Monday Musings, New Beginnings

Yes, I know it's Thursday, but the beginning of the year is always a bit hectic for the head of school. As we tell the kids, better late than never!

"We all have straight A’s today, and we all have perfect attendance." Thus begins another school year, with high hopes and great expectations in schools across the country. For too many students in our country, however, the bloom will soon be off the rose, as rote memorization and test preparation overtake the joy of exploration and the satisfaction of solving real-world problems. At Nora we’re off to a great start, with a full roster of uniquely talented and curious students and teachers, all of whom embrace our motto of "Think Differently." Certainly our opening day has its share of unusual evens, from the ball-toss-name-game with new students to the musical papers game with sophomores and juniors. Our students are seeking something more, and something different, from their education, a relaxed engagement that they haven’t found in larger settings. They will once again create a vibrant, welcoming, and unique community as we move through our classes, practices, games, hikes, performances, dances, and other activities that make life at Nora one that is at once engaging, rigorous, nurturing, challenging, and fun.

Change

News last night about the Washington Post sale brings up some familiar emotions, a too familiar feeling that once again a pillar of our existence is not as solid as we believed it to be. There was a time, which doesn't seem that long ago, when a bi-polar world split between the Soviet Union and the US was an immutable fact of our existence. Likewise, the Democrats would always control the House of Representatives. Closer to home, our good colleagues at Thornton Friends School prodded us to do better work and provided The Nora School with sports teams that were competetive. We miss them greatly! Now the Graham family, after 80 years of ownership, is stepping away from the Post. They survived Nixon's enemies list, but not the Internet. Even as we in education feel the tug and pull of online education and the disruption that it causes, we need to be mindful that it is all the more important that our students learn to think rather than to regurgitate facts. While No Child Left Behind may have done a good job at forcing public school districts to look at how all their students are doing, one sad side effect is that too much teaching is aimed at making Adequate Yearly Progress and too little at grappling with interesting and meaningful questions. We have no idea what challenges and changes the classes of 2014 or 2017 will face, but they'd better be able to think and react flexibily and thoughfully if they are to thrive.

Twenty-five years ago I could not imagine a world without the Soviet Union or a Democratic controlled congress; fifteen years ago I could not imagine a world without Thornton Friends. As much as I enjoy my Kindle and iPad, I hope that there's never a world without print newspapers and books, with all the unexpected avenues of curiousity into which they lead us.