Landscape Learning

I studied several schools in England, but the one I remember best was a primary school in a low-income neighborhood in the Oxford countryside.

The school was a low-slung yellow brick building, indistinguishable from many nondescript American schools. But the grounds were magnificent. Entering through the schoolyard gate, I followed a path that wound around a rose garden and past a courtyard surrounded by shade trees and ivy-covered rock walls.

Over tea, the headmistress explained that she’d recruited a local garden club, a stonemason, and a woodworker to help landscape the school grounds. “I believe children benefit from beauty,” she said, “and I believe we should strive to create indoor and outdoor settings where children live well and learn well.”