Last Sunday’s New York Times included the article “About His Deposit,” in which parents debated whether private schools were “worth it.” Some families in America are questioning the value of tuition dollars, and so they should, in the same way that they reconsider their spending in other areas.
Parents should examine the management, strategies and assets of their schools, and ask good questions. In Canada, independent schools have anticipated parents’ concerns, and are proactively communicating information, and opening their doors to any and all questions.
What do parents with kids in independent school know that parents considering the investment are discovering? That their tuition dollars are well spent.
I have been across the country, in over 60 CESI independent schools, and I can testify that these schools’ programs are innovative, and that students are engaged. Right now, for example, students across Canada are packing their bags in preparation for March breaks that will be spent helping others in faraway corners of the globe.
Sunday’s Globe and Mail Report on Business includes an article about students at St. John’s-Kilmarnock School, in Breslau, Ontario, who have raised $25,000 to hire a teacher, and pay for a classroom that they will help build in Nepal. The majority of independent schools have similar international programs that challenge students to think and act globally.
Last week, Warren Buffet, the world’s most successful investor, counseled calm and optimism to the readers of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 2008 newsletter (pdf). Parents should follow his example as they think long term about their independent schools. These schools are wise short term, and long term investments. They provide a clear advantage to students, and enrich the societies around them, as they develop 21st century learners and citizens.
About 
I just recently read a book, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time, written by Greg Mortenson David Oliver Relin.
As described on the book website, “Mountain climber Greg Mortenson, and journalist David Oliver Relin, recount the journey that led Mortenson from a failed 1993 attempt to climb Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain, to successfully establish schools in some of the most remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. By replacing guns with pencils, rhetoric with reading, Mortenson combines his unique background with his intimate knowledge of the third-world to promote peace with books, not bombs, and successfully bring education and hope to remote communities in central Asia. Three Cups of Tea is at once an unforgettable adventure and the inspiring true story of how one man really is changing the world—one school at a time.”
We’re very privileged in Canada to have strong public and private education systems. It is wonderful to know that our schools, and more importantly, young students are educated about those outside our own country, bettering themselves and those they’re helping.