So now you know—change or “shift” does happen and, as a profession,
we are once again being called upon to do things differently and to catch up to
the rest of the world that is allegedly passing us by.
A friend of mine, a superintendent in southeastern Pennsylvania, sent me
this “Did You Know” Power Point program. She will be using it on the teachers’
first day in her school district, and I imagine that this presentation will
find its way into the hands of many school leaders this fall. My guess is that
most of them will be using it as a way to motivate their faculties to do more,
to do it faster, and to do it better. “We’re losing the race” or so they will
claim. There will be words of inspiration mixed with a little bit of fear –
while many will be chanting the mantra “no child left behind.”
Well, that was not my intent this morning. Yes, I want it to
provoke you. Yes, I want you to remember at least one of these unconfirmed
factoids and then share it tonight with a friend or life partner. Yes, I want
you to consider the incredible shift that is occurring in our lives but, more
importantly, all of us must recognize the rapidity of change that will be
experienced by the children we teach. Please know that I did not show this to
prove anything to you or to imply that we need to vacate the core values held
by so many of us at the Laboratory Schools.
Because it is those values that I believe will continue to serve children
well in the exponential world so aptly described in “Shift Happens.” After
several years of discussions with many of you and lots of thought about what
makes this place so special, here’s my take on the four prominent values that
were in operation during the time of our founders, that continue to inform what
we do today, and that will meet the challenges of a shifting world in the years
to come.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
We believe that our children learnbest through
experience and by experimenting with ideas. I have never occupied a
more stimulating and interesting office space than the one I do in Judd Hall.
Right outside my window, I observe young children at play while exercising
their imaginations to the fullest. Boredom is not an option for them. In our
classrooms and in our libraries, I see books come alive. Reading or telling
stories are certainly not passive experiences in our nursery and lower grades.
And even though it is less pronounced, there are countless examples of how
learning is an active and relevant experience in our middle and high schools.
Where better to experiment with ideas than in the pre-collegiate program
associated with one of the great research Universities of the world.
REASONING
We believe that our children thinkbest when provoked
by the right questions. In some quarters and at some developmental
levels, good teacher-led questioning often is described as Socratic. If asked
the right questions, children will form their own habits of questioning that
leads to self-discovery and self-reliance. Thinking should be purposeful,
deliberate and thorough which is my definition of reasoning (the fourth R of
good schooling). But just as important is imaginative thinking, which is mostly
a right brain phenomenon. If, as Daniel Pink asserts, “right-brainers will rule
the future,” we must also encourage the creative genius or that Whole New
Mind that surely resides within all of our children.
SELF-DETERMINISM
We believe that our children determinewho they are
when given the freedom to engage in a free and open dialog. Getting to
know alumni of the Laboratory Schools has been a wonderful benefit of my
position as Director. As one would expect, Lab alums are all quite different
but most share this common thread of self-determinism. Many are quite eloquent
and their testimonies are powerful. Teachers, who have been here in different
decades, influenced them and had the audacity to force them to take a position
on just about everything. Sometimes these positions were not popular nor what
they believed, but it was the defense of a point of view that was important. At
Lab, constructive debate is encouraged and complete understanding expected.
That can’t happen unless everyone has the freedom to take a chance and to be
wrong.
COMMUNITY
We believe that our children buildrelationships as
part of the learning community that we create. Learning how to play
with others, work together, and communicate clearly with each other complements
and enriches a child’s acquisition of knowledge. The interests of the group and
the development of individual capacities are at the heart of a philosophical
value upon which this place was founded. And, of course, it is the adults who
create the conditions that will determine the quality of those formative
relationships. More than ever, the high tech and information-laden world in
which children are living today needs to be balanced with hope and kindness.
Each of us makes a difference in the lives of our students. Each of us has a
responsibility to model and teach the fundamentals of civility and respect.
I suppose that among us there are different opinions about whether these are
the real core values and some of us would argue that missing are some other
aspects of the Laboratory Schools experience such as academic rigor, the
development of character, the importance of diversity, creative outlets,
wellness, and learning environment. While these and other aspects certainly
contribute to the definition of who we are, they are really just manifestations
of what exists at our core.
