First year impressions about an Upland education
May 1, 2008
A little over a month ago, I received an email from an Upland alumnus who was forwarding on a video he had seen online at a popular website featuring talks by well-known speakers on matters pertaining to technology, entertainment and design (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66). The speaker is Sir Ken Robinson, author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, who uses his wonderful sense of humor to make a moving case for creating schools that nurture creativity rather than undermine it.
In his speech, Robinson references how skewed the dominant sense of academic success is toward a particular—and outdated—view of intelligence. He argues for schools’ recognition of a more balanced sense in helping to develop young minds, curriculum, assessment, and values. “Our task is to educate their whole being,” he says in the last minute of the edited online speech.
This past February, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) held its annual conference in New York City. The theme of the conference was “Schools of the Future” and I was fortunate enough to attend keynote presentations by Sir Ken Robinson and Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. Pink, like Robinson, argues that the age of “left-brain” dominance is ending because of technological advances, globalization, and a changing landscape in the advanced world. Instead, Pink suggests that schools should emphasize six essential abilities—he terms them design, storytelling, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning before going on to describe each in greater depth—in order to best prepare young minds for the years ahead. Like Robinson, Pink decries a singular and fixed notion of intelligence while simultaneously advocating a balanced approach to education.
It is refreshing to listen to these forward-thinking writers, who were both immensely significant in helping shape the landscape at the NAIS conference, and to see some of their recommendations already at work here at Upland. Take, for instance, the school wide Power Up Gambia work this academic year; led by science teacher Cindy Hiles, integrated work has covered everything from solar panels and alternative sources of energy in science to creating beads and necklaces in art to visiting musicians and an Upland-Power Up Gambia theme song in music. In addition to raising funds and awareness for the energy needs of hospitals in the Gambia, Upland’s lower and upper school students were front and center at the Hagley Museum this month, where their singing, art, and technological acumen were on display for all to see.
Similarly, anyone who has been at school this winter has witnessed Julie Wells and Marcy Mehdizadeh’s fourth grade popcorn project and its ability to cross disciplines and capture the community. From math to marketing, music to history, and community service to environmental studies, these fourth graders have taken a service project idea and launched it into a mini-business that would make any entrepreneur proud!
I see the connections between Sir Ted Robinson, Daniel Pink, and these wonderful exhibitions of teaching-learning. Most importantly, our students are leading the way—Student Council even led a Power Down Day to show what life is like in the Gambia on days when electricity is not available!—and demonstrating how creativity, interconnectedness, empathy, fun, real-life application, experiential learning, challenge, and discovery are all part of an Upland education.
