APEX - Fall Catalog

Building a Strong Student Culture uses the classical virtues as a paradigm for cultivating a healthy student body in partnership with teachers. The objective of this course is to develop your ability to integrate a consideration of virtue and an orientation toward virtue into the practical, day-to-day decision-making processes of a school teacher.

This course takes participants through specific “on the ground” challenges encountered by real headmasters as they make decisions in their first year as leaders of a young school. At the same time, it is designed to encourage future school leaders to think about the meaning of education in a specific community. Ultimately, the course seeks to inculcate the vision of a school as a learning community dedicated to excellence in a way that embraces the larger communities of parents and neighborhoods.

As Jim Collins famously said in his best-selling leadership book, Good to Great, “It is better to first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then figure out where to drive.” Extraordinary organizations are built by leaders capable of aligning their teams around a common vision, pursued by a diverse team of competent, committed members – and hiring is crucial to that end.