“Just” a School

Mission statements and brands both rely on aspirational language. We have a responsibility to inspire our audiences, and aspirational language is a healthy way to achieve that. A mission statement like "To educate students," or a brand message like "Quality education," is unlikely to win many ardent supporters.

So, we reach for loftier language. But we can take our enthusiasm too far because, as is always the case when communicating in schools, the lived experience prevails. Our institutional language is valuable only when it is a clear reflection of what is plainly evident in our schools.

Most of the time, what is plainly evident is the distinctly non-linear and untidy nature of educating young people. To quote a former colleague describing his high school English class, "At this age, these kids are hormones in containers of flesh." (That’s been lodged in my brain for 15 years and now it’s lodged in yours!)

When our language gets too far ahead of that reality, the gap we create between what our audiences hear and what they experience is hard to repair. 

Overly aspirational language may be hurting our brands more than it's helping them. You may notice that AI has brought a plague of language like, "This is not just a school, it's a genuinely purposeful learning ecosystem," or something similar.

Have you noticed how many brands start by telling us they are "more than just" what they are? When I lived in Connecticut, our nearest grocery store would play promotional audio over the speakers proclaiming that it was "more than just a grocery store."

It, of course, was not more than just a grocery store. 

Neither are our schools more than schools. To be "just a school," though, is to be a place where hormones in containers of flesh, also known as high school students, can become more literate under the tutelage of a teacher who knows and appreciates the many wonders of adolescence. That’s pretty amazing on its own, and does not require much hyperbole.