What Matters Most Now

The news, once again, is dreadful.  Bloomberg leads this morning with the headline that, "U.S. Stocks Tumble on Global Growth Concerns," and the market is down 4% at mid-day.  The Bloomberg article was accompanied by pictures of stressed-looking brokers and floor workers at the NYSE.  Al Jazeera and Haaretz both flash word of terrorist strikes in Southern Israel along the Egyptian border, plus new Israeli air strikes into Gaza.  Articles from both sources were accompanied by images of death and injury.  The news from Europe is little better, between the Cameron government's get-tough approach to the U.K. riots and the ongoing disintegration of the Eurozone.

Even as these stories flash across screens everywhere--except where censored, and, for the moment, North Korea seems thankfully off the front page--universities and independent and international schools in the Northern Hemisphere are preparing for a new academic year.  With so much uncertain in so many places, it would be hard to overstate the importance of the business of school going on.  Others have noted the significance of school as a stable anchor, a safe harbor even, in the life of students and families amid crisis.  This stability matters, maybe more than ever.