by Dave Genger, Head of Upper School
Reflections
on the First Year
It
is difficult for me to believe
that my first year as Division Head is coming to a close (tempus fugit). As Socrates once said, “a
life unexamined is
not worth living” and I hope that during the less frenetic summer days
I will
have a chance to reflect on the year’s events and create an action plan
for the
2008-2009 school year. Much
of our collective
work this year involved looking for ways to increase the amount of
academic
learning time for the students, while reducing stress for everyone. This work led to the
creation of a new Master
Schedule for 2008-2009, a two semester calendar (no more trimesters),
changes
to improve the efficacy and efficiency of our reporting and
reconfiguring
curriculum night and parent conferences.
What I am most proud of, however, is the collaborative
manner in which
all of the aforementioned work was completed.
We have much to look forward to in 2008-2009!
Freedom
with
Responsibility
One of the major
themes I tried to
establish this year with the students involved the borrowed motto from Pembroke Hill
School in Kansas City.
The concept of “freedom with responsibility” is not a new
one but it
seemed to resonate with our students.
I
shared the phrase at a morning meeting very early in the year. I told the students that
when I observed the
students at Pembroke Hill it became very clear to me that the motto was
not
just a collection of words but rather a philosophy that permeated the
life of
the school. Very
quickly teachers began
merging various techniques from Responsive Design (Y
charts) to help re-enforce this lofty
ideal. Our students
are very
well-behaved, a fact that is supported every time we go off campus and
garner
accolades from the adults who interact with them, during structured
endeavors. They,
however, do not always
make the best decisions when they are under “loose supervision.” This is something that I
would like to
change. I realize,
however, that it will
take time and will have to involve both intentional and concerted
efforts by
the faculty. In
many ways it is a
Catch-22 as students do not use free time wisely, but how will they
learn to
use it wisely if they are never given the opportunity to do so?
Much
of what I hope to accomplish
involves breathing life into the Honor Code.
Honor is derived from the Latin honos,
which is also the root
of the word "honesty”. The
utility
of an Honor Code is largely predicated upon the level of trust within a
community. The main
challenge is to help
students understand that honor is an intrinsic quality and extends from
an
individual’s sense of moral responsibility to the community. I truly believe it is a
privilege to attend
this school. A
sense of privilege,
however, without a concomitant sense of responsibility is not healthy
for an
individual or a community. I
have tried
to help define privilege for the students as “an opportunity to behave
honorably while not under the direct supervision of an adult.” It is my hope that the
students will begin to internalize, almost on a
subconscious level,
the connection between honorable behavior and a greater degree of
autonomy/freedom. As
Robert Heinlein
once wrote “I am free, no matter what
rules surround me. I am
free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything
I do.”
To paraphrase
Garrison Keller, it is a pleasure to lead a faculty that is so strong,
work
with involved/supportive parents, on behalf of students who are “all
above
average.” I
look forward to next year
with great anticipation. The
new schedule
will allow faculty to meet as grade level teams and as departments on a
regular
basis. Students
will still enjoy ample
“down time” during the academic day when they can practice freedom with
responsibility. We
are looking to expand
student government to all grades in the Upper School,
including a House System (entire school) in order to increase
opportunities to
cultivate leadership among the students.
The new schedule will allow for weekly flex time that can
be utilized by
grade level teams to run Responsive Design activities, offer clubs or
create
programs driven by student interest.
We
hope that there are fewer incidents of “conflicted time” and that
frequency of
“crunch time” periods throughout the year will be minimized. With the aforementioned
structures in place
we will be able to focus on instruction and improving an already strong
academic program.
