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4.5
Laurie Lisle's portrayal of the ethos of Westover School is enlightening, sometimes heart-breaking and always interesting both intellectually and emotionally. It captures the emergent, heroic women of the early years. It also celebrates the potential of women then and later -- a potential so needed for the improvement of the American experience. Naturally, the book is especially meaningful for me as I attended Westover for two years graduating in 1967. But, beyond prompted personal recollections of my time at the school, there exists much fodder for thought as the book illustrates broader themes: women's education, education in general and, perhaps most important, the book's profound depiction of women's places in society -- then and now. What follows, for the most part, was gleaned from my reading of Westover: Giving Girls a Place of Their Own.In most instances, Westover has been run by strong women of prescient natures (as to women's places in American culture). During the turbulent years (1970s), one man, believing in the essential premise of the school, somehow -- with the help of others -- managed to keep the enterprise afloat. (And it was a near thing, too.) Westover exists today as one of a few schools that promote intellectual and "whole-person" development within the context of providing girls a place of their own during crucial adolescent years.Presently, Westover offers the broad and sophisticated exposure of various sciences and math as well as humanities offerings and the arts. As women's places in society have changed, so has Westover evolved. Under the leadership of a particularly able head, Westover found its soul. Old traditions live on amidst a much more diverse student body. Above all, its students are encouraged to realize their own worth and to find their purpose. The old school motto: To Think, To Do, To Be -- imparts a profound meaning now -- a meaning that lives up to the dreams of the school's founder (Mary Robbins Hillard) and her architect colleague (Theodate Pope Riddle). Those women would be so heartened! Westover girls are encouraged to think (their own thoughts), to do (for the greater good), to be (whole and ever-developing women).For me, the architecture of the school and the memories of my time with Joachim Schumacher in an "Italian Art" class live on. And I realize that such beauty fed my soul in a way that would prove both encouraging and practical. I taught high school English in inner city schools, but I brought a bit of Westover with me. I revere Westover's motto and my more profound understanding of its meaning today -- this in large part due to Laurie Lisle's history of Westover. Though Lisle's book considers one, small private school, the reader is prompted to think of the far-reaching ramifications of beauty, the power of women's voices and the notion of possibility for all.
