Head of School Debbie Zlotowitz’s NYT Letter to the Editor

August 25, 2022

The New York Times recently published Head of School Debbie Zlotowitz’s Letter to the Editor on the value of workplace friendships. The full text is below or, click here to read it  (Debbie’s letter is the third one).

July 27, 2022

To the Editor:

Reading Emma Goldberg’s piece made me look back fondly on my first teaching job back in the day. I was one of four newly minted teachers who became fast friends, in and out of school, supporting each other in our new profession and learning from one another.

Forty-five years later, we are still learning from one another, and the things we taught each other in those early days have guided my whole career. Together we forged a bone-deep understanding that education is not only the way to change a child’s life, but also the way to change the world.

The four of us have taken different paths since then, but our friendship has endured, and we continue to share experiences and perspectives. Now that I’m on the verge of retirement, I am so grateful for those early workplace friendships, and I ache for the young people who only know their co-workers through the filter of a screen. What they gain from workplace flexibility they may lose in lifelong friendships and lifelong learning.

Debbie Zlotowitz
Brooklyn

The writer is the head of school at the Mary McDowell Friends School.

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