And because elementary-age children don't easily tolerate differences within the group, the lone child who doesn't assimilate in the new group could be in for some rough times. Another balm for parental nerves about boundary changes is the attention that will be paid to assimilation at the brand new school. Any good new faculty will respond purposefully to the power of the peer group. Parents must insist on assimilation as a stated goal of the new school. The faculty must work hard to blend this new group into a unified whole.
Activities have to be undertaken for the express purpose of bringing everyone into the fold.
At established schools, just like in any long-lived group, folks in charge can forget what it's like to be new there. Assimilation becomes an effort the new kid has to make on his own. A neophyte school avoids this obstacle because a welcoming attitude guarantees a successful start to its history. Such an effort provides a foundation of excitement rather than foreboding for the kids who have to live with the change. Commentary by Cathy Brown, an Arlington free-lance writer, appears regularly on Mondays.