Evergreen the
february 10, 2016
Everything Greenhill
volume 51, issue 4
Give Back What Was Given
Graphic by Arhum Khan
Greenhill isn’t the type of school that shies away from tough conversations. On a given day, students may cover race, religion, gender, and politics in a matter of hours. Likewise, when it comes to topics like privilege, the school goes in head first. “Society has placed a taboo surrounding discussions of class and equality,” said Upper School English teacher Dr. Karin Thomas. “The school encourages these necessary and uncomfortable discussions, but it is up to the students to take these discussions further.” So this is a story about privilege. But it isn’t about gender superiority or socioeconomic status (though with tuition at more than $29,000 a year for those in seventh grade and above, it is hard to ignore that the school is inaccessible to most people). Instead, this is a story about how Greenhill teaches students about educational privilege. Here are some facts. Greenhill School is one of the top independent schools in the country, ranked 46th in the U.S. among private day schools, and third in Texas by thebestschools. org. The school provides cutting edge technology: fully-stocked labs with high functioning computers and Smart Boards for teachers. Classrooms are clean and temperate. Each student has a desk, which is a luxury in some area schools. Teachers constantly update curriculum based on new research and literature. Administrators give careful consideration to each student’s individual idiosyncrasies. Every year, the school’s graduating class matriculates to prestigious colleges
like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. But how does Greenhill ensure that its students maximize this educational privilege and understand the responsibilities that come with receiving a topnotch education? “This question is huge,” said Assistant Head of School Tom Perryman. “This question is fundamentally the mission of the school.” In many ways, proof is in the result. Alumni and students change the world – they feed the hungry, fight for underprivileged rights, and dedicate their lives to improving others’. Many attribute the foundations of their work to the school. However even if students don’t become social workers or civil servants, the school tries to teach them to understand the importance of their responsibility as members of the world through service learning and specialized classes. “Whether they are making a sandwich for a food kitchen or committing their lives to community service, Greenhill tries to help students understand their place in the broader world,” said Director of Academics Jason Yaffe. Eric Johnson ’94 has made it his life’s purpose to bring Greenhill’s educational privilege to more people throughout North Texas. After Mr. Johnson graduated, he went to Harvard, then returned back home to Dallas. Now a Texas state representative, Mr. Johnson serves District 100, one of the poorest districts in the state. “Greenhill…gaveme everything I could possibly want,
but the impact it had on me primarily was wanting something closer to [Greenhill] for more children,” he said. “It is something that we just can’t only make available for the wealthiest people.” Greenhill’s environment stands in stark contrast to the schools many of Johnson’s friends and family attended in West Dallas. “I could see both ways of life whereas a lot of my friends had a blind spot and they just didn’t know what they didn’t know,” Mr. Johnson said. Many other alumni have applied their pedigreed degrees to help people with fewer resources. Susan Hensarling Nahkunst ’75 is the executive director of Keep Austin Fed, a non-profit, volunteer organization that delivers healthy food to hungry people. Mackenzie Naert ‘10 was in the Yale Global Health Fellows Program, where she spent part of her junior year in Kenya, surveying diabetes awareness. Lauren Hradecky Blitzer ‘01 is the Economic Security Director at Dallas Women’s Foundation. Many students at Greenhill glean exposure from the service learning program. Greenhill requires a minimum of 48 community service hours to graduate, and community service projects are consistent in all grade levels. “It doesn’t matter what your SAT score is, what car you drive, or how fast you can run a 40 [yard dash]. Everybody can serve,” Mr. Perryman said. Director of Service Learning and Community Service Sally Rosenberg said she encourages students to focus on areas they might not have thought about.
“I would like to see students reach out of [their] comfort zone,” said Ms. Rosenberg. “We as adults do what we want to do so I want you all to do what you want to do and hopefully stretch yourselves a little bit.” Sofia Shirley ‘15 graduated from Greenhill last June. In her first year at Vanderbilt University, Sofia tutored underprivileged kids at a Nashville public school. Volunteering in Nashville has reaffirmed Sofia’s understanding of her educational privilege. “Being at Greenhill for 14 years, service became part of my everyday life, and I couldn’t imagine leaving that behind after I graduated,” said Sofia.“At both Greenhill and Vanderbilt, I am surrounded by people receiving the same high-caliber education. Volunteering and seeing that not everyone has access to that [education] makes me realize how fortunate I am and how firmly I believe a quality education should be a basic right. Unfortunately, it isn’t yet.” Greenhill also offers over a dozen service and social justice oriented classes to students, including Service Learning in Spanish, a class where students are required to find a community service project where they can use Spanish and volunteer at least twice per six-day cycle. Human Rights in the Modern World is a class that teaches students that no human is lesser than another. “The hope is that students leave this class with the understandings, skills and motivation to take some sort of action, either at the global, national or local level,” according to the course catalog. Head of Upper School,
Laura Ross, said she hopes that Greenhill’s classes and curriculum ultimately teach students to think of the greater scheme of things. “I would say that I want students to take away from Greenhill the idea that whatever you may choose to do in life, they have a greater responsibility to the world,” said Mrs. Ross. “I hope the education here gives you enough context so that when you make decisions, you are thinking about the ethical framework and the impact of your choices on your local or global community.” Mr. Johnson hopes students consider the next step too. “It is not charity; it is not volunteering; it is not tutoring. It is about being able to say ‘I have friends’ in different parts of the city. Nobody is looking down at anybody and nobody is looking up at anybody. It is simply ‘let’s get to know what your life is like,’” he said. “Who knows where it can go from there. Let’s just see what other people are doing…How other people are living.” Nevertheless, in the midst of homework and other assignments, students can forget the value of their education. “It is easier now to look back on Greenhill and be grateful of the experience that I had there,” Sofia said. “Its’ kind of the age-old catch 22,” Mr. Perryman said. “You raise ‘em the best you can and you hope they make good desicions, but ultimately they’re making their own desicions.”
What’s the purpose of prison? p. 3
The alumnus in the Obama Administration p. 4
Senior incorporates her love of physics into her art. p. 10
Exploring the dangers in one of America’s favorite sports p. 14
Director of Equity and Inclusion Karen Bradberry writes to the editor p. 15
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story by Joseph Weinberg and Annika Squires reporting by Varun Gupta
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