Shedding Light Upon Shadow
The AIS strategic plan expires this school year and initial meetings have occurred to define the changes we wish to take place over the next five to ten years. Many constituents of the community will have input into this process, but I wish in my first Globetrotter article to focus on how we might define excellence in education, in the context of an international school that follows the International Baccalaureate curricula and philosophy.
In the poem The Hollow Men, T.S. Eliot touches on the dilemma of the process by which vision and mission might be translated into practice:
Between the idea and the reality
Between the motion and the act
Falls the shadow,
Between the conception and the creation
Between the emotion and the response
Falls the shadow
Excellence in education might be defined by the light we shine upon this shadow. Our ability to develop excellence is defined by our success in the understanding, delivery, communication, and realization of our mission. We describe our vision and ensure that others understand these images and, thus, are able to contribute toward it. The process of change is constant; excellence in education coupled with the joy of learning is interwoven within it. However, excellence demands that students acknowledge that their perspectives will be challenged; that they are content with the frustrations that come with not everything being easily understood; get pleasure from the need for repetition and practice to achieve certain skills; and are keen to be exasperated by their mistakes. Excellence in education evolves through a student’s understanding of this learning process coupled with a teaching environment that acknowledges this fragility. On the other hand, more important than the knowledge, skills and concepts that students learn is the value that we place upon truth, beauty, and virtue in their traditional senses. We are limited in our goals if we do not respect the world around us and those who live in it.
Thus, the main goals that the faculty will work hard on this year – and I imagine many more to come – center on the development and delivery of a dynamic, articulated and thoughtful K-12 academic curriculum, and a pastoral program that reinforces respect and values.
We will have a great year!