The time had come. It was parent evening at the high school we hoped to send our eldest to next year.
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Experience and history indicated it would be an evening being sold about how good the school was in various subjects and assorted sports.
There was a tiny bit of that, but what actually came knocked this editor's socks off. The principal took to the stage.
She talked about the schools values, but then she she spoke about the thing the school really concentrated on when it came to their students. It wasn't maths or science, or netball, drama or dance.
The principal stood at the podium and said her school focused on "emotional intelligence".
It took all of this editor's emotional intelligence to realise that was not the right time to jump the rows of seats and high five the principal.
Avid readers of this column - yes, all two of you - may recall the odd column I've written over the years wishing schools put the same value on emotional intelligence as they did academia and athletic achievement. This from June last year _
"A little while ago it was suggested in these pages, only half jokingly, that maybe empathy should be taught in schools as a subject like Maths and English. Maybe the key lies in putting as much effort into growing the emotional intelligence of our children as much as we do their academic or athletic abilities."
I've lamented the fact that often the education system has not reacted quickly enough to adapt to the rapidly changing society around it.
Yet here it was.Here, before my eyes was a school living and breathing it. Why is this important?
Because quite simply it's about building better human beings to make our communities and society a better place. It's about building resilience into our kids at a time when they need it more than ever.
About teaching them empathy, confidence and to be better prepared for everything that life throws at them.
From that opening address I was converted. For the first time in my life, I could genuinely say I wanted to go back to high school.
