I grew up in a working-class household, and until I began my career as an educator, my jobs always involved some degree of manual labor. I have paved driveways, loaded trucks on the overnight shift, and held a number of roles at different restaurants. The common denominator in all these endeavors was that my work and effort was measured in terms of physical activity, movement, and exertion. I took pride in the fact that I could push myself when tired and honed my work ethic.
I still benefit from these lessons, especially as the head of a school the size of The Beech Hill School. It is not in my job description, but I have had the pleasure of cleaning bathrooms, shoveling snow, fixing leaks, and completing numerous other forms of labor.
In the last few weeks, however, I have been doing more work between my ears. This is hard for me, as my blue collar back round would suggest, like the Dire Straits song says – “that ain’t workin’.” Fact of the matter is that thinking, creating, and problem solving is very important work – especially as a leader.
This has made me think a lot about work that we do with our students at BHS. While we need to continue to challenge them to physically care for the community through initiatives like our student jobs program; we also need to provide time and space for contemplation, and consideration.
I am grateful for the time that I have carved out for the more cerebral aspects of my job and anticipate that I will continue to do so as the school year begins. Just as we try to impress upon our students that studying is, indeed, homework – planning, thinking, and deliberation is important work.