DIGNITY AS A CORE VALUE
Continued from page 15
To be sure, a community-wide effort to foreground dignity is an ongoing Browning project and without constant tending, like any value, it risks becoming lost in the deluge of more immediate concerns in a busy school. Our adults have a dignity goal that they set for themselves every year— an equitable practice of their own choosing to implement or further refine— that helps our community become more inclusive even( or especially) when such actions can appear to be under threat. Our students have a variety of venues to access lessons about dignity— from advisory, to English class, to the sports field. As we learn and grow together, we will sometimes fall short but the point is not merely in the succeeding but in the focus; in this fragmented world the Browning community has chosen to put a thumb on the scale for a basic human need— the desire to be recognized as a being
“ Our adults have a dignity goal that they set for themselves every year— an equitable practice of their own choosing to implement or further refine— that helps our community become more inclusive...”
with worth that is independent of productivity, reputation, or station in life. •
Works Cited
Hicks, Donna. Leading with Dignity: How to Create a Culture That Brings Out the Best in People. Yale University Press, 2019.
Jan Abernathy is the Chief Communications Officer at The Browning School in New York City, and president of NYC Independent Schools Communications Professionals. She is also a member of the board of trustees of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education( CASE), as well as Grace Church School in New York.
Page 16 Winter 2025 CSEE Connections