“Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world…
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are—
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
Ulysses, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
True North’s unique culture encourages students to pursue good things for their own sake and to seek honors only when those honors are worth pursuing. We believe that real education is good for its own sake and that the things that students are learning and doing have immense worth regardless of the path they choose after graduation. Our hope is that our students will learn that happiness is most attainable for those who pursue virtue.
Students at True North receive a moral and intellectual education and are expected to behave in accordance with the school’s core virtues such as courage, moderation, justice, friendship, responsibility, prudence, and wisdom. Each of these is featured in our virtue of the month program, accompanied by an explanatory statement and stories that are intended to help students understand the virtue and the ways in which its associated vices can take root in our characters. We talk about virtue in the same way to students in all grades because virtue is for all human beings, regardless of age.
Guiding Questions for the Life of True North
- Is it beautiful?
- Are we doing this because it is inherently good, or as a means to an end? If the latter, what end?
- Does it encourage the student to think of education itself as a high and noble enterprise, or does it cheapen education?
- Is it excellent? Does it demand the best students and teachers have to offer, and hold them to the highest standard they are capable of achieving? Or does it give in to the gravitational pull of mediocrity? Is excellence the highest standard, or is excellence subordinate to lower standards such as convenience, popularity, or consumer appeal?
- Does it encourage reverence for the mystery of the human person and respect for the student’s own human dignity?
- Does it encourage him or her to desire truth, to understand such virtues as courage, modesty, prudence, and moderation and to cultivate these within him or herself?
- Does it encourage real searching and thinking? Does it provoke the student to ask “why?” Does it stir up a desire for understanding?
- Does it encourage conversation between and across generations or does it hinder it?
- Does it help to develop to the fullest extent what is uniquely human in the student: the powers of thinking, deliberating, questioning, calculating, remembering, and loving?
- Does it encourage the student to become patient, to take their time, and if necessary, to start over in order to achieve excellence, or does it subordinate excellence to speed, ease, and efficiency?
- Does it encourage the student to value rigor and discipline?
- Does it deepen the role of the family in the life of the school and the role of education in the life of the family, or does it erect a barrier between family and school?
