February 11, 2016
It was bedtime in the Anderson home and Julia’s mother asked her to get ready for bed. Leah was unprepared for her daughter’s response. “No, Mom. I can’t go to bed. It’s windy outside and I have to go outside and do a science experiment.” Julia and her father bundled up to go outdoors to record the temperature. When she returned indoors, Julia went to work recording her observations and forming a hypothesis. But Julia wasn’t finished. She went out one more time to check the temperature to test her hypothesis in order to finish her experiment.
When Leah shared this story with me, I immediately thought of a book I have read by former Yale professor William Deresiewicz. His 2014 book “Excellent Sheep” contends that schools and universities are turning young people into “tunnel-visioned careerists, adept at padding their résumés and filling their bank accounts but unprepared to confront life’s most important questions.” Instead, he argues that students need real “intellectual and imaginative breadth.” He encourages young people to make a break from the herd mentality and embrace their “passionate weirdness.”
In my experience, students at MPA are far too independent and playful to be sheep. All you have to do is walk down the hall to see the wide variety of activities in which they participate reflected on lockers and bulletin boards, or listen to the breadth of their conversations to see that there is no ‘one way’ to be at MPA. I believe our students not only have the confidence to strike out on their own and pursue their unique interests, they also have the academic preparation and ability to think critically about those interests. What’s more, they approach learning joyfully and creatively.
Encouraging children to be independent learners and thinkers isn’t simple. Each day, MPA teachers create classrooms that allows students to be architects of their own learning, to take risks, to view the world through multiple lenses, to utilize innovative tools in both expected and unexpected ways, and to make connections across and between disciplines.
As I sat down Monday to have my lunch, two fourth graders asked if they could join me. I said yes and the conversation quickly turned to their analysis of the impending New Hampshire primary. Perhaps they were parroting their parents, but I don’t think that is entirely true. Instead, I found them thoughtful and insightful in cogently offering their assessments of the various candidates.
Like Julia and my fourth grade lunch companions, students at MPA are not consuming information, but are creating knowledge. They are embracing their “passionate weirdness.” We are a community of thinkers, dreamers and doers. And I love it.
