Choosing Schools

Scooter visited Blake's Kindergarden this week, as part of the admissions process. This is the same school I went to from 8th grade on, and the experience was a little surreal.

Three of my high school classmates (out of about 100) are now working there, two as elementary-level teachers, and one as the assistant head of the middle school.

In addition, many of my teachers are still there.

This is sounding a lot like one of those "English Boys School" novels, where Little Tommy is the eighth generation of Windmyre-Smythes to go to the same school, and everyone still remembers Tommy's dad and grandad as boys, and there's a portrait of Tommy's great-great grandad in the Great Hall from when Richard Windmyre-Symthe III was captain of the rugby team (as an aside: the "Harry Potter" novels are a direct descendant of this genre).

Even though I was the first in our family to go to Blake, my younger brother and sister both followed me. In part, this is what drove my sister's college selection process: she wanted to go "anywhere they've never heard of our family." I guess my brother and I made an impression.

Here's the kicker: as I was leaving, someone I knew from my investment banking days ran up and said hi. He ran the corporate finance department at the firm I was with for a brief period of time, and quit about the same time I did.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked, "Didn't both of your kids graduate already?"

"I'm teaching 4th grade now," he told me.