California Boarding School Culture/Honor Code/Motto

CateCAParent
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 02:00:54 +0000

All boarding schools are concerned about image and messaging, for obvious reasons. Thacher seems like a well-oiled, savvy marketing machine. Whether a consumer (ahem parent) sees the marketing as a plus or a minus is a personal values thing.

With all the talk of trustees, I looked at Cate’s trustee page v Thacher’s. Cate has bios for its trustees, Thacher doesn’t. Cate is all alums and parents. Can’t tell with Thacher’s page. Maybe that is normal for boarding schools, but that doesn’t seem to toe the Thacher transparency line.

Thacher probably had nothing to do with Hodge/Singer. But trying to wipe clean the internet of any connection is not transparency, either. I like how Choate handled its controversy: A public letter on the website, along with an action plan and updates. That’s class. Every school has controversy. It is how the school handles it that sets them apart. If/when Cate has a controversy, I hope it handles it more like Choate.

Even though I find their marketing off putting (eg multiple highly produced videos, and a home page that screams out its yield, for starters), I don’t want to come across as Thacher bashing. It is a great place for the right kids.