Musings on Character

Like most people these days, I get sent lots of links – some funny, some lame, some provocative, and many that are interesting.

I thought I would include a couple of received recently about the matter of character in education.

The first is written/audio piece from The Economist on resilience, intelligence, socio-economic factors, and parenting.

The second is a brief letter from Howard Gardner about measuring kids. (Gardner is Harvard professor well-known in education circles for, among other things, his work on multiple intelligences. He was one of the speakers in last year’s G20 meeting – as per my last post.)

Finally, here is a fun video clip I received this morning that presents a lovely vignette on the meaning of sportsmanship and compassion.

These are interesting parenting touchstones, but also food for thought when we start to look at future priorities for Appleby.

Of Indore, G20, and Learning

I am writing this en route from Indore, India back home to Oakville. I was in India for the annual meeting of the heads of “the G20” – a group of leading schools from around the world. This G20, which is actually made up of about 30 schools and whose name was apparently coined before the somewhat better-known governmental namesake, provides a stimulating opportunity for heads of schools to compare notes, questions, and their own challenges in an open and safe forum.

This year’s session was hosted by Mr. Sumer Singh, the Principal of The Daly College. Mr. Singh, an Indian Aldus Dumbledore-like character from an old princely family, has been a good friend of Appleby, and Daly has been one of our close partners for many years through Round Square. Daly is a highly regarded, beautiful and iconic force in Indian education, in large part because Mr. Singh is such a wise and charming soul.

Sumer arranged a whirlwind week-long program that introduced us to aspects of India past and present, architecturally, culturally, educationally, and economically. I arrived fully expecting an experience that would be very different from what I have seen elsewhere, but I didn’t anticipate the extent of the gulf. My head is still spinning from the societal complexities, the rich history, the pervasive energy, and the striking poverty. As someone told us, "For any truth about India, the opposite also applies." In addition to seeing many of the great historic sites of India, and spending time with some of the most prominent members of Indian society, we were treated to a series of superb speakers from maharajas to senior civil servants, to cabinet ministers, to educators.

One of the best speakers was the 81-year-old member of Parliament, former cabinet minister, Ambassador and Governor, and the titular Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, His Highness Dr. Karan Singh. On our first night, Dr. Singh spoke eloquently, without a note, about what he sees as the key questions we have to face in education. Harkening back to service on the UNESCO International Commission on Education for the 21^st Century, he discussed the challenges in balancing the four kinds of knowing (or learning):

·         Learning to know – Knowledge is the traditional wheelhouse of educational institutions. The major shift in recent decades is the understanding that learning to know is now a lifelong pursuit and the necessary route to wisdom.

·         Learning to do – Vocationally focused education is the driver to economic well-being of both individuals and communities. Creativity and critical thinking are becoming increasingly intertwined in what we see as preparation for many successful career pursuits.

 

·         Learning to live together – There are two views of humans and their differences. The first, the pessimistic version, is that humans possess a genetic defect that will lead us to self-destruct. The opposite is that we can all live together harmoniously. The key is in understanding each other’s values. So, learning to live together is values-based, and education must be focused on enhancing understanding of differences, be they between individuals or between communities.

 

·         Learning to be – Developing a sense of purpose, a moral code and an understanding of the treasure within is about looking inside ourselves. While it is the most difficult form of learning, the degree of challenge mirrors its potential for personal fulfillment.

The balance and tension between these four modes of learning is the central question for education policy for countries as it is for each school. Dr. Singh talked about the need for India to address its massive demographic hurdle (it is one of the youngest populations and one sixth of the population of the world) by having the right blend of the four, especially about the need to excel at learning to do.

This theme – about understanding the right blend of the four – was very much at the core of the conversations that took place at the G20, and it is certainly the question that we should continue to ask ourselves at Appleby.

The Lessons of Rabbitnose

When it comes to alumni looking back at their school or university experiences, often they take the tone of fishing stories – the big ones were a bit bigger, the storms a bit harsher, the victories a bit sweeter and the winters a bit colder. And like fish stories, some is myth and some reality. Temagami is most certainly one of those subjects for which there are many Appleby memories and legends from the past 40 years, and mentioning my plans to go up with the Upper 2s seemed to be a catalyst for many of these stories to flow.

A common alumni question is “I heard that it’s not as tough as in our day … is that true?”

While it is true that some of the stories I heard (e.g. swimming under the ice between holes, 36-hour “solos” in the bush, groups of students going out winter camping without adults) are not the Rabbitnose reality of today, I am just as convinced that the principles that made the Northward Bound experiences so impactful 25 years ago, are just as strong today. A commonly accepted truth is that people’s personalities, attributes, greatest achievements and character are shaped disproportionately by times when they are outside their comfort zones socially, physically, or in terms of obstacles. For a huge proportion of Canadians, this includes spending time in the wilderness, and for a majority of Appleby alumni, their time in Temagami has been both memorable and life-changing.

On my trip last week, we started with a 10 km hike across Lake Temagami to get to the island. As I mentioned in the last post, a misty part rain/part ice fog was settling in when we departed the mainland. By the time we trudged into camp a few hours later after night had fallen, there was a beautiful eerie haze and our packs had a paper-thin layer of ice covering them. It was quite a workout, but I realize that the relatively mild weather and south wind were a huge advantage compared to most groups who typically face temperatures averaging 10-15 degrees colder while also walking into a stiff north wind.

These days, Grade 10 students spend six days and five nights in Temagami during mid-winter. (Grade 8s and 9s spend time there in the fall, and other groups visit in the spring.) The first day the group is split into smaller expedition teams (ours included twelve Grade 10s, two student leaders, and two adults – me and a guide, Appleby grad Andrew Carrick.) The groups each head out across the wind-swept lake to different sites in the area to establish campsites – pile quinzhees, get firewood, prepare the kitchen, etc. After all the work is done and lunch has been cooked and eaten, the teams head back to Rabbitnose for the night. The following morning, the groups set off again to return to their sites, dig out their quinzhees and stay out on the lake for the following two nights/three days. After the expedition, they head back to Rabbitnose for a great meal, a stint in the sauna and one last night in the cabins. The last day is the 10 km hike back to the mainland.

I am a huge fan of outdoor education and the winter trip is a perfect example of the impact it can have on a young person. In addition to learning “hard” outdoor camping and survival skills – things like how to build a quinzhee, the best was to gather firewood in winter, fire-starting, map & compass, etc. – the most important lessons the students learn are about themselves, how they interact with others, and how they confront obstacles.

Here are some of the things I saw when we were camping in our little bay:

·        It doesn’t take very long to realize the sheer immensity of Mother Nature and how insignificant we are without the shell of an urban environment. This epiphany pushes our awareness from focus on ourselves to that of the world around us – things like topography, wind, temperature, cloud cover, signs of wildlife, sounds and smells all become more vivid. One of the most significant characteristics of growing up is moving from focus on self to focus on everything other than self.

·        Once out on the lake in a small team, one realizes the complete interdependence with the other members of the team, including those whom hardly knew each other before the trip. The need to work with one-another and to “pull your own weight” becomes obvious to everyone. If someone if having a tough time, it falls to teammates to recognize it and help. Like a high functioning sports team, the sum is far greater than the parts. It may be felling a tree, or building a quinzhee, or squeezing into one with three other people for the night – winter camping requires you to develop the ability to read and defer to what is best for the team.

·        Life slows down – the tasks of getting wood or boiling water or even going to the bathroom all take longer and are more complicated than city life. You are forced to take time, to appreciate smaller steps, and develop a greater sense of patience.

·        More than any other environment I’ve been in, winter camping forces you to understand and read your body. You have to overcome your aversion to drinking really cold water because, counter-intuitively, it’s far easier to dehydrate. You also have to constantly monitor your body in order to ensure that it is always operating in that narrow zone between cold finger/toes and starting to sweat. Constantly adjusting your hat, use of layers and, most importantly, physical activity are among the dials to keep your bodily thermostat in that lovely warm but not hot zone.

·        The role of student leaders in taking responsibility for how the group should operate and the well-being of team members is impressive. Many adults vastly underestimate the capacity of teenagers to show the kind of leadership that we expect of those who are much older. Moreover, there are many examples of situational leadership when, like a formation of Canada geese, different members of the team step up at different times to contribute.

·        Most significantly, I was very proud to see so many students who were clearly in the most alien possible environment find ways to cope and conquer what must have at times seemed like scary and insurmountable situations.

Many thanks to those who were up at Rabbitnose last week and to Doug Stamper and his team of thoughtful and experienced instructors. It was a great week and I look forward to my next visit.

(I have included some photos from the expedition in the slide show on the right of the blog as well as a few more in an album on my home page.)

Snow Day Workout

I share a trait with many others (especially males) that annoys my wife - I worry about being too soft in the face of physical challenges. (I think there was something in The Sun Also Rises that deals with this issue.) For years, I have lamented how easily many schools seem to close for snow days, and how being a real Canadian compels us to face blizzards with a greater sense of intrepidness. Perhaps this has been further enhanced by my wife's Quebec relations' ongoing digs about former Mayor Mel Lastman's calling in the army to dig Toronto out in 1999. (Note to relations: this was 14 years ago - let it go.)

So this morning at about 5:30 as our Head of School Katrina Samson (who is a kindred spirit on this issue) and I were deliberating about what to do in the face of the a severe winter storm warning forecasting high winds and a dump of 25 cm of snow, we were of mixed minds. We ended up calling a closure, like most schools in the region, and it was probably the right decision.

Personally, I manage to brave the 200 metre commute to the office and am pleased to report that the boarding community, most of whom were in the dining hall, all concur with the decision.

One site that delighted me was on my walk to the dining hall.There was the Boys Varsity Hockey Team, led by their head coach and phys ed teacher Dan Poliziani, helping our Facilities staff shovel out the campus while many of their classmates were still in bed. While I suspect that Mr. Poliziani considers this excellent dry land training (shovelling and chopping wood are my two favourite forms of exercise), I think that is is a very special sign of great community. What a wonderful example, and an indication of the spirit we hope our graduates will show throughout their lives. I attach a couple of photos of the boys at work in the slide show at the right part of the blog homepage.

Rabbitnose Anticipation

I’ve just returned from Appleby’s northern (outdoor education) campus on Rabbitnose Island in the beautiful Temagami region of Northern Ontario. I was there with the first group of 46 Grade 10 students for their winter outdoor adventure week. Over the next month, all of the Grade 10 students will be there for what is one of the most special and unique aspects of their Appleby journey. What an experience!

For me, the return to Temagami was one filled with great expectations and a healthy dollop of nostalgia. While I have passed through Temagami a couple of times in the last 20 years, my nostalgia related to two visits there during my school years. The first was in winter of Grade 9. A group of school mates were taken up by a faculty member to stay at a lodge (run by a family called the Plumtrees, as I recall) on Lake Temagami over March Break. That trip was memorable for many reasons, and not just because we made the six-hour journey each way sitting on the floor in the back of an Econoline panel van. We spent time in historic Cobalt – the site of one of North America’s great silver rushes (for a while, we were told, Toronto was known as the place you catch the train to Cobalt.) We visited a large open pit mine (iron, I think;) spent the better part of a day on Bear Island (a First Nation community in the middle of Lake Temagami), and particularly in the Bear Island school; went ice fishing, lots of snowmobiling, hiking, snowshoeing, and were even taken up in a small bush plane to fly over the area. I recall seeing a couple of moose trampling through the bush from the air. The idea that some of the people we met were completely isolated on their islands for weeks at a time in the late fall and spring during the freeze and as the ice went out was a completely alien concept for city people.

The Appleby international experience programs are one of our great strengths. From what I have seen across Canada and internationally, it would be judged as a great hallmark program, with the “cap” being the Appleby Diploma in Global Leadership. One aspect of the program is intercultural trips for Grade 9s into countries in order for them to understand ways of life, history, culture and different perspectives.   For me, this trip was my first cultural orientation to Northern Ontario. While we often talk about regional differences in the Canadian landscape, for instance between French Canada and English Canada or Calgary versus Vancouver, in some ways the greatest divide may be between urban and rural Canada.

The second visit was on a canoe trip with a group of close friends from my days in the scouting movement. We used to trip on a regular basis, but this one, which started on Lake Temagami and was focused mainly on the Lady Evelyn system to the north of the big lake, was particularly memorable for one reason. It was there in the early fall where we saw a raft (apparently the proper the collective noun) of loons – maybe 50 or 60 – swimming together in the middle of the lake. This was the first and only time I have seen such a sight and it still stands out as one of the magical wildlife highlights for me.

So I headed up to Rabbitnose full of anticipation about revisiting this beautiful part of our country, as well as a blend of intrigue and anxiety about how well my winter camping skills (I used to do fair bit of it in my younger years) have held up over the last 30 years. My standard line has been that whatever rustiness in my skills is likely more than well compensated for by my increased insulation!

As I pulled up next to the bus of students and started to unpack at the government dock, the ice road that launched out onto the broad white plain of Lake Temagami was starting to be framed by a hazy, drizzly mist. And so started my initiation into the Appleby Rabbitnose experience ….

(I will write more about the week and the lore of Rabbitnose in my next post.)