A Public Manifesto: Why Searching For The “Best” School Doesn’t Center The Child.
I remember that feeling back when we were pregnant with our first child. We read the books, dreamed about how healthy and vibrant her world would be. We were prepared. We were excited. We would center her and our decisions around her. We “knew” we would live in the neighborhood with the best schools or we would send her to the best private school. We wanted to provide her opportunities we never had. We wanted the world for her.
We still do. And even looking back at those dreams, I understand what we were thinking and the emotions behind them. And yet somewhere, our decision process became murky. Our focus changed without even realizing it.
What makes a school the “best school” anyway? Is it what the other parents are saying while our toddlers play on the playground? Is it the school everyone talks about? Is the key in the rankings? The prestige? Heck, how can you go wrong with a school when the actual president of the United States chose it? That must be the best school. Right?
These decisions get more difficult by the day. Our access to information is literally at our fingertips telling us what is the best school, the best way, the best approach, and the best steps to take to give your child the world. If that is the case, why is it even harder now, more confusing and why do we feel so much anxiety around the school decisions for our children?
Because in all of the noise, we have lost our focus, when it should be solely on the child, it has moved to the schools. The algorithms of our culture tell us that rankings and prestige are what will make our child’s life easier. So we hire consultants to help us get into that best school, tell us how to write the best essays, use connections in those schools to get us in, hire tutors to help improve the test scores, make the schools see that this child is the best student. But where is the child in all of this?
How do we re-center the child? How do we do what we can to ensure the child thrives in school? We focus on the best fit over the best school. We understand who the child is socially, academically, and developmentally and we strive to match them with the school that will optimize for their possibilities.
We look for a school that will pull out their strengths, challenge and support them in ways that work for that child. A school that will help them thrive while they are at school. Where they will be excited to enter each morning knowing they get to be who they are fully!
Rather than focusing on a best ranked school, School First consultants focus on the best fit for each child. Just as we hoped for when they were born, they are once again and as they should be, the center of our decision making! We want to empower families to choose differently. Choose School First.
About Wendy Wilkinson
Wendy has more than 30 years of experience in school admissions and enrollment. She’s helped families find the right educational fit across public, private, parochial, therapeutic, day and boarding schools. Guided by a master's degree in education counseling and a child-first philosophy, she believes every child deserves a school where they can thrive and succeed.
Having served families and schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, DC, and internationally, she specializes in guiding families through school searches, admissions, and major transitions, including relocations and expatriate moves back to the United States.