A Slide With No Sides
By Elise Bauer, Director of Admissions
Showing people around City and Country School never gets old. As Director of Admissions since 2009, I have given more tours of the School than I can count, and it continues to be one of my favorite aspects of the job. For me, a highlight of touring people is the moment when, after going through the passageway towards the 12th Street Building, the space opens wide to reveal an open sky and the entire campus of our seven brownstones, multiple play yards, the unique outdoor blocks, and of course, our climber, complete with monkey bars and a slide with no sides.
People don’t expect the School to be so expansive. I watch their faces in this moment and note their pleasant surprise as they take it in.
With each tour group I then focus on our outdoor blocks as we watch children at work and discuss the significance of these materials. Most people have not seen anything like our green blocks. Nor have they seen anything like our slide. As we move closer to it, I pause and pose a question to the tour group:
“Take a look at our slide for a minute. Why do you suppose we’d have a slide like this?”
Back in 2000, when I served as the Director of the Lower School, Lower School teachers and I decided that we wanted to build some sort of playground apparatus that would complement the outdoor blocks. A search of the C&C Archives uncovered many photos of a climbing structure from decades ago. What may look to some as a crude assemblage of a ladder, beams, and a slab of butcher block, the climber in the pictures was a masterfully simple structure that exemplifies much of what C&C is about. We chose to rebuild this archival climber and slide on the same ground 50 years later because we knew that it would fit the bill perfectly.
C&C is about do-it-yourself innovations and natural materials. The climber? It’s designed by C&C teachers, is made of wood, metal, a cement foundation, and a few coats of green paint—and all put together by our crew of carpenters and Buildings and Grounds people.
Simple by design is one of C&C’s hallmarks. Much as our classrooms have a clean, spare aesthetic, free from commercially made items that tend to dampen attention spans and overly stimulate or “entertain” children, the climber could not be more basic. Just like with our indoor basic materials of blocks, paint, and clay, there are no wheels, bells, or colorful flags that tell the children how to play. Instead, there are adjustable monkey bars that challenge children on multiple levels. There is a high platform. And there’s the slide, a substantial, sanded piece of oak, whose deep patina proudly advertises the countless flights of the children over the years.
C&C values reasonable risk-taking. One glance at the climbing platform and you’ll see that it’s pretty high and has no railings. You’ll also see our sideless slide. Unlike with commercial jungle gyms with handrails, and molded sliding boards that have a deep chute, children must be mindful when using our equipment. Our structure requires them to exercise their physical strength, body awareness, balance, and impulse control. They hone these important skills each time they play outdoors, and for C&C kids, that’s every day.
At C&C, children are trusted to use their natural instincts for safety. We believe that safe behavior is learned by repeatedly navigating situations that present a reasonable amount of risk. Think of our IVs at the woodworking bench with real hammers and saws, Lower Schoolers outside lifting heavy boxes and climbing their block structures, VIIIs burning logs like the Lenape did, IXs whittling with real knives like the pioneers, and XIs operating serious pieces of machinery: the printing presses. Each of these fully engaging experiences offers children the opportunity to recognize boundaries, learn patience and caution, master valuable practical skills, and in the process, develop resourcefulness and confidence.
I always give my tour groups a moment to ponder my question about why we’d have a slide like ours. To many people, it’s not obvious. As they look at the unusual structure before them, some people take guesses. “Because it’s made of wood like the blocks?” or “Because it’s homemade instead of commercially produced?”
Others get it right away. “So that children can learn to be careful,” and “So kids can learn to control their bodies” are common responses. I remember one person saying, “So children can build their courage.” I especially liked that one as it taps into the fearlessness that I often see in our graduates.
There are many “correct” answers to the question, but I’m certain of one thing. Our slide with no sides is an embodiment of how I often think of City and Country School: simple and humble at first glance, but complex, sophisticated, and challenging upon closer inspection.
