Graduations and Such
December 26th, 2007December 19 saw four of our young men graduate—two who had done their work and waited in the wings for a month or so, and two just finishing. This was their “formal” graduation—that moment when they are recognized by the community. At MC2, a student will graduate a few times—there’s the graduation research project, which requires a student to bring together all the skills they’ve learned to produce a large work, and there’s that moment when they stand in front of a panel and attempt to prove they did all the state of New Hampshire requires.
But this was the moment they stand in front of the community and have the ceremony which marks them as high school graduates.
This was not my first time at a high school graduation. I’ve seen them for seven years now—nearly 1400 kids, give or take a few. But this was the first time I was involved with one, and the first time there was any role for me to play.
The funny thing about MC2 in particular, and school change in general, is how much better it is for the teachers. Sure, it was designed for the kids, and I firmly believe it meets their needs better. Still, there are a great many teachers who see school change as more work and nothing for them, or who believe there’s something special or magical about this one example that can’t be duplicated. Even though they’re not happy, even though they know it doesn’t serve the kids as well, they go back accepting each week and continue on, if not content with what they have, at least content with what it has given them—and no surprise, right? Spend enough time in any place and it’s possible to deal with the devil and make a home of hell. ¹ But if we get past the work needed to change it’s far better for everyone involved—more meaningful, more pleasant, and more memorable.
Like, for example, this graduation. Usually, there’s a certain sadness, though not for any of the good reasons—missing a good student or just another year over. There’s a sense of bitterness when a student who “slipped through the cracks” gets up and gets the same diploma as a student who worked hard. ² Add in the fact that the only role a teacher has to play is not clapping at the people we don’t like and praying the kids don’t mutiny if we keep them too long, and graduation isn’t what it should be. It’s not that wonderful for the kids either—they’re once more counted off by number, receiving a diploma based on their name or who they sat next to, and the only ones who have a voice are two or three students—determined by grades—and administrators who may not have met these kids at all. ³
Where are the parents? There are so many stories there…the challenge of getting one kid through, the triumph that will never be known by the community. There’s no way to mention the ones who were sick for a year and did all their work at home, the ones who were wonderful actors and actresses, those who marched in every parade, who were never sick, who gave back to their community. These kids aren’t mentioned, these kids don’t have their stories told.
Where are the voices of all the others who worked to get these kids through school? The friends, the mentors and teachers who had something to say, who helped a young man or woman find the way through? The scoutmaster who taught that kid how to survive a night in the woods at sub-zero temperatures? The uncle who brought a kid hunting and inspired a love of the outdoors which led to a career?
What about the student himself? Why do we never allow them to talk? The silence of the students at graduation is emblematic of their silence in the entire process of their education.
There’s a much better joy, and much more meaningful for everyone involved, when education relates to the students, when it’s small and personal. We should offer it to all of them. We can.
Getting small is not a new idea. It’s one of the key attribues of the Coalition of Essential Schools, and with a little work and a little effort, it’s more than possible to do. Nothing says that a school needs to think of itself as a 1300+ unit organism. It can just as easily be broken down into smaller academies, smaller units where each kid would share teachers in a far more personal, less machine-like, way.
The challenge will be working with people who are scared of losing what they have. I get that fear. But the lesson of life is that we have to give up what we think we have in order to get what we want. ⁴ If we’re not willing to risk the little-death of change, then we’re in more danger of dying the real death of obsolescence—and taking too many good people down with us.
1 Not that I’m trying to say high school is as bad as BtVS would make it seem. Still there is something a little sad that a television show with the premise of a school built on top of the opening to Hell would touch such a nerve with teenagers and adults. I mean, nobody remembers elementary school this way…why do we accept it as normal for high school? The big challenge to school change is that, for a person to be in any position to make change requires them to be successful in the system as it currently exists. Leaders are in the unenviable position of needing to turn their back on the very system that put them into the position they currently enjoy. This wouldn’t be fun for anyone, and I don’t envy the need—but it really is a need, not a choice. Sacrifice is hard. ↺
2 It’s even more fun when a student didn’t earn a diploma at all…but whose parents were happy to threaten a lawsuit. Trust me, it’s happened. ↺
3 Admittedly not much of an issue in the schools I’ve worked. I think there’s an admirable attempt to make sure kids are known at MRHS—I’ll always remember how impressed I was with Dr. Dassau for knowing the name of every editor of the paper—but really, 1300+ kids are too many for any single person to know them all, even if just by sight. Everybody tries so hard to make it work in a lousy system—if there were any way of making what we have work, then the people I know would be doing it. But no matter how fast and hard one runs around a wheel, it won’t get anyone down the road. ↺
4 John 12:25 ↺
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Education, Monadnock Community Connections School, Monadnock Regional School District, School Change
