“In our recent exercise to illustrate our Portrait of a Graduate, we established that a Trinity-Pawling graduate will be an ‘ethical citizen of the School and the world. He will exhibit a strong moral compass and demonstrate respectful, empathetic, compassionate, and mindful behavior regarding actions and intentions with oneself and others.’ Moreover, ‘a Trinity-Pawling graduate will be a self-aware young man. He will act with a mature approach to situations.’
Of course, our Portrait of a Graduate is an aspirational exercise. It summarizes what we intend to achieve as educators in this distinctive learning environment. In a very real sense, these are goals of our ‘hidden’ curriculum, the curriculum that exists behind the academic curriculum. Our primary curriculum outlines what our students learn. Our hidden curriculum focuses our attention on how our students will learn and grow as respectful, honorable, young men.
It is our hidden curriculum that reveals the core of Trinity-Pawlings culture. It is the reason why we do the things that we do. Our hidden curriculum calls us to gather at the Chapel and at meals, to reinforce the fabric of our community by focusing on relationships, respect, and honor. Our hidden curriculum calls us to focus on sportsmanship, as well as sports. Our hidden curriculum calls us to see our students in various stages of ‘becoming’—each of them possessing their own distinctive gifts and talents. Our hidden curriculum calls us to be mentors to students and to one another.
Unlike our academic curriculum, which is outlined on paper, our hidden curriculum exists in the ethos of the School’s culture. As we embark on this new year, this community will be focusing on the core of this School as we nurture its culture.”
– Headmaster Bill Taylor
Listen to Headmaster Bill Taylor’s Opening Day chapel address to the students here.