Free Market Institute Blog

I'm Dutch. I’m actually neither ashamed of nor proud of that (I seldom say “If you’re not Dutch, you’re not much”); but I did grow up in Western Michigan in a Dutch, Calvinist subculture, full of Dutch family names with like DeKookoek, Van Weerdhuis, and Veenstra; even “Rottman” is Dutch (or German; is there really a difference?) And my mom’s maiden name is Vandermey.

If you’re a bit bored and you have a hankering to discover what people really value, you can always check out the most popular English-language YouTuber on the planet: a Swedish man who goes by the name PewDiePie, who has 110 million subscribers.

That’s 110,000,000. And I’m pretty certain PewDiePie is not his birth name.

Apparently there are over one hundred million souls who find his videos on sampling Japanese snacks or being scared by bugs entertaining, mesmerizing, and perhaps educating.  

And what does this have to do with our students’ education?

I was honored to know a great Brookfield Academy parent, volunteer, and friend who is no longer with us: Jim Trainor. In talking about why he and his wife Joan made sacrifices to send their three children to BA, he said more than once, “You only have one shot.” 

I’ve never forgotten that, and I’ve quoted him many times to parents considering independent school education. Like Jim, I reference breakfast pancakes; if your pancakes are like mine, pancake #1 isn’t nearly as uniformly round and evenly browned as pancakes #2, #3, and #4, and might end up in the trash can or dog’s dish. Practice makes perfect.