Why the Pursuit of Excellence Matters

I just read an interesting article by Erik Reece from Orion Magazine on the current state of affairs in American schools. He points out, rightly, that our students are generally unprepared, bored, and uninspired because they haven't been pushed to pursue those things that really matter - citizenship, innovation, and critical thought. This is because they are taught in a system that necessitates teaching 'to the test' and a teacher education model that isn't cultivating the kinds of teachers who can work toward those habits of mind due to bureaucratic regulations and a lack of resources, both financial and intellectual, necessary to create excellent educational experience. 


I'm fortunate to lead a school which is able to do things the right way. Our teachers are inspiring, they care deeply about their subjects and their students and they have the freedom to pursue ethical dilemmas because they/we want to ensure that our graduates know how to think, have the courage to act, and have faith in their own development as human beings in the world that their work makes a difference. 


A couple of excerpts from the article:


"Deborah Meier, a senior scholar at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education and a founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools, suggests that we replace the cover-the-material mode of teaching by cultivating a “habit of mind” that can be applied to all material. Such a habit nurtures the intellectual skills students need to make decisions on complex matters and is based on such things as: quality of evidence (how do we know it’s true?), consideration of various viewpoints (how would it look through someone else’s eyes?), the search for patterns and causes (what are the consequences?), and relevance (who cares?)."
...
"THE GOOD NEWS is we can begin revitalizing both education and democracy by implementing a curriculum that incubates what I will call the “citizen-self.” As teachers, I believe our purpose should be twofold: 1) to provide the opportunity for individual self-invention among students, and 2) to create a space where that individual takes on the role and the responsibility of the social citizen. The pedagogy I have in mind combines the Romantic idea of thebildung, the cultivation of one’s own intellectual and psychological nature, with the Pragmatist view that such individuality must be vigorously protected by acts of citizenship. That is to say, it encourages Deborah Meier’s “habit of mind” toward the goal of helping each student determine what she or he truly thinks and feels about an issue or an idea, and it encourages what psychologist and philosopher William James called a “habit of action,” a way of translating such thinking into citizenship. At the risk of oversimplifying, we might say that the first part cultivates the inner self, while the second shapes the outer self. But these two selves cannot be separated; each depends upon and strengthens the other."

Courage

Here's a short piece on courage and its place in education (Chapel Talk October 3, 2011):

What if I told you that I heard that there was a sale on for chicken wings at the deli counter at the neighborhood WalMart and I wanted to be the first in line, so I ran right across Britton Road without checking for traffic.

What if, instead, I ran across Britton in order to save a young child who had wandered out of the parking lot and onto the street?

What if I saw the same child, but I looked around but decided that someone else would probably take care of her, and that it wasn’t really my responsibility?

All three situations involve me making a decision about crossing Britton, but the situations are very different and my ability to understand the differences shapes my decision significantly.

We all know that courage is a thing that we’re supposed to have. Indeed, this school was founded with a call toward courage and a call toward faith. Our crest, emblazoned with the words Fideliter et Fortiter implore us all to act with faith and with courage as we live our lives. The lion sought it during his journey to Oz, Dr. Martin Luther King demonstrated it on marches and in speeches at a time when his very life was at stake, and today, possibly as we leave chapel and head back to class, each and every one of us will have an opportunity to act courageously.

So why is courage so important?

Whether you’re standing up for a classmate when she’s being mistreated, telling a friend bad news, admitting to your teacher that you didn’t study for today’s test, or telling your parents that you were the one who broke the vase, each time we demonstrate courage, we make a difference in a positive direction. That is why courage is so important.

Great acts of courage are inspirational and we can all point to examples that set the bar for each of us, but it’s in the day-to-day living of our lives that we must strive to live life courageously. It is our duty to our selves, our community here at School and ultimately to our world that we embrace this way of living and work to set an example for one another in the way Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and others have in their lives.

As members of the Casady School community, we must strive to be the kind of person who isn’t afraid to stand up and do the right thing. We must strive to be the kind of person who isn’t afraid to admit to our failings. We must strive to be the kind of person who is courageous enough to make mistakes, learn from them and to muster the courage to make even more mistakes.  

“Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

- Margaret Mead