Beyond Murray's Musings by Ned Murray

noreply@blogger.com (Ned R. Murray) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 14:13:00 +0000

Check out this article in the Augusta Chronicle about Episcopal Day School's new 1:1 computing program in which all students in grades 1-4 will be issued an iPad and all students in grades 5-8 will be issued a Macbook Pro.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/education/2015-01-27/eds-students-be-issued-ipads-computers

After nearly two years of study and research, a faculty committee is proposing that EDS adopt a 1:1 program in which every student in grades 1-8 has a portable computing device, “A 1:1 program in the school will provide tools to support our desire to move toward an understanding of learning that is active, purposeful, rigorous, and relevant to the world in which our students live.”

We have gradually increased teacher and student access to computers over the years through careful stewardship of our resources and philanthropic dollars. We began in 1998 with a commitment to having a teacher computer and student computer in every classroom. In 2000, we built a state-of–the-art computer lab, and have kept the lab updated through the years. We added our first mobile laptop lab in 2002, adding a second in 2008, an iPad cart in 2013, and this year gave every teacher an iPad for classroom use. This measured approach saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars over that time compared to what many schools were investing in extravagant or excessive technology purchases.

However, the committee report concludes, “We have reached the point that the student and teacher demands for technology tools for learning are beyond our current capabilities. Both mobile carts and the computer lab are used nearly every hour of the day, often involving negotiations among staff.” Currently computers are being used in classrooms for instruction and assessment differentiation, additional or alternative practice and presentations, research, writing, project creations and presentation, and collaboration.

In addition, the list grows daily of learning options that teachers currently forego because of limitations to computer access. The committee report also outlines a body of research that indicates the multiple benefits - both academic and non-academic - to students and teachers when students have ready access to computer technology in the classroom.

I’m so proud of the progress our faculty members make every year in their undying commitment to preparing our children for learning and for life. That, coupled with our careful stewardship of resources, truly makes EDS the best educational value in the country!

By Saving, Do We Condemn Our Children?

noreply@blogger.com (Ned R. Murray) — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 19:03:00 +0000

Kay Wyma’s recent talks to EDS parents and faculty were on an old topic but with a startling new revelation. She wove delightfully familiar parenting stories that were alternatingly affirming and provocative. Wyma has found an endearing style to deliver fairly straight talk to parents about how to work against the contemporary culture of entitlement. Although this is not a new topic, especially in the independent school world, Mrs. Wyma delivered one piece of information that stopped me cold in my tracks.

Over the past decade and a half, I’ve attended many similarly themed workshops and have worked with the likes of Stephen Glenn (author of How to Raise Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World) and Wendy Mogel (author of Blessings of a Skinned Knee), whose books I recommend along with Mrs. Wyma’s Cleaning House: A Mom’s 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement. Each of these experts in his or her own way has made a compelling case that parents today overprotect children. We all are familiar with clever terms such as helicopter parenting, bubble-wrap parenting, and smothering. However, until Mrs. Wyma quoted some important research, I did not realize the potentially dire consequences of this parenting style.

It turns out we risk far more than merely raising spoiled, entitled young people. Overprotective over-parenting has been linked to increases in anxiety and depression among young people. The very issues that lead many to over-involvement in their children’s lives—wanting to protect them from the damaging effects of conflict, disappointment, struggle, and failure—are actually exacerbated by our well-intentioned efforts. The cure is spreading the disease.

This is counter-intuitive for most of us. I think parents often justify the trade-off in ways that go something like this, “I will risk spoiling my child a little bit (they’re just precious children after all) in order to protect them from becoming hurt, anxious, depressed, or disillusioned with school or life.” Others like Glenn and Mogel have questioned whether that’s a good trade-off, but Wyma brings to light research that reveals it’s no trade-off at all. This is not a question of parenting styles and choices, it’s a matter of consequences. Quite simply, over-protection is a terribly misleading term, it leads to increases in anxiety, depression, and diminished success in life.

The lesson is clear. We need to love our children, believe in our children, trust our children, and let them struggle with the challenges that life presents them. They will be stronger, wiser, and happier as a result.

A Revolution Underway in Education

noreply@blogger.com (Ned R. Murray) — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 00:21:00 +0000

Here is a link to a youtube video of a talk I gave recently to Leadership Augusta. It outlines my thoughts about revolutionary changes happening in education and what higher education will look like in the coming decades. I try to make a case that the four-year residential college will be a thing of the past -- and so will the four-year degree. What will education look like? Watch....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlEw7bn1VFw
This next video is of my talk to Leadership Columbia County. In this video, I summarize the same argument in the first few minutes, but focus instead on the critical importance of schools more intentionally teaching and nurturing non-cognitive skills (often called 21st century skills) to prepare students for this new landscape. This talk is about the same as the last one until about 7:30 at which point I turn the focus of this one to the non-cognitive skills that will be needed to be a victor in the 21st Century. I also offer some of the research on non-cognitive skills as a good or better predictor of academic performance and life satisfaction than grades, IQ, SSAT scores and other cognitive measures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?edit=vd&v=QHfDk7k2gyQ

Marketing Idea

noreply@blogger.com (Ned R. Murray) — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 13:28:00 +0000

Here is a link to a nice article about a marketing consortium I helped found. It's from the newsletter of the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS), of which I am a board member.

This is a link to the SAIS newsletter (see third article down).

This is a link to just the pdf article:

Nimbleness, Responsiveness, Innovation, Accountability: How Independent Schools Meet 21st Century Demands

noreply@blogger.com (Ned R. Murray) — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 13:34:00 +0000

In his book, “Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World,” Harvard education specialist Tony Wagner asserts that our current K-12 education systems are not “teaching the skills that matter most in the market place.” In an interview with Thomas Friedman, he explains, “Today, because knowledge is available on every internet-connected device, what you know matters far less that what you can do with what you know.”

We all know the world is changing; and changing more rapidly than ever in the history of man. Schools today must pay attention to those changes and respond accordingly. Unfortunately most of our schools are not nimble enough to respond appropriately to the changing landscape. Large, bureaucratic state-run systems are hampered by their sheer size as well as an inordinate emphasis on content and a single standardized state test. America’s bi-cameral political system is intentionally designed for change to be slow, which helps keep our government from following cultural fads rather than leading the culture. But this plodding, monetized political process is not conducive to making the necessary adjustments in education that today’s student deserves.

This is the great value and purpose of independent schools. Independent schools, which are locally run and funded, can be nimble, responsive, and innovative while being truly accountable to results.

Nimbleness: Independent school can respond to changing conditions in thoughtful, incremental ways that keep the students’ needs central. For instance, because they have site-control of budgets, they can make sensitive and sensible adjustments in economic downturns without resorting to draconian measures – such a reducing services, eliminating critical programs, or reducing teaching days -- that impact students and learning.

Responsiveness: Independent school communities are small by design and engage parents and the larger community with intention. Independent schools are student-centered and have as their mission the individual growth of individual students. This allows for appropriate responses to individual student and family needs, as is mission appropriate for the school. Most importantly, independent schools can focus time, energy, resources and instruction around what Thomas Friedman calls the vital “soft skills,” such as resilience, creative problem solving, collaboration, cultural competency, and ethical values.

Innovation: Again, because the governance is located at the school, Independent schools have a greater ability to be innovative, to quickly implement good ideas and new technologies, to run pilot programs, and sample curricular changes.

Accountability: Independence does not mean freedom from accountability. In fact, the best independent schools use a variety of assessment tools and data to evaluate their performance and outcomes – both academic and “soft” skills -- including multiple nationally standardized tests, competitive high school and college placement, teacher observation and assessment, and tracking alumni performance in school and beyond.

Tony Wagner says, “We teach and test things most students have no interest in and will never need, and facts that they can Google and will forget as soon as the test is over.” By contrast, a good independent school’s mission is to exercise nimbleness, responsiveness, innovation, and accountability in ways that take into account the development of the whole person with the skills and attributes necessary to lead meaningful, productive, and satisfying lives in the 21^st century.

The Attitude of Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:57:00 +0000

This year I had the unusual pleasure of attending Thanksgiving chapel at three different Episcopal schools. It’s as if God knows when we need to hear the message more than once! Here is the message I heard in three, different, compelling ways with three different communities: as we move away from the holiday of Thanksgiving and into the season marked by giving and receiving, let us take with us the attitude of gratitude. If we could adopt the spirit of thanksgiving all year long, everything – yes, everything – would change.

At our Thanksgiving chapel this year, Bishop Scott Benhase reminded us that “the prayer of thanksgiving precedes all prayers, and the attitude of thanksgiving precedes all other virtues.” An attitude of thanksgiving must come first before all else.

At the Thanksgiving chapel at St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, DE, the Headmaster, Tad Roach, described various levels of gratitude. At its simplest level, thanksgiving is expressed in notes and cards, by saying please and thank you as we teach young people to do, and acknowledging an act of kindness from someone. At a higher level of gratitude, we contemplate and consider the blessings of many people in our lives – parents, friends, teachers, mentors, and others who have loved and supported us. At a higher, more developed stage of gratitude, we begin to understand the countless unknown people who have contributed through sacrifice to our well-being, safety, and pursuit of happiness. When we think about the concept of Thanksgiving this way, Roach says, “We see that giving thanks frees us from the temptation to see ourselves as the center of the universe, magically entitled to privileges, rights, resources, and honors…When we give thanks, we begin to peel away what George Eliot calls ‘our moral stupidity’ – our inability to see that our own desires, our own needs, our own anxieties, and our own preoccupations fade away in complete insignificance in light of the human drama going on all around us.”

The highest level of thanksgiving, according to Roach, is expressed when we live out this gratitude in celebration of the human spirit and God’s love for us – when we become the giver of sacrificial support rather than merely the recipient. When we choose to live, speak, and act in ways that are more civil, more humane, and more generous, we become Thanksgiving.

So let us not leave Thanksgiving behind. Let us embrace it and take it with us into this season of Advent. Let’s make an attitude of gratitude our shield and defense against the selfish, profane lopsided priorities that can so easily hijack the season of Christmas and the entry into a new year. If we could adopt the spirit of Thanksgiving all year long, everything – yes, everything – could change.

The EDS Advantage

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:37:00 +0000

GREAT NEWS! Please read this, because you probably either don’t know it or you take it for granted. We all do. It’s hiding right in front of us in plain sight, but we get distracted and become focused on other, less important matters.

Here’s the bottom line: as parents we are missing the boat when we hyper-focus on singular, narrow variables in an academic program (e.g., relatively minor variations in grades, test-scores, class sizes, homework, etc.). We disadvantage our children when we protect them from adversity, conflict, and even failure. We disservice them when we de-emphasize the value and importance of non-academic learning and experiences.

Don’t get me wrong, I am as big an academic snob as anyone you will find, and I want students on the most rigorous path for which they are capable. But the research is clearer that this can only be achieved if students are simultaneously developing non-cognitive skills and character traits. Even more importantly, the deliberate development of non-cognitive skills will lead to greater professional success and sense of well-being.

Here’s what’s not news: This is the fundamental principle upon which EDS was founded. EDS wasn’t created because there was a shortage of places for Augusta’s children to learn math and read great works. EDS was created to help young people develop their whole selves into well-rounded and well-grounded citizens and children of God. We are intentional and purposeful about this in ways that exceed any other schools in the area. We understand that attention to this aspect of development supports academic progress and leads to more effective citizens with higher levels of satisfaction. For example:

· We are the only school in the area that has a required PreK3-8th religion, religious history, and theology course of curriculum, complemented by daily prayer and pledge, weekly chapel, and monthly communion, led by a full time ordained chaplain.

· Our students have the most extensive available public speaking and presentation training, practice and experience in PreK-8^thgrades.

· We have an intentional leadership curriculum, including authentic leadership roles and experiences, that has been upheld as a national model of excellence by the Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education.

· We don't just take school trips, we’ve taken the care to develop a scope and sequence of integrated experiential education programming into all grades as community experiences.

· When anti-bullying programs became the trend, EDS aimed higher and developed CORE, an integrated approach, involving parents, teachers, and students in an ongoing effort to promote the kind of school culture for which we strive.

· Our teachers have worked to identify a specific set of non-cognitive, affective skills as part of our Core Outcomes, along with rubrics for determining progress.

· Our teachers all believe that the character traits they are teaching are as central and important as the academic content.

· We create formative experiences in which students face appropriate challenge, conflict, and adversity as teaching tools.

· We are one of only 18 top schools in the country who take this information seriously enough to partner with ETS in developing the first-ever, scientifically supported non-cognitive skill assessment for middle school students.

I could go on, but you get the point. I haven’t even touched upon our commitment to the formative programs in the arts and athletics, the fact that we have a full-time nurse unequalled in her qualifications and experience, the team approach we take to problem-solving and conflict resolution, and our commitment of time and money to professional development.

The links below clearly reveal that these things matter. They help academic achievement and they lead to success, meaning, and satisfaction. At EDS we don’t just strive to do schooling better, we strive to do better schooling.

This American Life podcast from 9/14 about non-cognitive skills:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/474/back-to-school

Which Traits Predict Success from Wired.com science blog:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/what-is-success-true-grit/

Back to School: Why Grit is More Important Than Good Grades from Time Magazine

http://ideas.time.com/2012/09/05/why-grit-is-more-important-than-grades/

Research from the Universities of Michigan and Rhode Island show the positive results of perseverance, love, gratitude, and prudence:

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55841/1/398_ftp.pdf

My Sept. 10 blog entry (in case you missed it) about the Stanford study of the impact of awe:

http://beyondmurraysmusings.blogspot.com/

Inspiring Awe

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 11:05:00 +0000

As part of a weekly reflection from the Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools, The Rev. Dan Heischman introduced us to a fascinating article in livescience.com about a recent study: “Stanford University researchers have discovered that awe—as opposed to joy or other positive emotions—gives people the sense that time has slowed down…[they] reported feeling less hurried. What’s more, they turned out to be, as a group, more likely to donate their money to charity, less absorbed with materials goods, and generally reported higher levels of satisfaction with their lives.”

Heischman comments, “As she put it, gazing at a mountain vista, a stunning landscape, or listening to a great symphony may well turn out to help people…There are few things that we hope more for our students than that they feel less rushed in the rat race of life, more patient, and more compassionate toward others. So, too, we wish them to be generous, less materialistic, and feel a certain level of satisfaction with life.”

It appears that helping students experience a sense of awe promotes these outcomes. And EDS promotes awe. I will think about this next week while I am in the middle of Pisgah National Forest overlooking God’s awesome creation while on the 8^th grade Outward Bound trip. This is just one of the many ways we get students into the natural world to discover and marvel at creation. Our new hands-on science curriculum is all about exploring the awe-inspiring miracle of creation. But it’s not just in the natural world. I’ve watched our teachers inspire awe in the discovery of the power of a great book, the magic of numbers, the stories of great leaders and history-shapers, the beauty of music and art, and most of all in the exploration of the mystery of faith. Who is better equipped to promote opportunities to experience awe than an Episcopal school community that prays together, reads and studies the great story of Judeo-Christian history, and worships as a community in a beautiful, awe-inspiring chapel?

I’ve known all along that we promote the experience of awe at EDS. What Dan Heischman pointed out to me is that there is a new study that confirms the benefits. Just another value-added of the EDS experience.

A Great New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:14:00 +0000

When the alarm goes off tomorrow and you struggle through the early morning preparations, it might feel as though it's the beginning of yet another year of school in a long education career. But it's not merely that. Take a minute to use your crystal ball and think about all that will happen this year for each individual child. It will be a year of amazing, miraculous, mysterious, and magical growth and transformation.

Think about it: in addition to academic preparation that matches the best schools in the country, each EDS student will add riches to his or her treasure trove of formational experiences and memories. They will experience what it means to live in community. They will experience new benefits from that community as well as new levels of personal responsibility. Through whatever happens in their world this year, they will experience daily life in a community that prays and worships together.

Some students will suddenly discover the magic of reading or the liberating power of tying one's own shoe. Third graders will transform into a famous historical figure while fourth graders will conduct in-depth research on a state, and both will be creatively presented to the entire community. Fifth graders will sing and dance their way through a major musical theater production, and the eighth grade will practice five days of leave no trace living in the backcountry.

These are just a few examples of the major experiential events integrated into the EDS curriculum. Remember also that every day EDS students will be adding to their treasure chests through experiences intentionally planned by us as well as those that are simply part of life happening.

They will experience triumph and setbacks, conflict and conflict resolution. They will experience the humanity of those less fortunate and the joy of service to others.

We take seriously our mission to prepare students not just for high school but for life in this shrinking, rapidly changing 21st century world. Therefore we have intentionally crafted an amazing set of experiences in the context of a remarkable community of care that will enrich their preparation by building resilience, problem solving, community mindedness, humility, compassion, and so much more.

So fasten your seatbelts. It's not just another year at EDS; it's a year in which your child will grow and transform before your very eyes - in ways expected and unexpected. And watch out. You might also!

Somehow each day, brick by brick, a foundation is built.

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Tue, 29 May 2012 15:34:00 +0000

Have you noticed that as we get older, days pass more slowly but the years more quickly. As quickly as it passed, though, I can’t believe all that has been accomplished in this year. Has it really been only a year? So much has happened. These children have changed and grown in remarkable ways. The kindergarteners are ready for first grade, our 5th graders are ready for the new challenges of middle school, and our 8th graders are more than ready to lead and excel in their high school of choice. How does this happen?

It seems so miraculous at times. Just blink and the world is transformed -- especially the children within it. Over the course of one short year, how many firsts does a child experience at EDS? How many children read their first sentence this year? How many learned new strategies for multiplication and division? How many read the Preamble to the Constitution for the first time? How many made a new friend or learned the value of saying, “I’m sorry.”

If we had a stop-action camera and time to watch, we could capture and focus on each and every one of these moments – like watching a caterpillar transform into a butterfly on the Discovery channel. But we don’t. We can’t. We are busy living our lives, and we wake up one day to realize the place is in full, glorious bloom.

Somehow each day, brick by brick, a foundation is built. A foundation – for learning, for relationships, for lives of meaning -- that will serve these children wherever they choose to go. There is miracle and mystery at work in that transformation at EDS, and for that we give thanks to God. But there is also a great deal of human labor -- teachers giving, teaching, loving, re-teaching. And for that we also give thanks to the people of EDS

--Thanks to all who helped support the school through the annual fund, major gifts, planned giving, and endowment support. These bring the resources that take us from good to great.

--Thanks for the work, fellowship, and fund-raising efforts on behalf of the school by the Parent Association and all who participated in Association events and activities.

--Thanks to the volunteer members of the Board of Trustees who ensure that the school is sound and who work tirelessly to secure its future in ways that most people never know.

--Thanks to all the wonderful teachers who give and give and give to children as if they were their own.

--Thanks to each and every parent, who fights the occasional battle over getting out of bed, getting homework done, or getting in dress code -- the parents who every day focus on success and excellence for their children and make the necessary sacrifices so their children may have the strongest possible foundation for learning and for life.

--Thanks to all of the faculty and staff who are not classroom teachers but who none the less teach valuable lessons about life and love every day: “Your work is Love made visible.”

--Thanks mostly to the incredible students in our school. They are not just the purpose for our being here, they are the joy that lights up each day and lightens each burden.

Through all these efforts each day, together we build and sustain a school that adds value to the community. For the children, we build a foundation, brick by brick. A foundation – for learning, for relationships, for lives of meaning -- that will serve them wherever they choose to go.

There is miracle and mystery at work here, and for that, most of all, we give thanks to God.

Have a great summer and read some good books!

Through the Eyes of Others

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:31:00 +0000

It’s a rare gift to be able to see yourself on occasion through the eyes of others, and recently EDS has experienced that privilege. Over the past several weeks we have had talented, experienced educators with both public and private school backgrounds spend significant time on campus. We organize extensive visits for candidates for teaching and administrative positions because we want to get a full picture of them in a variety of contexts and with different constituencies, but also because we want them to get a full and honest picture of who we are. I meet with candidates at the end of their time with us in part to gather their reflections. Now, of course, in these sessions one wouldn’t expect an applicant to be overly critical, but you might expect only vague or general niceties from someone unimpressed. In our case these educators’ responses have been unusually specific, detailed, and – most interestingly – consistent from candidate to candidate. As I sat in meeting after meeting listening to how these folks have experienced and observed us, I kept thinking, “Oh how I wish the faculty could hear this” or “I wish our parents could be in this room right now.” It finally occurred to me that I could review my notes and offer some notable quotes from these meetings.

Most remarkable was the consistency with which nearly every candidate opened his or her observations. Every one started with something like, “This is an incredibly warm, loving environment.” They also noted the friendly, collegial nature of the faculty, and how happy the students seem. Many remarked with some surprise at how welcoming the students are, often initiating conversation, looking them in the eye, shaking their hands, etc. And they noted that the school is child-centric, oriented around the needs and well being of students.

In addition to these broad observations about the school climate they universally made, below are just some of the individual observations I collected from them:

“I observed some really fine teaching.”

“I’m really impressed with the way everyone works together and the climate of respect – for each other and for the students.”

“The website was extremely helpful and informative, and the school matches the image presented there.”

“The curriculum is impressive.”

“I really enjoyed the students; they were so engaging, and they really love their school.”

“I’m impressed by the vision for the future that people have for the school.”

“The most important thing to me in my search is the climate and culture of the school, and EDS has exactly the ‘feel’ I am looking for.”

“These teachers really know their stuff AND know the kids. It was fun to watch.”

“I can see why good teachers would want to stay here.”

“They are working hard and having fun. That’s a great balance.”

“I could see the Holy Spirit at work here – and not just in chapel but throughout the school.”

"Your third grade has a tea that honors Shakespeare? That's very, very cool. You do things here that are simply wonderful!"

Sometimes we forget or take for granted what an unusually special place this is in which to study, learn, work, play, pray and be. I invite you to step back and see us through the eyes of educators who collectively have been in a vast array of schools around the area and country and who rather quickly picked up on our strong identity, clear mission, and special culture.

Were you paying attention?

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:07:00 +0000

Wherever you were last week, I hope you took time to notice the remarkable story of Bubba Watson, the wonder of Spring’s rejuvenation of nature, and most of all the mystery and miracle of Easter. All around us the story of hope was resounding; the reality of rebirth was flowering; and we were reminded once again that there are forces much greater than ourselves at play.

So often – especially as parents – we get hyper-focused on our little world and the daily ups and downs. We too quickly lose perspective. We blow small things out of proportion. Most importantly, we lose sight of the big picture, the larger story at play – the story in which we are but a part. The Easter story is our story, and the arc of human history is ours.

Our culture makes a big deal of New Years, and I tout the promise of school starting. But is there really any better time than now to put our lives back in perspective and focus on what really matters? In the midst of all of our busy-ness and attempts to foster the illusion that we have control over our lives, is there any better time than now to be reminded of our greater call and purpose? This is the joy and beauty of being a part of Episcopal Day School. As we do the daily business of school, we are also intentional about staying mindful of God’s will and purpose at work through us. There is something much larger than us – individually and collectively – at work in this place. Are you paying attention?

What matters?

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:00:00 +0000

What do these terms mean: the average American, middle class, the typical American voter, one percenters, conservative, liberal, moderate?

I honestly am not sure. We hear (and use) these terms – and several others – nearly every day, but they defy clear definition. Ask 100 people to define them, and you’ll get 100 different answers.

What I do know is that these terms typically over-simplify a complex reality. They tend to artificially group us and unnecessarily divide us.

I know that every day provides evidence that the average American is ill-informed, disengaged, selfish, petty, shallow, and greedy – just watch the news and reality tv. Every day also provides reminders of the greatness of the American spirit and character. Average Americans built the greatest and most innovative country on the planet. The most notable thing about Medal of Honor recipient Bruce Crandall, who spoke to our middle school the other day (click here for slideshow), is that he is just a regular American guy. It makes you wonder about the capacity of all those regular American soldiers you see in airports across the nation. Every day provides stories of success, triumph, and everyday heroism (just talk to any employed single parent, for instance, about their lives).

I don’t know what to make of all this. I don’t know if we are in decline, ascendancy, or holding pat. I don’t know what all the political, economic, social, and religious turmoil means about us or for us.

All I know is that education can make a difference. Education can matter.

Some schools were created to provide citizens with basic minimum literacy. Some schools were created to protect the privilege of the wealthy. Some schools were created to bypass racial integration. EDS was created with a different mission; EDS was created to make a difference; and we hold true to that mission today.

So we don’t just teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. We teach our students to think and analyze carefully. We teach them how to communicate effectively to a variety of audiences in multiple contexts and through a variety of media. We teach discernment and judgment. We explore creative expression, aesthetic sensibility, and courage. We don’t teach just scientific information, we teach the scientific method. We teach a second language, but we also teach multi-cultural competency. We teach them how to be safe and healthy AND that their bodies are God’s temple. We teach and practice both leadership and followership and to consider when which is appropriate. We teach personal confidence and capacity, and we teach humility and perspective. We teach them that they have unfathomable capabilities as individuals but that they have no meaning without community. We teach and practice resilience and perseverance, compassion and service. We teach the Bible, and we teach theological thinking. We teach them that they are God’s creation and part of his plan. And so, so much more.

I don’t know what to make of what’s going on in the world, but I know what we are about at EDS. We are on a mission. For the sake of each individual child, for the sake of the family, and for the sake of the larger community, we are doing our best to equip them with the skills, knowledge, and attributes that they will need to not only make sense of the world to come but to have a positive impact on it – for their own sakes, for the sake of their fellow man, and for the sake of our loving Creator.

EDS: an education that matters.

Through Christmas and Beyond

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:18:00 +0000

It has been as busy as Santa’s Workshop around here. In preparation for the cold of winter, we’ve collected food, books, and coats for those less fortunate. Fifth grade student have put hours into earning first place in Georgia on the online math competition Sumdog, and our Academic Team has risen to tenth in the state. Preschoolers practiced and prepared a public presentation of the Nativity. Lower schoolers engaged in the Posada, in which the Holy Family visits room to room on their way to Bethlehem. Four basketball teams, our cheerleaders, and our inaugural swim team have been working hard to be prepared for successful competition. More than forty members of our two choirs and praise band have been preparing for various performances. Middle schoolers have been studying and preparing for exams, an exciting new growth experience for the 6^th graders.

That’s just what I can think of at the moment; I’m sure there’s more. The place is as busy and full of anticipation as the North Pole. But on December 24, Santa sets off to spread gifts and good will wherever he goes, and then, unlike here, the North Pole goes quiet and still for months. Long after we have forgotten about Santa and tucked our decorations safely back in the attic, EDS will still be a hive of purposeful activity with every day dedicated to preparation and anticipation. Our students and faculty will remain fully engaged in laying the foundations for lives of meaning and purpose.

Already we are preparing for next year’s progress; in this Panther Prints is next year’s calendar; and when you return in January we will have a number of announcements about the future. You will soon receive save-the-date information about this year’s State of the School presentation, which will be very different from last year’s and at which we will engage attendees in some brief but important work that will lay the foundation for our next stage of strategic planning.

As with most of the rest of the world, EDS has certainly felt some of the impact of this economy. But our hard-working, dedicated Board and administration have remained steadfastly focused on ensuring quality, maintaining our class size commitment, sustaining important programs, and protecting services to families. We continue to find creative ways to be flexible and responsive to ever-changing conditions without sacrificing the student experience. So although the waters are choppy at times and difficult decisions are necessary, we have a great crew, a steady grasp on the wheel, and a course charted for an even brighter future with exciting things on the horizon.

The Santa story is lovely, but it is temporal and temporary -- not enduring in the way the real Christmas story is. That’s more like the work that we are doing -- ongoing preparation, working to build lives of purpose and service to God’s amazing world. We are hard at work laying the foundations for meaningful lives, with the sense that something momentous is about to occur, and our students will be ready.

All of us at EDS wish you a wonderful, magical, fun Christmas break. We hope Santa visits your home. But more importantly, we hope you and your family find time to reflect upon and celebrate Emmanuel, God With Us.

“ ‘To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And all at once there was with the angel a great company of the heavenly host, singing the praises of God, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’ ”

Have a very Happy Christmas! Turn off the bad news and celebrate the good news.

The "stuff" doesn't really matter.

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:42:00 +0000

I hope your Thanksgiving was a wonderful celebration of family for you, for the love of family is one of the greatest blessings in this life.

It is my fervent hope that at EDS we can sustain some of this attitude of gratitude as we enter the season of Advent. Thanksgiving was not even over before the secular world had grabbed our attention way from gratitude and abundance and begun to turn our minds toward wanting and scarcity, away from giving and toward getting.

As Father Sawyer wrote to our faculty this week, Advent is “a season of hope, as prophesied long ago by Isaiah, who spoke of the coming of the Messiah, saying, ‘A people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.’ The focus of our Advent activities should be on God’s gift of Jesus to us and the light of God’s love that we can share with each other and the world.”

In this context, it seems to me that Christmas flows naturally out of our Thanksgiving celebrations. From All Saints Day to 8^th Grade Grandparents Day to Veterans Day to Thanksgiving, we have celebrated the abundant gift of others in our lives. It is fitting to conclude this season and this calendar year (ironically the beginning of the church year) with anticipation and preparation for the greatest gift of all.

I invite you, the EDS community, to join us this year in being counter-cultural. Help us push back against the onslaught of secular distractions and mythology that have intruded upon this beautiful season of preparation. Help us remind our children that the “stuff” doesn’t really matter. Things will not make us whole, happy, successful or fulfilled. Things are temporal and temporary; Christ’s love is eternal; and we are called in this season to reflect the light of God’s love to each other and the world – unconditionally. While you are making lists and checking them twice, I hope you will join us by making a list of ways to tone down the commercial Christmas and upgrade your celebration of the religious holiday this year. It doesn’t take much. A little bit of Christ’s love goes a long way (remember my October blog about how long it would take to transform the world).

Happy Advent. Prepare the way.

It's What You Don't See

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:22:00 +0000

As soon as I saw this scene of football shoulder pads drying in the sunny courtyard, I knew I had to write this column. I immediately asked Erica to take the picture above. Most people probably didn’t even notice them as they scurried by, but as soon as I saw them, I saw an entire story with a large cast of characters spanning months and years, symbolizing in one snapshot the very essence of what makes EDS unique.

Okay, I can hear you now, “Only Ned would make a mountainous column out of a molehill of pads!” But seriously, follow me on this little internal dialogue I had with myself. Q: Twenty some shoulder pads upturned in the courtyard sun. Why? A: I suppose they must be drying! Q: But from what? Football season is over. A: I don’t know. I guess someone must have washed them before they are to be put away. Q: Who is our shoulder pad washer and how did they know to do this? I would never have thought about that! A: Me neither! I guess our athletic director Carol Trammell did that. I wonder how you wash shoulder pads and how long it takes and how she thought to dry them in the sun.

And my mind was off and running. Probably none of the people who enjoyed the games this year or whose children played football would stop to think about this little but important and time-consuming detail or the hundreds of other details that went into starting our first ever football team – researching student equipment, practice equipment, finding coaches, developing a schedule, arranging fields, researching safety and liability issues, transportation, equipment storage, and on and on. Most people see only the tip of the iceberg, the end result.

Then I think of all the work and activity you don’t see around here. If you look beneath the surface, you will be amazed by the volume, scope, and pace of the work life of a teacher. Think for a moment about planning lessons that will engage students all day -- preparing materials, responding to questions and managing unexpected disruptions, grading papers, correspondence with parents, decorating the room. Remember also that EDS teachers are responsible for much more than just academic instruction. We expect them to be expert at interpersonal and conflict management, using random events as teachable moments for citizenship and ethical decision-making. Then think about the attention required for professional development: analyzing student performance and test scores, reading up on the latest in brain research, curriculum, pedagogy and use of technology. Add to that minor first aid and the care and attention of emotional bruises that are collected along the way. And on and on.

As parents, we see only the tip of the iceberg, even if it seems like the entire iceberg to us. We see our children’s homework, graded work, quarterly progress reports, and their mood and recollections at the end of each day. Just a few data points from this vast enterprise called EDS.

Then look even a little deeper at all of the details you don’t see that are in support of the classroom: religious stewardship, pastoral care, complex financial planning, ordering, billing, facility maintenance and management, fundraising efforts, long range planning, governance, technology infrastructure, scheduling, carpool and much more!

What you do see – the tip of the iceberg – is remarkable enough. We have plenty of data to confirm that our students’ academic preparation is vastly greater than most and on par with the country’s best. We have collected an impressive track record of success and participation in athletics. We accomplish this with remarkable financial efficiency, increasing the value of your investment.

But it’s all the stuff beneath the surface and behind the scenes that truly makes the amazing, mysterious, magical difference of an EDS education. It’s the dedication of our faculty to go way beyond the call of duty. It’s the engaged, supportive, and hard-working parent body. It’s the spirit of community in which we all roll up our sleeves and lend a hand when it’s needed. But most of all, it’s the fact that we are on a mission and that everything we do is Christ-led and student-centered.

There are plenty of busy workplaces in the world. But as General Foley observed to us last week, “There’s something special going on at EDS.” Just remember from time to time to look beneath the surface.

Interconnected

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:05:00 +0000

We are in a season of celebrating community and interconnectedness at EDS. Last week we remembered All Saints and All Souls in chapel, and Friday we celebrated a beautiful 8^th Grade Grandparents’ and Grandfriends’ Day. This Friday we honor veterans and those currently serving our nation in our annual Veterans’ Day ceremony.

These events are not just isolated holidays on the calendar for us at EDS; they are central to our identity and mission. EDS is founded on the understanding that Jesus doesn’t call us simply to be better individuals and into singular relationship with God -- although he does say the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul. Jesus quickly adds that the second commandment is as great as the first: to love one another. He clearly calls us to live in relationship with each other as well as with God.

In equal parts, we are called to be our best selves, to grow in to closer relationship with God, and to be in loving community with mankind. This understanding is fundamental to the EDS mission and education. Our mission calls for us to commit to much more than merely providing for the minimal literacy needs of our students. Surely we provide that, but our loftier mission is to help students acquire and apply those skills in a theological context of meaning and purpose. We don’t want to help grow just good students, but good citizens, good people, good parents and spouses. Our goal is not to send students into the world well prepared merely for high school but also well prepared to make a positive difference and to be meaningful contributors to God’s community. This, in fact, is the greatest aspect that sets EDS apart from other schools.

So it is important and meaningful that we take time to teach our students about the others in the world who have paved the way for them. It’s not just a nice thing to do, it’s central to our educational mission to take time to learn about and remember the contributions of saints, grandparents, veterans, and others in our lives. We are interconnected with creation, and we have nothing, accomplish nothing, and become nothing on our own. We all build on foundations laid by others and with the support of others, so it is fitting that we take time to recognize and remember them.

The Power of Story, a Story of Power

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:32:00 +0000

As an English major, I love the impact of narrative, the inspiration of poetry, and the power of words. But I am also a numbers person and value the way data and numbers also tell or enrich a story. This is about narrative and numbers combining to get at the essential matter of our significance.

It is generally agreed that the population of the planet reached 7 billion this week – today to be precise. The first billion people accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years. It took less than twelve years to grow from 6 to 7 billion.

So how big is 7 billion? CNN Reporter Kyle Almond helps us get our minds around that number with the following tidbits:

--7 billion seconds ago, the year was 1789. That was the year George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. president and Congress met for the first time.
-- If you took 7 billion steps along the Earth's equator -- at two feet per step -- you could walk around the world at least 106 times.
-- The average human is about five feet tall, accounting for children, and if you stack those 7 billion people end to end, they would reach about 1/14th of the way to the sun -- or 27 times the distance to the moon.
-- 7 billion ants, at an average size of three milligrams each, would weigh at least 23 tons (46,297 pounds).

If I am but a mere three milligram ant among 23 tons of ants, how can I possibly make any difference?

Those numbers tell a powerful part of a story, but this is where the narrative and poetry come in. Recently I was privileged to hear a Sunday morning sermon by Rev. Paulsson Rajarigam, an Episcopal priest ordained in the Diocese of Madras (India) who now is both a Vicar and middle school math teacher in New York.

He combines narrative and numbers – religion and math -- in a math problem he gives his students. Referencing the movie “Pay it Forward,” he poses two questions. Suppose one person (you) were to begin a chain by reaching out to one other person in an act of selfless, unconditional love (agape). We know from experience that we are capable of a powerful enough act of love to affect and change both the giver and receiver. And suppose that the next day that person reaches out to another. And if each day the person touched would reach out to another in a daily chain, Rev. Rajarigam asks, would it be possible to reach the entire world with a touch of transformational agape, and how long would it take? Easy, right? Each person, one act one day, would take 7 billion days, which is roughly 19 million years. But the task eventually, although daunting and overwhelming, is numerically possible – until you consider the rate of population growth. It is possible that the chain would never end, always chasing an ever-receding end point.

Now change the problem slightly. Instead of reaching out to just one person, reach out to two. And if each of those makes a commitment to touch two people and so forth, then how long would it take to touch the entire population of the planet?

Do you think that number of days will still be some incomprehensibly large number just smaller than 7 billion days? Maybe half of that? Or a fourth? It turns out that a chain of one person affecting the lives of two, who in turn each affect two more the next day, and so on, will take….(drum roll, please)…33 days.

Yes, that’s right. By making just a small change and a modest and manageable commitment, the world can be changed – every single life touched – in a mere 33 days. Father Rajarigam said, “Jesus is challenging us to join him in transforming the world around us by doing one act of agape – or maybe two – just like he did…you can love God in a meaningful way by showing agape love to the person sitting next to you – or better yet to a total stranger.”

That change can begin with us. The transformation of the world can begin right here. It’s actually quite do-able, if we just commit ourselves, redouble our efforts, align our purpose, and love the Lord, our God, with all our hearts, minds, and souls, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Let it begin with us. Isn’t that, after all, precisely why EDS is here?

Ahead of the Curve

noreply@blogger.com (Erica, who's Swoon Obsessed,) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:32:00 +0000

In August of 2007 I wrote in this column about how we try to find a good balance at EDS for the educative value of challenge and disappointment:

We want to protect our children and delay the loss of innocence that is part of the human condition. We want to build confidence and self-esteem, while simultaneously teaching the value of challenge and struggle. We want to teach acceptance, understanding, and brotherly love, while recognizing that everyone will not always get along well with everyone else. Let’s set a goal this year to diminish our push for perfection. Let’s embrace challenge and occasional disappointment. Let’s try to bring that natural spirit of playfulness to our collective efforts to raise healthy, competent children. This is an exciting time to be a citizen of the world. It is also a challenging time. Let’s commit ourselves to working together to help equip a generation of EDS students to have a meaningful impact on their world.

Again in January of 2010, I wrote about a Francis Drake poem that proclaims the value of challenge and leaving “comfort zones.”

And now the education world is abuzz about an article in this July’s Atlantic Monthly, “How to Land Your Kid in Therapy” (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/how-to-land-your-kid-in-therapy/8555/), in which the author discusses the implications of parents’ obsession with their children’s “happiness.” She claims that we are making it more difficult for our children to grow into healthy happy adults by shielding them from discomfort and failure.

But at EDS we had already advanced the conversation further. Through our leadership in the Elementary Schools Research Collaborative (ESRC), we had already begun work on a project with Educational Testing Services to develop a first-of-its-kind assessment for middle school students in important non-academic but mission-centric areas. One of these areas is the key to making failure and disappointment a learning experience: resilience. Other characteristics we are assessing are ethical decision-making, intrinsic motivation, collaboration, creative problem solving, and time management.

At EDS we are not just talking about these skills. We are defining and describing them, and we are partnering with some of the best K-8 schools and cognitive psychologists in the country to learn how to assess and impact them.

This Sunday’s New York Times Magazine (the education issue) carried the following headline, “What if the Secret to Success is Failure?” (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html?pagewanted=all). It’s an interesting notion. Woven into the article are comments about the importance of “grit” and resilience. This is something that we not only know about at EDS, but we are actively doing something about it. Because it matters.

At EDS we balance good, solid traditional education with an equal focus on the new demands of the 21^st century – without becoming victim to mere fads. And it is clearly paying off. Our graduates report higher and higher levels of satisfaction and preparation.

The teachers truly are building foundations for learning and for life. While the rest of the world talks about it, we see the results every day. Don’t forget to thank an EDS teacher.

What a Difference

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:53:00 +0000

You cannot believe what a difference it makes and so you take it for granted. I first observed it in the fall of 1977. I was a high school junior beginning a 2-year Advanced Placement course of study in English at a rigorous college prep boys’ school. The class produced 9 National Merit Semi-Finalists; 2 went to Harvard, 1 to MIT, 1 to UNC as a Morehead Scholar, 1 to UVA, and on and on. Despite the talent in the room, when the conversations about the reading would begin, there was often a distinct group who left the rest of us in their dust. The group was not divided by GPA or by writing ability; they weren’t identifiably “smarter” than the others. The clear difference was the depth of their knowledge of the Bible.

Now, I had taken plenty of Sunday school, sang in the church choir for a while, and had even read the “Good News” version of the New Testament on my own. But in my class there was a group of students who understood the Bible as much more than a collection of simple stories with simple meaning, as it mostly appeared to me. They seemed to grasp the complexity of the text as a whole. They talked about the stories as if they were about real, complex people seeking truth in the face of the ambiguities of the human experience. They didn’t always read the stories as about right and wrong or good versus evil, but often as about seeming conflicts between two goods, or the need to choose the lesser of two evils. In short, they understood the Bible to be more relevant to our world than I had ever realized.

This observation was reinforced years later when I was a high school English teacher. It did not take long at all to determine which of my students had a keen grasp of the Bible, which had only a surface familiarity with the stories, and which were completely clueless. And those distinctions usually translated into performance differences.

Recently I came across some research that supports those observations. According to a 1986 study, when college English professors were asked which book they wished incoming freshmen had read, the Bible was most frequently named. An analysis of Advanced Placement (AP) literature prep course revealed that 60% of the allusions were from the Bible. In a survey of high school English teachers, 90% said that Bible knowledge “confers a distinct advantage on students…for both college-bound and regular students.” Although it can be difficult to reach agreement as to how to measure Biblical literacy, in study after study, teachers estimate that only a small minority of their students – in public or private schools – are sufficiently familiar with the Bible.

The academic and intellectual advantage is not just in literature. How does one fully understand the development of western society, culture, art, politics and even law, without fully understanding the story of the people and the influence of the Book? And yet fewer than 25% of public schools include a unit or lesson on the Bible within the curriculum and fewer than 8% of all schools offer courses in Bible.

Our religion curriculum is second to none in Augusta or the Episcopal school world in the United States. Developing Bible literacy is an important cornerstone in the Episcopal Day School’s mission of helping these students build foundations for learning and for life, and just another measure of the value you have added by investing in their future. In fact, I would argue that this program alone justifies the difference.

Our Mission - Here for a Reason

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:44:00 +0000

It is clear that EDS students are here for a reason. Somebody has specifically and intentionally chosen this school over other options.
Certainly, the opportunity for a world-class academic foundation is one of those reasons. Our results speak for themselves. For example,
1) All of our students graduate with a high school credit in Algebra, and the vast majority are placed into an honors or advanced math class in 9th grade.
2) Our graduates can read deeply, think analytically, and write persuasively.
3) EDS graduates can begin to put things into geographical and historical perspective.
4) We have the most engaging hands-on science curriculum you can find anywhere.
5) Over half of our 8th graders this year earned National Honors recognition or better on the National Spanish Exam, which is given only to top students in the country.
6) EDS students have studied the fundamentals of ...and have explored expressing themselves through... art and music.

I could continue with this list for a long time, but I contend this is not why families have chosen EDS. This level of academic and intellectual preparation has come to be expected from us in our 67 years. The real difference.... the mortar in the bricks of their foundation, if you will...lies in the other ingredients. These elements are sometimes hidden from plain view, but evidence of them can be seen if you look for them. So I suggest to parents, grandparents, friends and visitors to look closely for the signs of the real difference and real measures of excellence at EDS that make us the school of choice for any PreK-8th grader in the CSRA.

First, at EDS we take seriously (and by take seriously I mean that as a faculty we study, read about, discuss, and experiment with) our mission to instill other competencies, the vital core competencies that will be demanded and expected of our children by the 21st century. At EDS, we are intentional about teaching and instilling them, and we even assess for them!

When you visit or think about EDS, think about our success in teaching and instilling core competencies such as:
1) Public speaking, presentation, and performance...at every grade level
2) Leadership skills at every grade level
(By the way, both of these areas will appear on our online curriculum grid next year alongside math, writing, science, etc. In addition, we are the first K-8 school invited to present our leadership program at a CSEE national conference that typically features high school programs. Who else can make those claims?)
3) Biblical literacy: not just memorization or knowledge of a dozen major stories, but true understanding and knowledge of lesser known stories and prophets, their meaning, where they fit in history, and how they were put together to make the Bible
4) And a whole host of other competencies like resilience, teamwork and collaboration, ethical decision making, creative problem solving.

I could go on. I only ask that you look for the signs of these teachings taking place, and you will see them.

Finally, and even more importantly, we establish a context for all of this learning and skill development. We teach, we live, and we model the important lesson that all that we are, all that we do, all that we teach, and all that we learn has meaning and purpose and is designed to help us better fulfill our God-given potential and our God-given purpose.

You see, we have a little secret around here. From the outside, most people would think we are just doing school like everyone else, teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. However, we are up to something else. Something different is afoot here. Something happens here - something significant, meaningful, life changing, and lifelong. AND THEN... we send it, via our children, the carriers of knowledge, grace, and possibility, out into the world.

So as you look around and watch what is happening here, consider the larger mission and impact. Think about what the world so desperately needs from us and from our children and allow yourself to see the possibility.

Resilience

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:56:00 +0000

“Are we attempting to prepare the road ahead for our children or our children for the road?” This is one of the many provocative gems I picked up last week at my annual meeting of heads from similar sized PreK-8 independent schools around the country. There are 25 of us from coast to coast who founded a research collaborative about 5 years ago based in a belief that our particular kind of schools has both unique needs and unique opportunities that could be more fully realized if we worked together as a group.

For example, our collaboration has led us to a groundbreaking project with Educational Testing Service (ETS), the world’s largest private nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization (http://www.ets.org/about/who/). ETS developed and administered many well known national and international standardized tests such as the GRE, the AP program, and NAEP. They are excited to be working with us on a first-of-its-kind standardized assessment for middle school aged children in critically important areas not traditionally assessed by schools, such as time management, resilience, creative problem solving, teamwork, ethics and intrinsic motivation.

As the project develops you will hear more from me about it, but for now I want to focus on this idea of resilience. We had a rich and long discussion about the growing importance of this characteristic in an ever changing, ever more conflict ridden world. The irony noted by many of my colleagues is that while resilience seems to be growing in importance, our culture seems to be doing more and more to rob our children of opportunities to develop resilience and self-reliance. Much has been written recently about the new parent culture, using terms such as “helicopter parents” and “bubble wrap parents” to describe the phenomenon of increasingly involved and protective parents. Headmasters from every region note that parents more frequently challenge school discipline decisions (spawning the term “defense attorney parents”) –even for minor infractions with small penalties -- and often in front of or with the knowledge of the student. Although I’m not sure it was entirely good, that simply did not happen a generation ago. Add to this skyrocketing pressure for good grades, leading to rampant grade inflation and higher rates of cheating in schools, and for athletic success, leading to countless stories about rule violations and violence in interscholastic athletics.

However, I don’t think it’s as simple as blaming parents for being over-protective. The issue is much larger and lies in matters of human nature and American culture. First of all, many in American schools, media, public service, and private industry do their very best to scare parents about dangers their children might face. Secondly, most schools and child service organizations have been better at driving home the importance of success than we have about the best ways to acquire the skills that lead to success.

So schools – and parents -- need to be counter-cultural in this area, but to do so means getting comfortable with seeming self-contradictions. If it is true that we learn more from our failures than our successes, schools and parents should orchestrate safe, productive failure. If we learn more from challenge than comfort, we must create appropriate discomfort. How can we do this? Consider some of these possibilities:

1) What if we didn’t always and immediately rescue children from frustration or conflict? What if we simply let them wrestle with it, sit in it, wallow in it, even?

2) What if we don’t try to wrap every conflict or disappointment up in a nice, neat explainable package? Some things in life don’t have apparent explanation. Some things in life are never resolved. What if we let our children learn and experience that sooner rather than later, and on some relatively small issues before the big ones hit?

3) What if we let young people take up their own challenges. If there is a conflict with a teacher, suppose we suggest that they go to the teacher to resolve it. And what if we let it be should they choose not to? When they have a conflict with a peer, what if we occasionally said, “How would you like to handle it?” And when the response is, “I don’t know,” what if we simply said, “Well, let me know when you have an idea.”

4) What if we stopped fawning over students about their grades and started commenting on the effort we see? What if our first question after an athletic event weren’t, “Who won?” but instead “Who played well?” or “How did you play? Give me some examples.”

5) What if you didn't rescue that last minute paper, project, or assignment for them? Is it really more important that they get a good grade on an elementary school project than experience the consequences of waiting too late to start or ask for help? I can assure you it won't keep them out of UGA or Harvard. In fact, learning the lesson early might well help them get in.

You get the idea. Make your own list. Yes, part of our job is to guide, protect, and teach our children – to show them the way. But I was reminded last week that part of our job is to “prepare them for the road, not to prepare the road for them.” As Hara Estroff Marano, author of A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting, writes, “Success in the 21st century depends more on knowing what to do when things go wrong than in getting everything right.” When they are young is exactly the time to give them the experience and practice with that, before the stakes are much higher.

All Saints' Day reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Ned R. Murray) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:30:00 +0000

The following is excerpted from some of my remarks at 8^th Grade Grandparents’ Day last Friday. They seem appropriate for all of us on the days following All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day:

“Bernard of Chartres is reputed to have said, ‘We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.’[1]

The visual image of this appears in the stained glass of the south transept of Chartres Cathedral. A window shows the four major prophets of the Hebrew Bible (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel) as gigantic figures, and the four New Testament evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) as ordinary-size people sitting on their shoulders. The evangelists, though smaller, ‘see more’ than the huge prophets (since they saw the Messiah about whom the prophets spoke).

500 years later, Isaac Newton picked up this theme when he wrote to a colleague:

‘What Descartes did was a good step. You have added much several ways. If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.’[2]

AT EDS we often talk about those upon whose shoulders we stand ….father Clarkson and the founders of the school, the students who came before us, the teachers, family members --- and in a few days we will honor and remember the veterans who serve, who served, and who gave their lives for our freedom.

On a regular basis at EDS we talk about our interconnectedness and our interdependence. We talk about the role and importance of community in our lives -- how we need each other, how our actions impact others, and most importantly about our common humanity and brotherhood in Christ.

Every day we pray as a community and give thanks to God for our many blessings, including the rich blessing of those who love and support us….those on whose shoulders we stand.”

We only have what we have because of the love, support, hard work, and sacrifices of so many others. Most of all, we only have what we have because of the generous and unconditional blessings of our Creator.

I encourage you to take time to remember them. Slow down; stop for just a moment. Think of those upon whose shoulders you sit. If they are available, send them a word of thanks. If they are not, send them a prayer of thanks. I believe that by adopting an attitude of gratitude our considerable blessings will be deepened and enriched. It’s worth a try.

[1] Wikipedia contributors, "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants " Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia2010).

[2] "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants " , http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/268025.html (accessed 11/9/2010, 2010).

The value of educating; the cost of not

noreply@blogger.com (Ned R. Murray) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:55:00 +0000

88% of American 8^th graders report that they expect to attend college, and yet only 25% actually graduate from a college or university.

I really hadn’t paid attention to these statistics until recently. I’ve been trying to find ways to calculate and understand the actual value – as opposed to cost – of an EDS education, and came across some staggering information.

Only about 71% of American high school students graduate from high school. Of those graduates, only 70% attend college. And the percentage of American college students who graduate in 6 years or less is only about 50%!!! Do the math and you discover this steady attrition through the system yields college and university diplomas for less than 25% of American 8^th graders.

The implications are staggering to the American economy, culture, political discourse, civil structure – pick your area of interest.

And don’t dismiss this as merely a function of socio-economic sorting. Among the students in the top 20% of our socio-economic strata, still less than half (just over 40%) graduate from college.

Now consider that all of those numbers for EDS graduates are nearly 100%. We don’t claim all the credit, but we get a significant share. By the 8^th grade our students are on a fast track to success. They have the academic and intellectual foundation, work ethic and study habits, aspirations, interpersonal skills, self-knowledge, and sense of purpose to put themselves on the right side of those statistics. What is the value of that – to them and to our community?

Venturing out of Safe Harbor

noreply@blogger.com (Ned R. Murray) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:55:00 +0000

I recently came upon this prayer poem attributed to Sir Francis Drake. It reminds me of one of the more difficult aspects of our job here at EDS. In the context of a loving, nurturing, safe school, we are also called to challenge students, to draw them out of their comfort zones, and to assist them in taking risks that sometimes lead to frustration and failure. We are called sometimes to rattle their complacency, challenge their assumptions, and, yes, at times to even disturb them. If we don’t stretch them now while they are most malleable, if we don’t expand their dreams toward eternity now while time is on their side, then when will it happen? With God’s help and grace, we are helping our children build foundations for learning and for life – upon which they will build lives of meaning and purpose. We sometimes forget that can be difficult, scary and unsettling – as it should be.

Disturb us, Lord when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we have arrived safely
Because we have sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision of the new Heaven dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of and,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength courage, hope, and love.