David O'Halloran, Headmaster - Saint David's School, New York City

  To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals, that is what keeps a man patient when the world ignores him and calm and unspoiled when the world praises him. “These words encapsulate the essence of moral introspection and can be a key to the transition from boyhood to manhood," said Rohan Bhatia '16 at the beginning of the Alumni Chapel talk he delivered on Friday, December 13 to this year's seventh and eighth graders. The quote he referenced was from my opening letter for the 2015-2016 school year when "Deliberate Moral Introspection" was our school-wide theme. Rohan was in the eighth grade at the time. During his Chapel, he used it as a foundation when speaking to our boys about harnessing moral introspection to build a life of character and purpose. Rohan's talk featured so many valuable messages around this theme. Excerpted, below, are some of his words of wisdom: "The goal of successful deliberate moral in...

The Teaching Boys Initiative (TBI) is a cornerstone of Saint David’s School’s strategic vision, aimed at developing a robust framework of evidence-based best practices in boys’ education. The initiative’s primary goal is to empower educators with the knowledge, skills, habits, and dispositions of reflective practitioners, enhancing their professional growth and the overall quality of teaching and learning for boys.  In TBI's new quarterly blog series, "The Wisdom Within," our faculty share stories that inform, inspire, and encourage reflective practice using evidence-based approaches in teaching and learning for boys.  The following inaugural entry, "A Matter of Trust," was written by reflective practitioner and Master Teacher Tom Ryan, who has been inspiring generations of Saint David's boys for more than 53 years. A MATTER OF TRUST …but, I digress. I cannot possibly begin any writing piece, and/or class, without some digression that, as I have said to my s...