To the Rescue?

Perhaps it is in my DNA, or perhaps it is because I have been in position of authority at a school for over twenty years – I like to solve problems. It gives me great pleasure to know that I had a hand in solving the problems of others.  Whether it is at a faculty meeting, or speaking with a student or parent, my position and experience provide me the opportunity to offer solutions to problems great and small.  Given my longevity in leadership roles, I would like to think that my track record for helping to find successful outcomes is rather strong.

The longer I lead, however, the less inclined I am to jump straight to the role of problem solver.  Call it wisdom, but through the years, I have come to understand that every “problem” that is brought to my attention may not “need” my solution.  Or simply because I am in a position of authority, it does not mean that I must be the arbiter of all things.

For example, a student recently came by my office because they were annoyed by the behavior of their peer.  Immediately, my brain started to kick into the problem-solving mode – that is - what actions could I take that make this all better for the student in my office?  Further, wouldn’t the parents of this student want me to make things better?  As the student went on, however, my instinct to be Super-Head of School subsided.  I realized that this student was indeed uncomfortable, and the peer relationship was a struggle.  But I trust this student, with the support of their advisor, could find ways to improve the situation without me.  In the end by checking my impulses, I am providing a chance to empower my student and to let them develop their own problem-solving skills.  Who knows, maybe I am even helping to create the next great Head of School?

The Curse of Talent

By now, even casual sports fans have heard about the way that the New York Yankees blew a 5 run lead in the World Series.  As a huge fan of the Yankees, this was hard to take, but in the days following their loss in the fall classic, I have come to believe that this year’s Yankee squad suffered from the curse of talent.  From Aaron Judge and Juan Soto to Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton – that team was stacked.  And fortunately for them, they were blessed with an abundance of talent and ability – because throughout the year and throughout the playoffs – they made mistakes that were overshadowed by their heroic homers and abundance of ability.  In fact, when playing against the Cleveland Guardians, the Yankees base running was so poor that long time radio announcer John Sterling pronounced, “That’s what they do – they run the bases like drunks.”

The team was so talented, however, that they were able to get past the many mistakes they made, thus they never really had to reckon with the consequences of not taking care of the details – until they did.  That then is the curse of talent – individuals or groups that are generally so talented that they don’t pay attention to the details that are often required to achieve at the highest level.  In school, it is common to hear of students with strong natural intellect that eschew the need to do things like take notes, study, and pay close attention to reading.  Unfortunately, even the most gifted students run into a situation when their talent can’t cover for their inattention to the little things.

At The Beech Hill School, we have gone to great lengths to guard against the curse of talent.  In addition to assessing our students’ ability to demonstrate understanding of the material that they cover in class, we also assess the way that they go about learning.  Thus, it is possible that a student could try to get by on their talent, but at the same time we are assessing their Learning Process by three very simple metrics – Are they ready to learn, are they trying to learn, and are they allowing others to learn.  By forcing our students to consider how they go about learning, we hope to prepare them for the challenges that are ahead of them in life, when they might not be able to get by simply on talent alone.

I hope that in the off season the Yankees will refocus on the little things and break the curse of talent by winning their 28th World Series next year!

Autonomy and Adversity

The Beech Hill School is fortunate to have strong leadership and guidance from the Board of Directors.  As the School emerges from the pandemic and moves forward in its second decade, the Board has identified the need to revise the mission and the vision of the School.  In doing so, they have helped to bring into sharp focus those things that make The Beech Hill School such a uniquely amazing place.  Specifically, the revised mission has clearly articulated that at The Beech Hill School, we provide our students opportunities for autonomy and adversity.

For those that crave rigid structure and order, autonomy and adversity is unsettling.  Providing adolescents – notorious for making poor choices – the freedom and ability to make choices, seems destined for tragedy – hence adversity.  Those that are more controlling might be more comfortable in a more command and control environment.  At BHS, however, our students learn and grow from the choices they make and managing the results of those choices.  To be sure, we don’t abdicate our role to guide, to support, and in cases of real danger, to limit choices.  Overall, however, we allow our students to get involved in the messy thing called life.

For example, next week we will be holding our first dance of the year.  While this may seem very straightforward, there are many choices that must be considered when holding a dance – what is the dress code, what about guests, who is bringing decorations – and on it goes.  As guided by the mission, I let the students gather by themselves at lunch to try to figure out these details – autonomy.  As one could guess, that meeting devolved, and it soon became apparent that they thought that the loudest voice might be the one that would be heard – adversity.  The next day at Community, I noted the challenge the students faced in trying to make these decisions on their own.  As such, I invited all interested students to my office for lunch, and helped guide them through an organizational meeting.  In short time, we realized that there was much more that they agreed on, and with some guidance quickly came to consensus.

It could have been much more efficient to manage this differently.  At BHS, however, the process is as useful as the outcome.  We will likely have additional dances this year, and I will again provide the autonomy for the students to make the event happen.  It is my hope that they will have learned from their experiences planning this dance. 

Optimism is not in our mission, but it is a prerequisite for leading a middle school!

Persistence

It has been widely reported for many years now that there is a significant gender imbalance in STEM fields.  A number of different initiatives were launched, which aimed to decrease this imbalance and to open the STEM fields to those that have not traditionally been attracted to these roles.  For example, The Beech Hill School has participated in the FIRST Robotics program for over a decade.  Our teams have generally been very well integrated in terms of gender, and the leaders of the team have often been young women.  Based on the widespread participation and popularity of programs like ours, one would imagine that the gender gap might be closing.

As I have shared several times, my son is in his first year at Washington & Lee University, a liberal arts school in Virginia, where there are slightly more female students than males.  I was shocked to learn that there were less than five female students in his Introduction to Engineering course, which has a total enrollment of just over 30.  While this is only one instance, I still found it hard to believe that the imbalance was so pronounced.

Fortunately, at the middle school level, Ms. Fries has boys and girls beating down the door to be part of the robotics and math programs at BHS.  We will continue to encourage all our students to strive for their dreams in any and all disciplines!

Awareness

Last spring, I took our graduating 8th Graders on a trip to Canobie Lake Park.  That day, middle schools from across Northern New England also decided it would be a good day to take students there as well.  Our kids had a great time, made great memories and really enjoyed the freedom to express their autonomy by walking around the park on their own all day.  As a chaperone, I roamed the park all day, and in some ways, this was a study in modern adolescence.  Despite working in schools with middle school students, observing the behaviors of the students “in the wild” was a totally different experience.  

What I found most interesting was their lack of awareness of their surroundings.  I must have been run into nearly 100 times.  Mind you, these kids were not bad kids - they were simply overwhelmed by the freedom, the fun, and their developing brains were overloaded.  However, I believe this is not how it has to be – while it is not easy, I believe that adolescents are capable of being more thoughtful.

On Thursday, I spoke at Community with our students about my experience at Canobie and the way that they have begun to move about BHS.  The other day, a student nearly knocked over a peer, and barely broke stride.  I immediately had a few words with that student, and immediately they realized that they were not even thinking.  Now that our students have acclimated to life at BHS and have become comfortable, it is incredibly important that they learn to become aware of others and their surroundings.  By practicing the appropriately thoughtful behaviors, our students will develop a sense of propriety that, may not come naturally for adolescents, but will become second nature in time.