Your/My Challenge: School as a _____

                Recently I read Peter Gow’s What is a School? A Philosophical and Practical Guide for Independent School Leaders, Trustees, and Friends. Peter is very well known in independent school circles, for both his prolific work and his sharp thinking. (I learned of the book when I discovered Peter’s wonderful blog: Not Your Father’s School.)

                The book presents a “series of meditations,” each of which considers the qualities of a successful school by considering school as a ___. Some of his topics include: a name, a utopia, a laboratory of human experience. I won’t list them all because I hope Peter sells more books; and I don’t want to limit you as, hopefully, you take my challenge here.

                Please add a comment and fill in the blank for me. Be as literal or as creative and funky as you desire. But just give me the word or phrase—nothing more than that. Then I’ll choose the most intriguing one and expand on the idea. I’ve challenged you. Now make it challenging for me.