Keys to Success

Staff, students, and parents at OSS will work together to help each student reach his or her full potential in academic achievement and moral maturity. Toward this end, staff will make every effort to keep students focused on the following character virtues, our Keys to Success in school, the workplace, and society at large.

Responsibility: to fulfill one's obligations in a timely manner

To do one's part thoughtfully and promptly as a member of a family, school, and community is a character virtue worth cultivating. Teach students to fulfill obligations and duties even when it is difficult to do so. Responsibility entails order-putting things back where they belong-and stewardship-taking care of personal property and common spaces. It also includes doing one's work, including homework, neatly, completely, and in a timely fashion. Responsibility for common spaces means that vandalism, graffiti, or littering will not be tolerated at school.

Personal accountability is central to responsibility. In The Book of Virtues, William Bennett notes that "responsible persons are mature people who have taken charge of themselves and their conduct, who own their actions and own up to them-who answer for them."

In teaching responsibility, faculty and staff at OSS will emphasize the importance of punctuality and personal accountability. By holding students accountable, staff will underscore a powerful twofold lesson: students' claims and actions matter, and their words and deeds-whether intentional or unintentional have consequences.

Determination: to develop a "stick-to-it-ness"

"Slow and steady wins the race" is the moral of Aesop's fable of the tortoise and the hare. Of course, like other virtues, Determination must be linked with worthy goals. Someone who persists in a pointless endeavor-or even worse a misguided or harmful one-achieves little, but knowing what should be done, without having the Determination to accomplish it, will similarly result in failure. Thus developing the habit of Determination is an important goal and one that is not always easy for students as well as for many adults.

Laziness or distractions sometimes get the better of all of us, and for young people, the allure of television, video games, and popular music is especially strong. Such distractions too often consume valuable time that might otherwise be devoted to schoolwork. Determination helps students resist inappropriate diversions and stick to worthwhile tasks.

The faculty and staff at OSS will guide students in practicing Determination on worthwhile tasks-most prominently schoolwork and learning proper behavior. Students will be taught to start tasks promptly and enthusiastically and to finish them with attention to detail and pride in the final product. Hard work and constancy will be emphasized, and special attention will be paid to the gradual improvements.

Trustworthiness: to be sincere in character, words, and deeds

To live by the trustworthiness-to be sincere in character-means to seek objective understanding, to recognize falsehood, to learn from mistakes, and to seek wisdom. At OSS, students will learn to lead lives of integrity by telling and seeking the truth. Students will be encouraged to practice honesty-sincerity in words and deeds-by saying what they mean, meaning what they say, keeping their promises to others, and setting realistic goals for themselves. Honesty also includes never manipulating others for personal benefit. Intellectual honesty will be fostered by teaching thoughtful reflection-the ability to think logically, consider reliable evidence, and make informed judgments rather than hasty conclusions based on opinion, impulse, or prejudice. Cheating and lying will not be tolerated at Our Savior's School.

Citizenship: to fulfill one's responsibilities to country and community, including to respect and honor the laws

Citizenship at OSS will help to develop School spirit and promote responsibility to the community. Citizenship also includes patriotism-loyalty to our country and its democratic principles-an ideal essential to the flourishing of our society. Students will be encouraged to demonstrate patriotism by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with respect, recognizing national heroes and their contributions, understanding our political institutions and current affairs, and developing a deep appreciation for our civic and cultural traditions.

Ambition: to set goals for yourself and take risks

At OSS, students will learn that setting goals and central to the Keys to Success. Teacher swill encourage students to set goals and believe in themselves that they can achieve. Students will be encouraged to overcome their fears of success and not give up on themselves. Careful distinctions will be drawn between rational and irrational fears to help students overcome the latter and deal with the former.

Respect for self: to manage one's time and energies wisely

Students at OSS will learn that there is a time for work and a time for play, and that they may not always get what they want in the time or place that they want it. Faculty and staff will cultivate patience as part of the development of self respect, which is important both as a virtue in itself and as a virtue that helps us in carrying out other virtues. For example, sometimes it takes respect for self to demonstrate perseverance. The individual who possesses self respect has developed the ability to manage his or her temper, appetites and urges, habits of work, and habits that show consideration of others. Students will be taught that being self-indulgent or demonstrating a lack of self-control can have negative consequences for themselves and others.

Fairness: to use the concept of equality in making sound decisions

At OSS, students will learn to "play by the rules," not for the rules' sake alone but because to do so is fair and just. Prior to beginning a game or activity, for example, students may ensure fairness by establishing an agreement among all participants concerning the rules. Students will be taught to value what is just and to discern what is not.

Caring: to perform acts of kindness and share with others

All students at OSS will learn caring is central to the Keys of Success. Students will be helpful around the home, school and in the community, as well as to think of other's needs and feelings before their own.

Respect for others: to select and to be true friends

Faculty and staff at OSS will help students distinguish between three types of relationships often described as friendships: friendships based on pleasure (i.e. "fun") friendships based on usefulness (for example, in business); and friendships based on virtue (e.g., those which-in addition to being fun and perhaps useful-are also built on shared goals, with the individuals committed to each other's welfare). A true friend is defined as someone who will always try, for your sake, to do what he or she believes is good for you.

Students will be encouraged to develop true friendships, the most rewarding type, with those who share sound values and live by them. They will learn that the characteristics of respect for others include loyalty and dependability, and that true friends demonstrate other virtues such as a good sense of humor, intellectual curiosity, and kindness. Students will be taught that deception, manipulation, and insensitivity are not signs of a respect for others.

For students in grades K3-2nd, OSS character virtues are simplified and the rules are as follows: Be kind. Be responsible. Tell the truth. Show respect for yourself and others.

3111 Forestville Road

Forestville, Maryland 20747

Office 301-420-5076 Fax 301-420-4153

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