summer reading

Not to be complacent or suggest we sit on our laurels, by any means, I think we might learn from and be inspired by what we as a school are already doing in terms of global education and figure out how to build on those initiatives with new ideas and fresh energy. Quite organically in many cases and intentionally in others, we try to educate young people to be aware, sensitive, involved citizens in whatever communities—from classrooms and neighborhoods to the global arena—they have footholds. How might we increase the benefits and resonance of what students are experiencing in individual rooms of their larger schoolhouse experience? Perhaps one way is through more cross-program interaction, increased collaboration among classes and activities and school-wide events, so students see with heightened acuity the relevance, which Reimers suggests is essential, of what they're doing to their lives, to their sense of self in the world. That sense of connectedness seems crucial. 

So much of what our students are doing is thought-provoking, eye-opening work for lives that will develop on a global stage. Off the top of my head, I think of the Upper School's productions about Matthew Shepard and life under the Ceausescu regime, among others; the Chorale's learning of songs in their original languages from around the world; the work of the GSA, Peer Counselors, Sophomore Guides, and Bivouac Junior Guides; the One World, One School celebration; the numerous cultural clubs; Community Service activities; the efforts of The Vanguard and The P.O.V. to link BB&N experience to national and global issues; and the opportunities provided by Model UN and the Debate Club (and sophomore debates and history classes and classes in all disciplines, undoubtedly) for students to view from multiple perspectives issues of worldwide importance. These are just a few opportunities for global education that come to mind—and I won't even start to list, beyond the last parenthetical mention, the many that students have in their classes. Again, I'm not suggesting we check off globalism on our collective to-do list—rather, that we capitalize on our existing proclivities and purposefulness. In the school's mindful efforts a couple years ago to rewrite the Mission Statement and craft the Values Statements, we have further indication of an environment supportive of providing students with even more fertile opportunities for increasing their global competency. We need to make the most of that. 

Two areas mentioned in the readings deserving more of our attention, I think, are moral education and issues of socioeconomic diversity within our school community. I welcome the opportunities to learn more myself and to be enlightened further about how best to help cultivate in our students the values and skills associated with global competency. No easy or mindless task, certainly.

Sharon Krauss