Leading Through Dialogue
This edition of Margin Notes is guest written by Head of Upper School Jon Willson
Several months ago in the Upper School, a few of us began creating an offering for ninth graders, and we had lofty goals: the promotion of civilized discourse and leadership. The result? A course we’ve named “Dialogues on Leadership in Contemporary Issues” or DOLCI (“sweets” in Italian!) for short.
DOLCI, with all 38 freshmen attending, meets bi-weekly. It emerged from, well, dialogue - summer conversations I had with Head of School John Botti and Director of Teaching and Learning / Assistant Head of School Danielle Passno. For this new Modern Masculinities course offering, we wanted to emphasize leadership by infusing discussion of current events with close listening and kindness. Given the contentiousness of national and international developments, as well as the U.S. Presidential race, we wanted our boys to be exposed to these issues’ depth and breadth beyond the usually shallow, adversarial content posted on social media. But who would be the best people to combine modeling the leadership inherent in respectful, informed dialogue about current events with the skills of running a discussion-based class? Browning's faculty, of course!
In August I emailed my colleagues to ask who might be interested in participating. The response reflected our faculty’s commitment to Browning boys: eight teachers replied with a firm “Count me in!” Several others sought me out to express future interest. Meanwhile, I had decided to teach the first meeting alone because I was new to Browning and wanted to introduce myself and the course’s vision and purposes. The boys themselves established the norms; among them were “respect each other’s space” and “put forth your best effort.” Then we were off and running on our first dialogue issue: the Electoral College.
I figured that with the election two months away, students should understand why they’d be hearing so much about “battleground” or “swing” states. Many knew of the Electoral College; others did not. But most were surprised, and in some cases incensed, to learn that the U.S. does not elect its chief executive via direct democracy. More importantly, many of the boys saw that this would be a space where they might express their positions safely. They realized that an informed opinion about either Presidential candidate, presented politely, would be well received by their classmates and teacher.
“I’ve seen that the Grade 9 boys’ curiosity–a core Browning value–about DOLCI’s content can fuel opportunities for them to observe and demonstrate leadership. ”
Last Friday, English Department Chair Lydon Vonnegut, Middle School Dean of Student Life Megan Ryan, and Danielle Passno led the class’s second dialogue. The topic was reproductive justice and abortion rights. Students viewed a series of slides on definitions of abortion and reproductive justice, the history and current status of abortion rights globally and in the U.S., and Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’ policy stances. Lydon, Megan and Danielle discussed a range of good faith positions on these issues before opening it up to thoughts from the boys. I could not attend class because I was on the College Trip with the juniors and seniors, but the teachers reported that the boys were “very respectful and attentive.” Lydon happened to teach English to half the freshmen class the very next period, and she shared that the boys were “itching to process what they'd heard.” The class' structure worked well: some history for context, then faculty dialogue, then the chance for the boys to participate in measured discussion. The subject of the next dialogue on October 4 will be immigration. History teacher Brian Plane and math instructor Matthew Bratnick, who co-advise our Political Discussions club, will lead the charge.
DOLCI will run all year long, but in the lead-up to Election Day there will be dialogues about the economy and foreign policy, with particular focus on conflict in the Middle East. These are exceedingly delicate yet important issues that my colleagues and I will approach with great care.
I have taught history, government, geography, and current events for a long time, so on a personal level, it’s fun to still be in the classroom. And I’ve seen that the Grade 9 boys’ curiosity–a core Browning value–about DOLCI’s content can fuel opportunities for them to observe and demonstrate leadership. I am indebted to the faculty who’ve helped this class launch successfully, and to the boys for their enthusiastic engagement!