniting bond of shared military service, at least during the first two World Wars, no longer exists, and even our houses of worship seem to be divided along economic and racial grounds. Where, one can ask, do we all come together? Maybe that togetherness was only there briefly in World War II, and even then the armed forces were segregated. But now that we are in a more genuine democracy, there must be social interaction among citizens. I have no solution. We cannot ban private clubs so that all swim in public pools. We should not ban the choice of parents to choose private schools. And I am not proposing a draft. But at some level, this disconnect, this “gating” of one community from another, damages our country and may lead to potential disaster. I look at the news that is reported and am appalled by the focus on celebrity scandal and trivia, while noting the absence of genuine reporting about the separation of those who lead one life from those who lead a totally different one with no contact between them.

Sooner or later, we will have to resolve all this. In 1969, our idea of a school community that was diverse was a novel one. Now it is the norm and that is for the good. But private schools are not the solution to the problem. There has to be a better way.

So, my seniors, I hope this is meaty enough for you to critique and to suggest solutions that I cannot think of. Platitudes are platitudes because there is too often truth in them. So to say that you are our hope for the future is both platitudinous and true. I hope you attack me with vigor and wisdom. I hope that you reach out and share mutual experiences with that society that you don’t yet know. I pray that we all come together somehow.

Maybe I should have stuck to the piece on memory!

Ronald P. Stewart, Headmaster
E-mail: rstewart@yorkprep.org

I have noticed an increasing trend in our school Open Houses for parents of prospective students. More of them ask me how long I think I will stay doing what I do. I know I look old, but these questions make my wonder if perhaps I look sick as well. One parent flat out asked me how it was that I wasn’t burned out after 41 years. I restrained the response that I am not a candle but have since thought carefully about the matter.

The obvious answer is that I enjoy enormously what I am doing. Let me be honest, there are days when I am emotionally drained, but most jobs have some days like that. On the other hand, there are many days of pure pleasure, mostly from watching the progress of our students, but also sometimes from enjoying the successful partnership with a parent for the benefit of their child, or from mentoring a faculty member. In other words, this job never bores, gives great feelings of personal value (whether true or merely perceived), allows me to work in an office next to my wife’s, and is infinitely more pleasurable than any other job I could imagine and far better than “retiring.”

I really do not feel “burned out” in the least. I feel as passionate about what we do and just as involved as I ever have. Certainly teaching helps. I have frequently said that I cannot imagine stopping teaching. I will be the first to admit that it is a narcissistic activity. You pontificate, and usually they (in my case, the seniors) listen. Then they get their revenge by attacking these pieces, but that is minor compared to the pontificating part. 

Actually, so good is the job that a number of my friends (people, would you believe, as old as I am) have told me that they really want to teach at a school like York Prep. I don’t know why they confide these “my secret wish” stories to me. Either they want to make me feel good, or they see something they want to be part of. I never actually discuss my job with them, certainly not the emotionally difficult part of it, but it is obvious that when they occasionally come to school to see Jayme or me, they are overwhelmed by the energy and attractiveness of our students (who wouldn’t be?). They walk in, and there are gaggles of giggling adolescents (I only put that in because I like the alliterative sound of the phrase). I am watching kids in the gym from the lobby windows; smiling teachers stroll around; there is a hum of energy.

If you didn’t know, you would think that the job is a piece of cake. After all, none of the traumatic scenarios are ever played out in public—those moments when it suddenly is clear that there is abuse in a sad home situation (yes, we have had them), when a child has just lost his way (those, too), or we are trying to counsel a young person who is on the verge of giving up. These don’t happen often and, when they do, the tears are shed in private not in the lobby. How we handle problems is the test of the school, not how we handle the giggling gaggle (I really do like that phrase!). But our friends don’t see that reality.

So, at the end of the year, let me wish you a New Year of joy. Let me hope that you only (like our friends) see the happiness in school, that your child is one of the giggling gaggle, that all will be well, and that sadness never enters your child’s future. I hope that I am around for many years to share that joy, because this candle is not burning out, and, hopefully, there is a lot of wax left.

Ronald P. Stewart, Headmaster
E-mail: rstewart@yorkprep.org

Along the way to winning the overall GISAL Championship, the girls also won the Big Apple Conference with a perfect record. In the combined GISAL tournament, York Prep swept Calhoun in two games and defeated UNIS in one of the best volleyball matches ever played by a York team.

Team captain Julia Dolan led York Prep throughout this winning season. Julia was the best setter in the league and provided exceptional leadership to the squad on and off the court. Veteran Tal Levy had an outstanding season, and her experience helped the younger players develop a strong sense of team play.

Madison Pappas and Marissa Velasquez led York Prep’s offense with unstoppable spiking. Both hitters were relentless and York Prep’s opposition never could withstand their killer hits. Anna Lieberman proved to be a hitting threat from anywhere on the floor but was especially effective at the service line, leading York in service aces. Honour Masters, Taylor Brown, and Rebecca Siegel rounded out the squad’s offense while playing stellar defense.  Willa Baker, Nikki Slesin, and Isabella Arizin all came into games and made big contributions to the team.

Seniors Julia Dolan and Tal Levy have been a big part of the team for the past four years and really will be missed next year, but our younger players like Isabella and the girls from the Junior Varsity team are eager to prove they can keep York’s winning tradition alive.

“The girls became an amazing team and pulled together to play great volleyball,” said Coach Chris Durnford. “They worked very hard this season and earned their success. They are unbelievably dedicated, and I am really proud of everything they have accomplished. The GISAL Championship game against UNIS demonstrated how well they worked together and how truly great a team they are.”

Congratulations to the Girls’ Varsity Volleyball Team, the 2009 GISAL Champions!

Idly, I turned the pages and was immediately impressed by the encyclopedic knowledge of the authors.  I have written before about my general lack of interest in eating, so I ignored the menus; but I did read the historical, philosophical, and scientific information contained within the book, along with fascinating social commentary and jokes. Yes, jokes on Food. (Page 310: In answer to the question “Do you have any truffles?” the shopkeeper replied, “Who doesn’t?”)  If Joy of Cooking were placed in a time capsule, it would give our great, great, great (and repeat the word by any number you can think of) grandchildren  more details about the way we live our lives than most books I have read.

There are a lot of quotes in the book. On page 402, they quote Lao-Tzu, the father of Taoism, as saying: “Ruling a large kingdom is like eating a small fish.”  At that point, I wondered if they were making the quotes up as they went along.  I mean, how is ruling a large kingdom like eating a small fish?  Sure, you eat a small fish carefully, and you should not overdo it, but if that is the philosophical basis of the analogy, then we are in analogy heaven and we can all join in.  I can make up them endlessly. “Courting a woman is like eating cotton candy.” After all, the whole process can get sticky and one has to be careful about the mess.  How about “Voting in an election is like planting vegetables; you never know how they are going to taste.”  Very defensible!  In fact, I am just getting started.  “Fighting for peace is like eating to get slim.” Sounds good to me! “Raising children is like juggling hot potatoes.”  You get the picture.

I found the book to be a virtual Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.  I counted over thirty in the first five minutes I began to look for them. Some of them are—I have to admit—famous, like Voltaire’s remark (page 336) that France was a land of forty-two sauces and one religion, while Britain was a land of one sauce and forty-two religions.   I had heard that one before and today, of course, with British cooking as improved as it is , Voltaire is definitely now wrong.  And I knew (page 422) that Ben Franklin regretted that the Bald Eagle was chosen as America’s national symbol instead of the turkey. But, frankly, most of the quotes were obscure.  Did Balzac really write (page 584) that “even the cook should be rubbed in garlic”?  There are no references made, so I suppose you have to take that one on faith.

I like quotes, but I recognize that they quickly become platitudes because they are repeated so often.  And even Joy of Cooking plays parody word games with famous lines.  On page 502, they paraphrase Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with “what foods these morsels be.”  Clever!  When I was at college, there was a popular small book called The Prophet by the Arab mystic Kahlil Gibran. The chapter headings should indicate the sort of stuff that was in it: “Pain,” “Self-Knowledge,” “Time.” It was full of definitions for “he who walked with the wind.”  Gibran (no humor) obviously did not recognize any possible allusion to flatulence.  One of my friends thought it was a book of deep insight; I thought it was claptrap. I was, therefore, delighted to find a very clever parody of the book called The Profit by Kehlog Albran, which is genuinely funny in its ludicrous platitudes. “Thus they asked the master, ‘Speak to me of paper,’ and he replied, ‘It is very thin!’”  I feel privileged to have a copy.

The English are particularly fond of broad definitions which are absurd when analyzed.  I was taught, in deadly earnest by a deadly earnest history teacher, that the Bishop of Sheffield’s remark, “All governments are like wheelbarrows–useful instruments but they must be pushed,” was a brilliant statement. Again, for me, claptrap!  Or Robert Louis Stevenson: “The first duty of a man is to speak; that is his chief business in the world.”  I could go on for a long (and boring) time.

Americans are less in awe of definitions and quotes, perhaps because they started later at it than the British.  There is a wonderful dark side to American humor, and particularly American cartoonists like Charles Addams. I have a favorite “Far Side” cartoon by Gary Larson which shows a polar bear pointing to an igloo and saying to another polar bear: “I love these; crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.”

Before I finish on Joy of Cooking, I want to defend the book against the criticism thrown in the recent (and, I thought, delightful) film “Julie and Julia,” in which it was suggested that the Rombauers had not tried all their recipes.  Almost certainly true, but understandable given the truly encyclopedic nature of their work. They covered everything.  Page 515: “If possible, trap the possum and feed it on milk and cereals for ten days before killing.” Page 516: “Beaver. Use young animals only.”  Best of all, page 819: “Kill and gut a medium-sized walrus. Net several small migrating birds, and remove one specific small feather from each wing.  Store birds whole in interior of walrus. Sew up walrus. Two years or so later… partially thaw walrus. Slice and serve.” I want to see Julia do that one!

I suppose the moral of all this is that reading can be surprising.  It was just breakfast alone and I idly picked up the nearest cooking book, never expecting to be so engaged and amused. One just has to be willing to open that first page.  Furthermore, I never dreamt Joy of Cooking would be the subject of my “Headmaster’s Thoughts” for the month of November, the month of Thanksgiving.  I think, bearing in mind I have poor taste in food, we should serve armadillo at our family Thanksgiving dinner. I never knew (page 516) that “under its shell this small scaly creature has a light meat, pork-like in flavor.” One lives and learns!

Ronald P. Stewart, Headmaster
E-mail: rstewart@yorkprep.org