Humility -- The Elusive Quality

This week, I was reading in the New York Times about an exclusive school in New York City called "Avenues: The World School." I didn't get too excited about the prospect of sending my granddaughter who lives nearby to the school -- grade school tuition is $43,000.

As for the curriculum: Mandarin or Spanish language immersion begins in nursery school. Every kindergarten child gets an iPad. And soon students will be able to do a semester in San Paulo, Bejing, or any of the other 20 campuses the school plans to start around the world.

Last September, the school opened with over 700 students from pre-K to 9th grade. High school will soon be offered. At $43K a year, there is a 9-1 student to teacher ratio and a 10 person staff "success" team oversees each student's development.

The news article contained a story that was very revealing. One of the school's parents was a man who had started a his own technology company while still in college. He hired the smartest and most motivated engineers to start his company. They soon found they had to fire two-thirds of them. He went back and tried to figure out what had happened. What was the problem? The weakness was that arrogance reigned in the company when humility was what was needed. [You can read the entire article HERE.]

There is more to this, however. Recently, a number of admissions officers from prestigious east coast colleges were queried as to what high school applicants were missing in their applications. It was, in a word, humility!

Perhaps, in a pathologically competitive, information-saturated city like New York, this is the answer for wealthy anxiety-prone parents. But is it the answer? And what is "success?" Is it economic, relational, or  spiritual success we seek for our children?

One couple gushed over their son's school curriculum, "He'll be so marketable coming out of college with [Mandarin] fluency. There's enough competition domestically!" 
Given this affluence and these expectations, how does an elite school like the Americas teach humility and have it stick? Of course, this is not a new struggle for those of us who see our own spiritual life and the spiritual life of our children in conflict with the gods of profit and social standing -- of being more than just "marketable."

Nevertheless, we should think about this matter of humility and why it is important (something all the leaders of our world's enduring religions taught).

I leave you with a quote from C.S. Lewis whom many of you may know from his popular books Mere Christianity and Chronicles of Narnia:

“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud [person] is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.”

Humility  

Being modest, not pretentious, not believing you are superior to others; an attitude of "egolessness," and respect for others.

How do we practice humility and inspire it in those with whom we are in relationship? That is one of the most powerful of spiritual questions!