With Love and Prayers: A Headmaster Speaks to the Next Generation

by F. Washington Jarvis

Book Overview

A book of uncommon common sense for young people by someone who has worked with them for thirty-five years. F. Washington Jarvis is one of the nation's most eminent educators, now in his twenty-eight... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567921434
• ISBN13: 9781567921434
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.7" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Fabulous resource for anyone working with youth.

F. Washington Jarvis' addresses to the boys of Roxbury Latin School (collected here)are filled with important messages for our youth today. FINALLY, someone is here to tell our kids that, contrary to what our American society keeps telling them (that they are wonderful beyond all wonders), they will have to work to earn praise, they will sometimes be disappointed, and life sometimes feels completely overwhelming. He delivers these messages with extremely helpful, practical advice, and always with deep love grounded in a mature spirituality. A marvel of a book. I cannot recommend it highly enough - to parents as well as youth workers.

a memorable read

I don't know Jarvis personally, but these essays are tremendously inspirational especially when you consider that they make up some 25 years worth of talks to the Roxbury Latin students. It's refreshing to hear an educator who freely told students that RL was NOT a college prep school but rather a preparation for leading a moral life. His collection of talks combines anecdotes and encounters from many years and ties them together into talks that you just WISH you could read out loud to every student in the country: that you really never get away with anything, that college admissions is not the be all and end all to every academic quest, that we should go out of our way to help others and make an impact on them. This was a fantastic collection -- I ended up dog earing dozens of pages and reading them outloud to anyone who would listen. Do yourself a favor and read it pronto. They don't make them like Jarvis anymore.

The Big Picture in Perspective

Mr. Jarvis is like a modern, entertaining T.S. Eliot. His social criticisms are sharp and opinionated, his expectations firm and unwavering, his hope unlimited. Jarvis adapts tidbits of his own life (embellished perhaps, yet always poignant and usually fun) into his broader discussions of social ennui and relaxing values--and how to avoid them. At his most severe he is a bit too preachy, but overall his vignettes are not only touching, but adaptable to most any life. At the core of his ideology is the belief that there is more to human life than the self; people of all faiths and backgrounds can thus empathize with his demanding opinions about growing up (and living) in our time. Well, in any time. 'Life you may evade', said Eliot, 'but death you shall not'. Jarvis urges us to make the most of our brief time in this life, and look with hope and humility towards the next.

Help for everyone

I picked this book up in the Harvard bookstore when I was visiting Boston last summer. I thought it would be a good birthday gift for my son-in-law.After I got it home I sampled it and got hooked. I bought a copy for myself and for my son too. I wish it had been available 7 years ago when I was trying to help my girls pick colleges and goals. Dr.Jarvis has a way of making some very complicated things very clear. I would recommed this book for anyone who is helping young people but I think it would be especially helpful for widows with teenagers. It gives some very clear advice about what is important in life, what some of the lies of our culture are, and encouragement to reach beyond our narrow lives and embrace new things.

Music to my Ears

As a former student of Roxbury Latin and attendee of our infamous "halls", I enjoyed returning to my roots to read over many of the wonderful speeches that I heard so many years ago. I would recommend this book to people of all ages- if not for the lessons and values expressed in Tony's words, then for the often humorous and entertaining anecdotes told along the way.