Finis origina pendet - the end depends on the beginning. This adage is both a provocative and generative notion. As a head of school accredited through the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE), I receive emails about current trends. Most recently, I opened an email that asked me as a school head to reflect on the current work of David Brooks as it relates to the important outcomes of an education and the requisite skills for students moving deeper into the 21st century.
In a NYT column David Brooks discussed recent research that high-lighted a range of deeper talents, which span traditional notions of reason and emotion and which invite us to weigh more profoundly both what we want for our students and what the best process for achieving that end might be. Here are the key skills that David Brooks lays out in the article:
· Attunement: the ability to enter other minds and learn what they have to offer.
· Equipoise: the ability to serenely monitor the movements of one’s own mind and correct for biases and shortcomings.
· Metis: the ability to see patterns in the world and derive a gist from complex situations.
· Sympathy: the ability to fall into a rhythm with those around you and thrive in groups.
· Limerence: This isn’t a skill as much as a motivation. The conscious mind hungers for money and success, but the unconscious mind hungers for those moments of transcendence when the skull line falls away and we are lost in love for another, the challenge of a task or the love of God. Some people seem to experience this drive more powerfully than others.
The questions that flowed out of the article for some consideration by independent school folks were as follows:
· What would a school look like that deliberately seeks to nurture and develop these talents in students?
· To what extent is your school already doing this? How?
· Are independent schools well suited to pursuing such goals?
These are provocative, thought-provoking questions that defy easy answers. It strikes me that Montessori schools are well underway with engendering these capacities in learners through the thoughtful, child centered, empowering self-education that lies at the heart of our rich approach.
Finis origina pendet. Begin with the end in mind. To educate in this vein requires knowing deeply the values that are essential to developing a life-long love of learning
