Over the last year or so we have instituted a number of substantial, if subtle, changes around Tinicum Art and Science. Our Ass't Principal, Stephanie Kenney, oversees all academic issues, from scheduling to class content to teacher performance. We have developed two sets of procedures, one for holding staff accountable for good educational and therapeutic performance, another for holding administration responsible for setting the proper tone and for follow through on issues big and small.
The students now meditate four days a week in the morning, and have short periods of meditative silence just before lunch and at the very end of the day. We offer courses in yoga and meditation, as well as in a psychology class that is oriented towards well-being and self-observation.
We have also used a quirk in our current enrollment- that we have a large group of seniors and freshman, but little in the middle- to structure more deeply the orientation for the young students and the oversight for senior projects and college applications. We currently have one current student teaching study skills that she learned this past summer at Phillips Academy, and a recent graduate- a prolific and able writer- teaching an intro to writing course.
What is next? A more integrated music program. Also, building on the work we accomplished last year with getting students to evaluate and more forcefully shape the curriculum here. This will require a greater degree of self-knowledge on their part, and much clearer, more collaborative advocacy on ours.
Most heavily on my mind has been the role of social justice at school. There is a program nearby that helps families wracked by domestic violence. One of their difficulties has been getting presents together for their older children. Everyone donates the little kid stuff. So our students gave a hundred dollars of the money they have raised over the last couple of years, and raised another one hundred fifty more to fill that need. Efforts such as this are admirable, but they don't require an integrated view of the world. They address a problem without raising questions of justice.
Can social justice be addressed non-ideologically? Is it even desirable to try? At TAS we don't preach "buddhism". We teach certain techniques and emphasize few rituals. Students who wish to go deeper can, and do. They learn to treat each other justly because they are treated justly. But is that enough. Should we be instilling a stronger ethic, a broader awareness? Or do we plant a seed and let it be?
The students now meditate four days a week in the morning, and have short periods of meditative silence just before lunch and at the very end of the day. We offer courses in yoga and meditation, as well as in a psychology class that is oriented towards well-being and self-observation.
We have also used a quirk in our current enrollment- that we have a large group of seniors and freshman, but little in the middle- to structure more deeply the orientation for the young students and the oversight for senior projects and college applications. We currently have one current student teaching study skills that she learned this past summer at Phillips Academy, and a recent graduate- a prolific and able writer- teaching an intro to writing course.
What is next? A more integrated music program. Also, building on the work we accomplished last year with getting students to evaluate and more forcefully shape the curriculum here. This will require a greater degree of self-knowledge on their part, and much clearer, more collaborative advocacy on ours.
Most heavily on my mind has been the role of social justice at school. There is a program nearby that helps families wracked by domestic violence. One of their difficulties has been getting presents together for their older children. Everyone donates the little kid stuff. So our students gave a hundred dollars of the money they have raised over the last couple of years, and raised another one hundred fifty more to fill that need. Efforts such as this are admirable, but they don't require an integrated view of the world. They address a problem without raising questions of justice.
Can social justice be addressed non-ideologically? Is it even desirable to try? At TAS we don't preach "buddhism". We teach certain techniques and emphasize few rituals. Students who wish to go deeper can, and do. They learn to treat each other justly because they are treated justly. But is that enough. Should we be instilling a stronger ethic, a broader awareness? Or do we plant a seed and let it be?
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