Curious Minds and Big Questions
“What are the three qualities of a student who flourishes? And why those?”
It’s a Friday morning in May, and I’m in a classroom with about 16 Grade 8 boys. Part of our hangout is given over to asking me questions on pretty much anything, and I’m impressed that this is where they want to take it. I share that I think flourishing students—besides being connected to others—often exhibit strong capacities for intellectual autonomy, personal integrity, and practical wisdom. We talk a little about how hard it can be to develop those qualities in a world which sometimes encourages opposing characteristics; the boys seem clear-eyed about the challenges involved.
Their next question (“What do you think we should take advantage of in high school?”) is just as rich, and gives me the chance to climb onto one of my hobby horses: The notion that time is the most advantageous thing, and that whatever our interests—arts, athletics, research, social impact, leadership—we do best when we understand the value of our own time (or what it means to waste time) in trying to grow in these activities. But rather than being conclusive, this comment of mine prompts deeper discussion about the importance of leisure and self-care, the dangers of overwork, and how to distinguish between needed restoration and simply wasting time.
And the thoughtful inquiry continues, as I’m asked by another boy about the most challenging aspect of organizing our new Upper School on 64th Street. I muse about the trickiness of navigating municipal bureaucracies, and about figuring out how to apportion classrooms among talented and eager faculty, before sharing my frustration at not being able to get everything our community wanted in the new space. Once more, the boys don’t take me at face value, and ask for more: What did we not get? Why? What was the thinking? The boys give me a chance to explain how quickly square footage gets gobbled up, how we have placed a premium on versatile spaces, and how a responsible school has to be mindful about what activities and encounters it privileges—or seems to privilege—through its architecture.
There were moments of levity, to be sure. I was asked who I thought would win the NBA playoffs; when I named the Oklahoma City Thunder, a boy reflexively and definitively asserted: “Bad take.” (Nothing levels perceived social hierarchies as readily as debates about sports. And he may be right.) After I asked the group about their enthusiasm for our new facility on 64th Street, on a one-to-ten scale, the boys shot their hands into the air, five fingers extended on each hand, as though they were going down a steep dive on a roller coaster. Discussions ranged about the best fast food, the best way to start a Wordle game, and the best six-word sentence to describe Middle School. There was no shortage of opinion, and no shortage of smiles.
For all that fun, however, the quality of the encounter never suffered. One of my concerns for all of our boys, whatever their age, is that they are growing up in a time that is especially hostile to a host of necessary social goods: Deep listening, nuanced analysis, reasoned exchange, genuine curiosity. What was so remarkable—and so reassuring—about my time with the 8th Graders was their active rejection of all these hostilities. During my visit, they were not merely respectful, but generous; not merely attentive, but engaged. It was neither my answers nor even their initial, good questions which held the day—it was their responsiveness, their follow-ups, their conscientiousness which did so. At a historical and developmental moment when boys are so often conditioned to be judgmental and dismissive, the Grade 8 guys were authentically the opposite.
While we rightly celebrate the beautiful new Upper School that we will open for classes in the autumn, we always bear in mind that nothing is more important to Browning than the character and aspirations of the boys that inhabit it. My conversation with our Grade 8 boys again shows me that the deep quality of these guys will be a fitting match for the excellence of our new facility, and I look forward to seeing them continue on as the types of students who flourish.