Mission
Heads' Corner
Heads' Corner
“My Name is Red”
Posted by Jane Moulding on 11/17/08
I just finished Orhan Pamuk’s book, "My Name is Red." It was not easy reading; his style is unusual and the subject matter is quite dense, yet he truly pulled me into this intriguing novel set in the sixteenth century in Istanbul. He shifts the point of view of the narrator in each chapter, and the chapter told by the color, red, will perhaps give you some idea of how unusual this book is.
Red writes: “I hear the question upon your lips. What is it to be a color?”
He answers: “Color is the touch of the eye, music to the deaf, a word out of darkness. Because I’ve listened to souls whispering—like the susurrus of the wind—from book to book and object to object for tens of thousands of years, allow me to say that my touch resembles the touch of angels…I’m so fortunate to be red! I’m fiery. I’m strong.”
Pamuk’s story contains mystery of the highest degree, violent deaths, fear and love. It also leads us, perhaps in the way "The Da Vinci Code" did, but at a far more complex level, to see once again the power of art. Art is a matter of life and death, no question.
As you know art is pretty important at CSW. When I was reading this book, I could not believe how many layers existed to tell this story. At one level, the fear of the Ottoman “establishment,” that more realistic representation of humans and more attention to perspective in paintings would signal the end of the culture of the day and deeply question human’s allegiance to God, stunned me. As I understood the layers and levels of the story, however, I understood the radical nature of the change that threatened the status quo. I certainly finished Pamuk’s novel with a renewed understanding of how important art is to all cultures. How great to be at an institution where that fundamental importance is never questioned, only deepened.
Team Pride
Posted by Jane Moulding on 11/14/08
Recently, our girls and boys varsity soccer teams reached the playoffs in their respective leagues: the Independent Girls Conference and the Mass Bay Independent League. The girls lost to Waring, the boys beat Waring and moved onto the final against Gann Academy, losing 1-0 in a hard-fought game. Two of our players, Hannah Forrester '09 and Yi-Ming Wei '09 were selected as all-stars to represent their leagues in a game the following weekend.
It's not just the final records or the winning games that make us proud—even though they always make us feel good. What brings me sustainable, daily pride is watching how these teams come together and form a special community within our school. We see this in assemblies, posters around the school and the supporters at the games. In an e-mail to the community before the Gann game, varsity captain Yi-Ming Wei wrote: "…guess what, we have an amazing team…I cannot tell you how special each individual is on this team." He e-mailed everyone after the loss in the final, naming each team member and ending his message: "I cannot tell you how touched I am by this caring community." He was speaking for all of us; and I know he brought tears to many eyes.
I saw this same spirit on a recent Friday afternoon as I watched JV girls' and boys' soccer and girls' field hockey games. I chatted with parents and students, as my husband, Linton, and I enjoyed seeing three good games and many great smiles, but also hearing the screams of joy and support (Go field hockey. What a win!).
Congratulations to all our players, their coaches and the CSW athletic department led by Rich Bird—these are great days for CSW sports.
Mission Statement discussion
Posted by Dan Coleman on 11/12/08
Dan's latest web diary was a collaborative dialogue with Jane in which they commented on a recent community discussion regarding the CSW Mission Statement.
To read Jane and Dan's full dialogue visit Jane's Two Pence.
Mission Statement discussion
Posted by Jane Moulding on 11/12/08
Recently in one of our discussion assemblies, student trustees, Amara Davila '09 and Jesse McGleughlin '10, asked the students and faculty to talk about CSW’s mission statement. Amara and Jesse are both members of a newly formed board of trustees committee called the CSW narrative team, and they have been charged with developing a process for both reviewing our mission statement (last revised in 2001) and gathering the stories that form the narrative that is our school. Jesse and Amara put the statement up on the screen in front of us and the discussion began:
We attract intellectually and creatively talented students and faculty. Our students work to master essential academic skills, and move beyond, pursuing personal levels of excellence. They achieve genuine engagement in the educational process by taking an active role in their learning and meeting authentic challenges, both artistic and intellectual.
We embrace the process of enriching our diverse school population. We welcome the perspectives of different ethnicities, races, classes, religions and sexual orientations that enhance our mutual understanding. Our respect for the unique gifts of each community member provides a safe environment where all can grow.
We seek to balance the needs of the individual with those of the community. Within the framework of a caring, ethical school, we encourage constructive contribution beyond our campus. Students take an active role in decision-making, acquiring the tools to participate in a democratic society.
Our core mission is to enable our students to become thoughtful, creative, socially responsible, healthy adults. That, we believe, is the best preparation for college - and for life.
Jane: There were two or three areas of the mission statement that we kept coming back to that seemed important to the students. Several pointed us toward the last line of the statement, and questioned whether our mission should aim the school toward "preparation for college." Can't we cut that part out, they wondered. Isn't it all about preparation for life? We might not choose to go to college—even though most of us do; does that actually need to be highlighted in the mission statement?
Dan: That was one of my favorite moments. I remember one student arguing that CSW shouldn't group itself among the "prep schools"—because we believe so strongly that the four years you spend in high school shouldn't be just a preparation for college. High school, he said, should be time you value for its own sake—a time that’s rich and rewarding in itself.
I think it's wonderful that our students want to keep us focused on the time inside high school. A lot of schools, nowadays, think so intently about where they want students to be after graduation that they pay too little attention to the path by which their students are going to get there. They look so hard at the end of school that they forget about the middle: what it's like for a student (or a teacher) to be in the middle of a classroom, or a semester, or a student body, where everyone is driving so hard to get to a predetermined outcome.
So, for me, the challenge is to make sure that the wonderful experience our students (and our teachers) have of being here, in the middle of CSW, is also an excellent preparation for college. And for the life which follows college. (But as soon as I write that last line I remember something just-right that another student said at assembly: "We shouldn’t think of CSW as a preparation for the life we'll live after college. College will be the next four years of our life. That will be our life, just like this isour life. We're in it already.")
Jane: One student actually stood up and said when she speaks to friends from other schools they keep talking about their weekends and their vacations, but she talks about school. "I actually want to be here, every day." The other topic the students focused on was "happiness" versus "success." School cannot guarantee success, they said, but if it aims to help you be happy—in yourself, with your friends and with your studies then that is very special. I guess the thing is a school cannot actually guarantee either, happiness or success, but what I heard our students say was happiness was really important and what attracted them to CSW was the sense of belonging, choice and ability to be “who they are."
Dan: Another section of the mission statement the students focused on was diversity. One student said we didn’t need to define it, another said that's what brought him to CSW, it sounded as if the school cared about all kinds of people. Another student said that we ought to say something about diversity of opinion. The students really wanted to discuss those sentences: We welcome the perspectives of different ethnicities, races, classes, religions and sexual orientations that enhance our mutual understanding. Our respect for the unique gifts of each community member provides a safe environment where all can grow. Some students really felt that it was not easy to have certain kinds of opinions here—conservative, for instance. I liked the way students challenged each other on this big topic.
Jane: There were so many times I wanted to join in the discussion, and it was great to see how many faculty did, but I just wanted to listen and learn. Each strong opinion was met by some kind of measured and careful disagreement—many students, for instance, were very comfortable with the idea that the school should be a place for success—and happiness! I guess after a discussion assembly like this, I once again am convinced of the power of a progressive and open education.
Lightning
Posted by Dan Coleman on 11/4/08
I was walking across the quad the other day, looking up to find out what the weather wanted to do next, when I bumped into Gary, one of our newer science teachers, and made some vague comment about how nice a day it was. Gary let me know it wouldn't last: a low-pressure system was gathering over the western edge of the state and likely to generate mixed precipitation by mid-afternoon.
So we talked for a little about clouds (I'd been reading about the Quaker apothecary who named them for us: stratus, cumulus, cirrus, nimbus) and then I asked Gary how his classes were going.
"This chemistry class is the best group of students I have ever taught."
Whoa, I thought. That's saying something. Because I know that Gary—while about as youthful, bright and electric a teacher as I've known—has been teaching chemistry for more than thirty-five years. In fact, I'd just learned that his former school (another independent just down the road) had commissioned a portrait of Gary to celebrate all his time there. So, I asked Gary to tell me more about what he meant.
"It's not just that they're really bright," he said. "Or wonderfully sweet to each other. Or even that they're such a terrifically odd collection of individuals. There's an energy in that room unlike anything I've ever seen. I've got sixteen kids, and four of them love science so magnificently that they can't stop spreading it across the room. And it's not just the other kids that are being affected. This class is leading me into places I've never gone as a teacher."
"Today, for example, we were in the middle of discussion of relativity, when a student asked a question about what we'd been talking about yesterday. She wanted to know whether an object’s internal kinetic energy could be understood without identifying its frame of reference. Man, what a question."
"The day we came back from mod break, they asked me if I'd missed them. And you know what? I really had."
Coming Together
Posted by Jane Moulding on 11/3/08
What a wonderful couple of days we all get to participate in each October: Family Visit Days. There's a long list of interesting activities, and for me, as head, I get to watch and participate in so many different ways.
This year, our alumni assembly was all about curiosity. Dashka Slater '81, a writer, journalist and teacher urged us to keep our minds open to all possibilities. Her suggestion at the end of her talk that we "write about what we don't know," turned the usual maxim nicely on its head, but it tied in perfectly with her approach to life. She wants to know more, dig deeply and understand what is going on around her, a nice combination for a journalist and a writer of several successful children’s books.
Then there was my chance to meet with many families. Parents of students I taught in the "Beowulf and Grendel" class with whom I had slightly deeper conversations, and parents of other students who simply wanted to let me know how things were going or had questions. This is a great part of my job—I love the feedback we get from our families.
One family, with whom I spent a great deal of time on my recent visit to South Korea, came to visit their son and I met with them. I realized how much more helpful I felt because I understood just a little more about the culture and expectations of this wonderful couple. We spoke a little of politics—what was being reported in Seoul about the American election—and the economy, and we spoke a lot about college applications and next steps for their son who is a senior.
These days would not be complete for me without watching the students play some soccer and field hockey. The games, both against Brimmer and May--one win, one loss--were exciting to watch. As the sun went down on the fields I scanned the parents and friends standing around, chatting and cheering, and it felt good. Many of those same folks were seated in the theater later that evening watching the hilarious and provocative "Bathtub Plays." Where else but at CSW might the day begin with a serpent in the bath (Dashka's children's tale) and end with a tiger in the bath in Slawomir Mrozek’s play, "The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey"?
Thank you all for coming to participate in these events. We hope that they help you know more about CSW.
Lunch
Posted by Jane Moulding on 10/28/08
The lunch hour at CSW is always bursting with great activity.
I should start in the Cheek dining hall itself, where the choice of food is always spectacular. Something for everyone. Tom Holt and his staff (Rita, Bruno, Peter, Richard, Terry, Lap Soi, Dau, Alex and Pengfei) work really hard to create healthy, home-cooked meals with the best ingredients. They are always responsive to our needs and we tell them what we like! I think they know how much we value their work and the love they put in their creations. If there were one thing I wished for them, it’s that we tried harder to keep the dining room neat and cleaned up; it must be devastating some days after our hour to look at the mess on and around the tables and floor—maybe, just maybe, we will do better this year.
It's not just the food though, look around the main dining room and the Swope Room any day and you will see all kinds of deep conversations, lighthearted exchanges and simple sharings of a good meal. It’s the place to be; it's easy to find who you are looking for and it's easy to decide what kind of conversation you might like to join that day.
Then there's what happens outside the dining room—all over the campus groups meet: A-Board, J-Board, Arrested Development Club, Environmental Club, Diversity Committee, Community Service Club, Devil's Advocate Club, Flash Club, Girls, Girls, Girls—just a few I can name. Yes, this hour gives us 15 minutes to eat and 45 minutes to mix, solve problems, find support or simply share something and have a bit of fun.
It's a pretty special time. Not to be missed.