Sunday, December 20, 2015

TOMMIE SAYLOR: Creating productive adults is like making steel


“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.  Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

By Tommie Saylor
Kennedy High School Principal

Iron ore is wrenched from the ground and heated to incredible temperatures to separate the iron from the rest of the minerals, forming ingots of raw iron.  But, these ingots are unfinished. As such, have very little purpose or use. 

To make these ingots functional they must be heated again and hammered and hammered and hammered again to drive out the impurities.  If done properly, by mixing the proper amount of other metals, this raw iron becomes an alloy whose strength is legendary. An entire world can be built upon an alloy known as steel. 

Often educators are asked, “How can we be so hard on kids?” The answer: We are making steel! 

Being hard on students is not easy. We agonize over such decisions, often keeping us up late at nigh. It is not within our nature to be hard on students. But, we understand that life is hard, and if we are to prepare students for the hardships of life, we need to push them to strengthen their character and prepare them for the uncertainties of life. 

As educators, our success is not measured by standardized test scores, nor by graduation rates, but by the number of our students who find achievement in life.

How and where will you lead them. Making Kennedy the school of choice. Excellence by design.

No comments:

Post a Comment