June 15, 2010

We’re Ready!

Dear Families,

This week’s Eighth Grade Moving Up Ceremony was a wonderful conclusion to a most exciting year. Since a number of you have asked, below is the speech that I gave at the ceremony. Click here for the text of the Marge Piercy poem ‘The Low Road” that Momii read.

You can also find at the bottom of the page links to the summer assignments and the supply lists.

As I mentioned last week, I also hope that the summer provides you with ample opportunities to spend quality time with family and friends and to also think about trying something new together as a family.

Be well,
Mark

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Delivered on Tuesday, June 15, 2010,
on the occasion of the Class of 2014’s Moving Up

It is an honor to be able to share in this day with you; you have worked hard to get to this moment so savor it. As some of you know, it’s become something of a tradition for my words on this occasion to find their inspiration in your dream flags. That decision makes this speech something of a risk because I can’t really begin it until you have finished, which was yesterday morning. Despite the looming deadline, what was reassuring for me as I tried to find my way through the flags last night was that we’ve really been writing this speech together for the last four years. So it’s true that time is relative, our frame of reference – our perspective – really does matter. That was a comforting thought as the clock on my computer screen crept towards this moment, but . . .

I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready . . .

Not my words. They belong to SpongeBob SquarePants and are boldly painted on one of the flags behind you. And what of SpongeBob? Does he really deserve mention at this celebration of your accomplishments? I ask only that you withhold your judgment until we’ve found our path through the flags. So for what are we “ready?” What lies just ahead as we move on from Moving Up? As one of you commented,

Moving on is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard. (1)

We move on all the time, in a way it is like breathing, but as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “You can never step into the same river; for new waters are always flowing on to you.” What the moving on of the river leaves behind is change and change can be hard to accept. Even in this moment, your cherished past is slipping away. So you are right when one of you acknowledges that . . .

Change is inevitable except from vending machines. (2)

And what do you do? Do you stand helpless in front of the machine, defeated and cheated? Or do you embrace the inevitability of this change? As one of you observes, do you understand that you must

Be the change you wish to see in the world, (3)

and that

You have to speak your mind to change the world. (4)

Be and speak – actions and words. They are intertwined. Neither is sufficient. Your words are empty if not followed by actions and action that does not lead to thought, which is embodied in language, does not last. Your middle school experience has sought to strengthen this crucial relationship between these two imperatives at every step. But it is not a simple matter of us just telling you that there is an important relationship here. It is true that . . .

Education is an admirable thing, but it’s well to remember . . . that nothing worth learning can be taught (5)

And that is why we have asked you to spend so much time inquiring, experiencing, questioning, analyzing, collaborating, sharing, presenting, evaluating and reflecting. These are the true building blocks of learning. And your teachers have not simply seen it as their job to talk and tell; they have sought to learn with you, to guide and be guided by you. So what is it that we have been trying to learn during our time together that we will carry with us after today? Is it . . .

When in doubt . . . Google

Maybe? But ours is an age where information is not the problem. There is more of it than has ever existed. So the question is really, “What will you do with the information you get when you Google when you are in doubt?” As Harvard’s Tony Wagner suggests, your Googling will only be of value if you have these “must-have” skills of the future:

Critical thinking and problem-solving
Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
Agility and adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurialism
Effective oral and written communication
Accessing and analyzing information
Curiosity and imagination

We have tried to cultivate these skills during our time together, but acquiring these skills is hard work that requires commitment and dedication. One of you reminds us of Albert Einstein’s admonition that

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

So our actions do define us. And repeated actions create habits and these habits define who we are – our characters. How often do we claim to know something that we have neither understood nor experienced simply because we want to impress or are afraid of how others might perceive us? If the response is “with some significant frequency” then are we willing to say as Socrates did and as echoed on one of these flags that . . .

All I know is that I know nothing.

Socrates is not being glib here. His commitment to this belief marked him as a corrupter of youth and cost him his life. He was instead opening himself up to the true possibilities of knowledge and learning. He was saying to us as one of you observed

Come as you are (6)

and as another noted

Today you are you that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you. (7)

Who you are is where you begin. It is the only honest starting point and touch point along this path of growth. And how you see your “youness” and your relationship to the world is of crucial importance and is captured in the flag that says . . .

You’re only as tall as your heart will let you be and you are only as small as the world makes you seem. (8)

It is certainly the case that when we are feeling small we aren’t likely to do our best thinking or be our best selves. And in those moments we may fool ourselves into thinking that we are getting by, but getting by is an illusion. As one of you correctly observes,

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. (9)

That middle ground is the home of inaction, of indecision. We would do well to abide by the flag that reminds us that

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. (10)

Over the last four years, we’ve talked about the importance of taking risks and how most if not all of our most important learning is the result of having taken a risk. To be clear, we’re not talking about foolish risks here; we’re talking about thoughtful risks, which are considerably harder to take than the foolish ones. The thoughtful risk leaves us vulnerable to those who choose to occupy that middle ground. This idea is reflected in the flag that says,

The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those that cannot fly. (11)

So who you choose to fly with is of the utmost importance. Every Adolescent Issues conversation you’ve had over the past four years has been a variation on this theme. Continue to choose wisely and remember that as one of you points out,

Be who you want to be and say what you want to say, because people that mind don’t matter and the people that matter don’t mind. (12)

And who are these people that matter? They are the ones sitting next to you right now. You know that

Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget. (13)

And you know that you would not be here today were it not the case that

I get (You got) by with a little help from (your) my friends. (14)

Now I’m not so sure that I agree with the premise of the following flag that says,

Friendship is not something you learn in school, but if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship you really haven’t learned anything. (15)

I do however wholeheartedly agree with its concluding sentiment. Friendship is something that can be learned in school and it is a cornerstone of the LREI experience. Our commitment to the growth of whole student recognizes the absolute importance of these relationships. At LREI, the other is always present in everything we do. We do not use the word “community” lightly and as the next flag points out,

We both go together if one falls down. (16)

But friendship and community are ideas that demand committed and on-going work. We need only to look at the news to see that we live in a word where people do great harm to each other on a daily basis. This harm comes in many forms and as one flag acutely observes,

The tongue like a sharp knife . . . kills without drawing blood. (17)

At Houston Street when you were younger, you likely chanted, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” I think it is fair to say that you understand now that this is not true at all. Words have tremendous power and they can do immeasurable harm. Your study of history and human rights has shown you that words can be a powerful tool for prejudice, discrimination, and hatred. While you have learned the fundamental importance of empathy in the role of understanding, an idea embodied in Atticus Finch’s statement that “You never really know a man until you walk a mile in his shoes,” there is something deeper here. It is expressed in the flag that takes its inspiration from Bruce the Shark in the movie Finding Nemo:

I am a nice shark not a mindless eating machine. If I am going to change this image, I must change myself first. Fish are friends not food.

Empathy is necessary, but not sufficient. We also need to do the demanding work of looking at ourselves. We need to understand our own capacity for unkindness, which can give rise to the damaging ways that we may come to see and treat others. For those of us who enjoy certain privileges we need to be more mindful of the prices that have been paid by others to make these privileges possible. So it really is about choosing to participate, in our own development as individuals, as members of our families and as members of the various communities to which we belong. This is the journey that you have been on and will continue on as you move up. As one of you points out,

The road doesn’t end, it splits.

And today marks one of those moments where paths diverge, where you will go separate ways even when it may appear like you seem to be going together. You will not be together in this way again, but there is a flag that reminds you to

Look beyond.

Do not limit yourself, consider what might yet be and envision a role in that future for these people with whom you have traveled so far. And as you dream, remember that while

The sky is full of dreams, you need to learn to fly. (18)

And we have tried over the past four years to develop your flying skills as writers, historians, mathematicians, scientists, artists, athletes and activists so that you can.

Talk about a dream, try to make it real. (19)

We have asked you to think out of the box, to consider alternate perspectives and possibilities, to regularly ask, “What if” because we know that there is a certain elegant truth in the flag that says,

It takes skill to trip over flat surfaces.

It may take some hard work, but it is relatively easy to see what others already see. It is much harder to see that which is not yet visible, the promise of what is possible. Wherever your path takes you, we know that you will find opportunities for leadership and that you will share your vision of the world with others so as to make our world a better place. And in this process, consider the flag that reminds us that

A leader takes you were you want to go. A great leader doesn’t necessarily take you were you want to go, but where you ought to be. (20)

And in the process, make the most of each moment; as you think about the future, live fully in the moment so that you can say as one of the flags does

Tomorrow is another one. Today was fun. Today was good. (21)

This idea is echoed in a number of flags so be mindful that you

Live as if you were to die tomorrow . . . Learn as if you were to live forever (22)

and

Live, Love, Laugh – I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I don’t have any clean laundry because, come on, who wants to wash clothes on the last day of life? (23)

So keep a sense of humor about things. Getting through the day is hard enough and it is certainly true as one of you observed that while

Every man dies, not every man lives. (24)

It may often feel like our choices are confined to either/or possibilities and that we are somehow stuck with choices that aren’t really choices just two sides of the same coin. As one flag suggests, it is almost like

Darkness is moving at a speed of light

What do we mean here? If darkness is the absence of light how can it have a speed? But turn off the light and the darkness seems to appear at the same speed as the light recedes. Maybe the question is a trick question. Maybe it requires us to see in a different way. Three flags may offer a clue to that different way. The first,

I have to thank you . . . G-d,

The second,

If God is a DJ, life is a dance floor, love is the rhythm, and you are the music, (25)

And the third

All you need is love. (26)

Whether it be through an organized religion, a personal sense of spirituality, or an ethical framework, the discovery of our shared humanity is connected to the varied ways that we have found for foundational ideas and ways of being to coalesce into a set of values. It is these values that guide us and continually shape us as we move up. In our most difficult moments, we look to these values so that we may not be constrained by either/or thinking, which can limit us from seeing alternate possibilities. The challenge is that our values do not always overlap. One value is not necessarily wrong, while the other is right. They are different and our shared task is to understand even if we don’t always agree. As the last flag, suggests

We could flood the streets with love or light or heat whatever. Lock the parents out, cut a rug, twist and shout. Wave your hands. Make it rain. For stars will rise again. The youth is starting to change. Are you starting to change? Are you? (27)

So we are almost there, our journey takes us back to SpongeBob and the emerging realization that he too connects to your Moving Up and our progressive practice. He lives in a pineapple under the sea (that is certainly out of the box), curious, passionate, open to new experiences and others, a committed friend, and engaged in the world in which he finds himself. So I think we do have a developing sense of what he means when he says, “I’m ready . . .”

But just so we are truly clear, let’s go one step further. I do believe that the answer lies in a scene from the very first episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, which I will now recite (I’ll let you imagine the voices):

SpongeBob SquarePants: There it is. The finest eating establishment ever established for eating. The Krusty Krab, home of the Krabby Patty, with the Help Wanted sign on the front. I’ve waited years for this moment. I’m gonna go in there, march straight up to the manager, look at him straight in the eye, lay it on the line, and – I can’t do it!
[turns away, but is stopped by Patrick]
SpongeBob SquarePants: Patrick!
Patrick: Where do you think you’re going?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I was just…
Patrick: No, you’re not. You go in there and get that job.
SpongeBob SquarePants: No, I can’t! Don’t you see?
Patrick: Who’s first words were “May I take your order?”
SpongeBob SquarePants: Mine were.
Patrick: Who made a spatula out of toothpicks in shop class?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I did.
Patrick: Who’s a… who… Ungh… Who’s a big, yellow cube with holes?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I am!
Patrick: Who’s ready?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I’m ready!
Patrick: Who’s ready?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I’m ready!
Patrick: Who’s ready?
SpongeBob SquarePants: I’m ready!

And you are, Congratulations!

Sources for unattributed quotes from flags:

Dave Mustaine
Robert C. Gallagher
Mahatma Gandhi
Immortal Technique
Oscar Wilde
Kurt Cobain
Dr. Seuss
Christopher Drew
Helen Keller
Robert Kennedy
Friedrich Nietzsche
Dr. Seuss
G. Randolf
John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Muhammad Ali
Jason Schwartzman
Buddha
Brandon Flowers
Bruce Springsteen
Rosalyn Carter
Dr Seuss
Mahatma Gandhi
Jeremy Schwartz
William Wallace
Pink
John Lennon and Paul McCartney
MGMT

Of General Interest . . .

1) Click here to access the most current “At a Glance” calendar for the 2010-2011 school year. This calendar includes Family Conference dates not included in the last version that was sent by Phil.

2) Join us on the LREI Float to Gay Pride March 2010:

Sunday, June 27th, 2010: 12 p.m. -end
March sign up to come
Click here for the flyer
contact: cborows@gmail.com for more details.

For All Grades . . .

1) Click here to get a jump on school supplies for next year. The attachment has the lists for all four grades.

For Eighth Grade Families . . .

1) Eighth graders moving on to EI should have their summer reading assignments. Additional information about summer work can be found at http://lrei.org/libres/sr.html. Also, click here to view faculty book talks on the summer reading choices.

For Seventh Grade Families . . .

1) Please read the attached summer reading and summer math assignments. Click here to read the grade level reading list and here to view the supplemental reading list. Next year’s core teachers will visit the class to go over the assignment. The lists and assignments are also accessible on the school website at http://lrei.org/libres/sr.html.

2) Looking ahead to next year, click here to access the registration form for the spring Gettysburg/DC trip that will take place next May. I’m sending you this information now so that you can spread out payments over a longer period of time. If you register online, please use the following trip ID#: 55757. If you have specific questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me.

For Sixth Grade Families . . .

2) Looking ahead to next year, click here to access the registration form for the Williamsburg / Jamestown trip that will take place next October. I’m sending you this information now so that you can spread out payments over a longer period of time. If you register online, please use the following trip ID#: A76310. W e would like all families to register for the trip by the end of the month. If you have specific questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me.

For Fifth Grade Families . . .

============= For additional information, follow these links: =============

A reminder that the individual homework blog and the “feeds” for every class can be accessed from the Digital Classroom link on the sidebar (you may want to bookmark this page for easy access). These feeds provide an easy “one-click” solution to find out what has been assigned for homework. Keep in mind that a feed will only show what has been posted as of the time you check it.

Don’t forget to check the LREI website for updates and other interesting school-related information.

Be well,
Mark