learning LOVE OF
about the state of our democracy, about the interest of this math problem, about the problem of cellular mechanics in cancer, whatever it is that turns you on, if you can get emotionally engaged with that, you have to really, really understand it to be able to have that kind of reaction. So the hallmark of the learning is whether people can truly build the emotional appreciation that experts have. I would also advocate for giving kids and parents more choice, and teachers more choice in the way in which they build themselves into a person over time. So not just choices in courses…that’s not what I mean. But the ability to really make decisions for yourself that matter is something that’s extremely important in young people’s development. To learn how to do that in a safe space that has real implications and repercussions, not super long-term ones so that they can’t screw themselves up too fast and too permanently, but letting them live their choices out and build and decide things and defend their choices and learn to reflect upon them and learn from them, so that they can build themselves into judicious thinkers over time, who are ethical and who are willing to examine and construct new beliefs in accordance with evidence.
thoughtful person, and you’re teaching them to find and develop their own talents and interests in relation to societal problems that they think are important. MHIY: And then you want to find a school that’s going to really support your child in genuinely engaging with their own learning process in a way that is challenging them to their utmost developmentally. But developmentally, so that means as a whole person in a context that is supporting them in becoming what they want to be. What I look for in my own children is that they’re really engaged with their school work, that they’re still talking about it over dinner later. That they’re really wondering about things, that they’re encouraged to think in new ways and to take chances and to fail at it, genuinely to fail at it.
BB: So we need to come to understand that things that we used to think of as peripheral really are central to a student’s ability to engage and to have that emotional connection to what he or she is doing in order to gain more meaning from it.
BB: What should parents be looking for in schools?
What kinds of things might they be looking for as they And I would also suggest maybe that from a leadership standpoint, every school wants to value leadership, wants to promote leadership look to schools to address their student’s learning? MHIY: This is the million-dollar question. I see that there’s a huge tension, not just for parents, but at the national level for policy makers and everything in between, around what constitutes rigorous scholarship in today’s world. The standard metrics of achievement are less and less good indicators of what we actually value in our citizens. So the question is, “What do we replace it with without lowering the standards? And how do we look at individual variation and honor kids’ individual talents and give them the choices over their own ways of understanding and building themselves while still having extremely high expectations and supporting them in achieving to the best of their ability over time? Standardization is also not the answer for what counts as learning. So how do we reconcile that for things like cultural and individual variability?” As parents, it’s difficult not to be afraid. We’re worried that our children are going to get left behind, that it’s more competitive than ever before, that if they don’t go to Harvard or Stanford they’re going to be worthless. We have this kind of expectation in society that it’s all or nothing, and you have one chance to market yourself and brand yourself is what I heard people saying to my kid. And what I would really encourage parents to do is to get to know their child. But understand also that your child is getting to know themselves and you’re facilitating that. You’re teaching them how to know themselves over time. Another way to say that is you’re teaching them how to be a good person, you’re teaching them to be a
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among their students, but I think leadership comes most effectively through their experience when they are engaged in that way.
MHIY: Absolutely. Leadership comes naturally when you’re engaged in that way and sometimes the only person you really need to be leading is yourself, right? That’s leadership too, being able to stand and accomplish something. Whether or not other people are following you doesn’t affect whether you’re a leader.
BB: What’s on the horizon for you in your research? What do you think the next frontier is?
Catalina ISLAND
THE ULTIMATE OUTDOOR CLASSROOM
By Gregg Kessler, Middle School Science Teacher
T HE CONVERSATION USUALLY STARTS:
“Mr. Kessler, remember on Catalina when...we saw the whale breach; the octopus inked us; the bison walked by our cabin; the ocean sunfish swam by our kayak; the fox stole food from my backpack; the smell of the compost pit; we ate prickly pear cactus and lemonade berries on the hike; the seal swam past our snorkel group; the hawk ate the quail; we saw 20 leopard sharks on the night snorkel…” All are fond memories that have stuck with students over the years. I have repeated this conversation with former students, from Eighth Graders to current high school students, to alumni in college and beyond. All of them are referring to the annual Seventh Grade trip to the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program (CELP) at Howland’s Landing on Catalina Island. For many, the memories last a lifetime. The best thing about these memories is that they all tie directly into lessons from the Seventh Grade Life Science curriculum. Whether it is seeing species while snorkeling or kayaking in the kelp community, hiking in the hills among native plants and animals, witnessing the food web in action, or learning how to use resources more sustainably, the hands-on nature of the Catalina trip turns classroom lessons into real world learning experiences. Catalina becomes our outdoor classroom that allows us to investigate larger ecological and environmental concepts that need to be witnessed firsthand instead of just being read about out of a text book. Being in nature makes the material more personal and can forge understanding and appreciation in even the most “citified” student.
The Science Department at Viewpoint values handson learning opportunities. Students start learning about the environment, ocean, and kelp forest communities in Primary and Lower School Science. The units continue in Middle School Science and are reinforced on the Catalina trip. Many students are inspired to continue learning about the outdoors and the environment in the Natural History elective in the Middle School or join the Garden Club or the Environmental Sustainability Council offered to Middle and Upper School students. Other learning opportunities are available in the Oceanography or Environmental Science classes popular in the Upper School. For some Upper School students, the adventure sparks a lifelong love of the outdoors, leading to field research on Viewpoint trips to the Virgin Islands or the Galapagos. A number of students have continued follow their passion for the ecology and nature with undergrad, postgrad, and successful careers in the biological sciences. Even if the natural sciences are not the chosen path, the memories of Catalina leave students with an appreciation for nature and the outdoors and a desire to include it in their lives. ■
Caption to come.
MHIY: I think what we need to do in society right now is really start to take the human developmental aspect of education, supporting people growing into citizens and I mean that in the broad sense, as our main aim. And to genuinely pursue that in a way that maintains high standards and rigorous standards, but that at the same time values and appreciates diversity and variability and an individual’s own subjective ways of making meaning.
BB: Well, it’s certainly my hope that Viewpoint will be a context within which we can work on these issues, and I look forward to working with you in that process. ■
Grace Rynerson ’22 and Josie Mar ’22
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