MESSAGE FROM THE
HEADMASTER Best Habits Formed by Direct Connections
A
RISTOTLE SAID it best: “Good habits
that helped children develop good habits in
formed at youth make all the difference.”
community relationships.
Indeed, the value — or peril — of forming habits has long been a focus of
thinking about humankind, and particularly about the effect of habit on maturing young
Not so today. Unfortunately, the chains of distraction in 21st-century life vigorously defy regulation. A study published in April 2015 by the Pew
people. “The chains of habit,” Samuel Johnson
Research Center in Washington, D.C., summa-
observed in 1774, “are too weak to be felt until
rizing results of a survey of young people ages 13
they are too strong to be broken” — and, of
to 17, confirms that smartphones (and now smart
course, that weakness comes to bear especially
watches) have facilitated a dramatic shift in the
when one is young.
communications landscape for teens:
Today, we as parents and educators are
■■ Nearly 25 percent of American teens reported
challenged as never before in encouraging our
they go online “almost constantly,” while 92
children and students to develop and strengthen
percent reported being online “several times a day.”
habits that will serve them well as adults —
■■ Teen
boys are much more likely than girls to
habits of character that require listening, collaboration, and leadership in the workplace; empathy in all walks of life; generosity, compassion, and love in personal relationships. At their foundation, good habits in relating to others, like all habits, are built by the practice of direct and thoughtful human interaction — just as productive habits of study and
TECHNOLOGY IS LEADING OUR YOUNG PEOPLE FURTHER AND FURTHER AWAY FROM ENDEAVORS THAT INSPIRE “GOOD HABITS” IN THE BUILDING OF STRONG CHARACTER.
scholarship are created by the practice of solitary focus on a subject or skill. And practice takes time — a factor as constant
sion and project-based collaborative work,
play video games.
in team sports after school, in theatrical and
■■ Teens
from affluent and
musical productions, in creation of studio art,
educated families are more
in community service activities that strengthen
likely to use mobile texting and
their connections to and understanding of the
information-sharing applica-
larger world, and more.
tions that facilitate higher-risk online behavior. In short, technology is
As technology seeks increasingly to become the engrossing and character-eroding “habit” among our youngest generation, we believe the
leading our young people, and
best defense is the most comprehensive offense:
teenage boys in particular,
We seek to engage our boys directly with each
further and further away from
other, to require them to set aside their smart-
endeavors that inspire “good
phones, and to deliver them home with just
habits” in the building of strong character. At the
enough energy left to complete their homework
same time, the power of adults to monitor and
before falling asleep.
and immutable today as it was when Aristotle
limit teens’ technological/online engagement
wrote, more than 2,000 years ago.
continues to decrease.
From parents and educators guiding young
where it’s best invested: In classroom discus-
use mobile devices, primarily to
Days and days of this, one after another, accrue to a tremendous “good habit” — and that,
What’s to do? Brunswick’s answer has been
we believe, is the best way to prepare our boys for
people, it also requires planning, structure, and
and always will be to raise the bar — to expect
lives, and the strongest chains of habit, anchored
benevolent imposition of discipline. For most of
more of our boys at every level, and to construct
in Courage, Honor, Truth.
the 20th century, parents could easily provide
the healthiest possible complement of character-
that guidance at home — limiting access to the
building activities that promote a lifetime of
time-wasting distractions of the television or
“good habits.”
telephone — while school and unstructured play provided much of the direct human interaction
From sunrise to sunset (and often far beyond), we want to focus our boys’ attention
Thomas W. Philip
WWW.BRUNSWICKSCHOOL .ORG
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