Around the Table
What’s new and notable at the Academy
The Art of Synergy T E AC H E R S R E M A I N T H E C O N D U I T F O R H A R K N E S S By Principal Thomas E. Hassan ’56, ’66, ’70, ’06 (Hon.); P’11
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The Exeter Bulletin
W INTER 2012
ART DURITY
ne of the feature articles in this issue of the Bulletin commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Harkness gift and includes 80 Harkness “moments” shared by alumni/ae, current students, parents, faculty and staff. I will focus this piece on adding my own special Harkness moment to those that begin on page 22, but first I would like to digress just a bit. When Exonians think of the gift that transformed our school, our signature way of teaching is usually the first thing that comes to mind.The Harkness gift, however, went well beyond pedagogy and included the infrastructure needed to support such a manner of education. It spawned a building boom on campus, and the feature article, “Exeter Underground,” on page 32 displays some of the less visible but long-lasting results of that work. More noticeably, the Harkness gift supported the conversion of the Academy Building’s recitation rooms into seminar rooms. It also funded the construction of a new classroom building, Phillips Hall; four new dormitories each with a dining room (Bancroft, Langdell, Merrill and Wheelwright halls); and the renovation of eight existing dormitories.These structures and the lives and legends that comprise their history are a fascinating aspect of Exeter’s narrative. It is in Phillips Hall where my own Harkness moment took place. In fact, I had my emblematic experience even before I came to work at Exeter. It was a snowy, cold February day in 1989. I had come to New Hampshire from Cambridge, MA, to interview for the position of director of college counseling. February days may be short, but to a candidate at Exeter they can seem very long. The interview process, then as now, was extensive. While candidates tend to be weary at its end, many will enthusiastically report an experience similar to mine, saying, “The best part of the day was the classroom visit.” I had the good fortune to observe a senior-level English class taught by legendary instructor Fred Tremallo ’70 (Hon.); P’74, P’78. I was eager to see him in action. You can imagine my surprise when the class began and he just sat there. Soon thereafter, Fred got up and walked out the door. What really astonished me was that the class just kept on talking, debating and pushing the discourse forward. In fact, things heated up when he left the room and stayed at an intellectual fever pitch after he returned. Of course, over the years I have observed more of Exeter’s great instructors and taught hundreds of math classes myself, but nothing can compare with the wave of understanding that broke over me that first time. So this is what they are talking about.This is Harkness. I learned quickly that, contrary to what first meets the eye, the teacher is an integral part of the Harkness experience. This reality was borne out when I read over the submissions for the magazine piece that follows. The anecdotes, one-liners and narratives are typically tied to a teacher; in two cases the moment is simply the teacher’s name. When it comes to Harkness teaching and learning, it isn’t just the table, or the students or the teacher. It is a synergy between all three that for 80 years has provided thousands of Exonians with Harkness moments like the ones shared on the following pages.