Healthcare and education are often compared. Services provided to patients by physicians and other medical personnel working in hospitals managed by administrators are analogous to services provided to students by teachers and other instructional personnel working in schools managed by – well, schools are managed by administrators, too. (Guilty as charged.)
Similarities between healthcare and education are not only organizational, of course, but economic as well, and the rising costs of both of these essential services are a constant focus in American life. As I shared with students several years ago at my former school, the combined costs of healthcare and higher education in inflation-adjusted dollars almost doubled between 1971 and 2013. Frustration with the rise of these costs relative to wages, and commensurate elevated expectations on the part of those paying them, have challenged the work of the men and women who provide “front line” care in both contexts.
I found myself in conversation earlier this week with two people who advise healthcare organizations on their missions, and one of them said to me, “Hospitals can fixate on patient satisfaction and outcomes, but support of patients is impossible without support of doctors and nurses. Isn’t support of students also impossible without support of teachers?”
As parent conferences conclude today, what better time than now to celebrate with you the work of our extraordinary faculty at MICDS? I have thought frequently during this first year of my tenure at the School about the care and keeping of the people in whose hands the care and keeping of your children is directly entrusted every day. I commit to them and to you that I will be thinking about their well-being even more going forward.
The support of students is impossible without the support of teachers. I hope that you will join me in finding ways to express gratitude to our faculty in the days and weeks ahead. We are extraordinarily fortunate for their hard work and dedication on behalf of our students.
Always reason, always compassion, always courage. Best wishes to you and your families for a wonderful weekend.
Jay Rainey
Head of School