the individual within the structures

 

school: freedom and responsibility

first, and foremost, I am called to every individual student before me,

I feel myself as guide in a daunting landscape

where too easily, students can feel they’ve lost themselves,

as if they don’t know where they are, 

so they don’t know who they are,

relationship with self, with friend, with teacher,

can help each rediscover that the risk of coming out

into the fullness of what they have in possibility

is worth the effort,

they can then look into the world

and see themselves whole,

though the effort to realize the wholeness takes a lifetime,

I love to be there to cheer them on,

second, and just as compelling,

I am called to what the school needs in its structures

to help the work chronicled above

to have its best chance of success,

take about 150 students, and 20 or so teachers,

in a middle school, the kids ranging from 10 to 14 or so:

a time of tremendous developmental change,

so like the pre-school years of 3-5,

the students enter the middle school as children,

and leave as young adults,

the school is challenged as to what structures

will most help them come into the power inherent within them,

debilitating self-doubt all too common, 

no GPS available to counsel them

as to how to move forward,

how much choice and how much required? 

an open question,

how to group them: 

by age, by gender, by interest, by friends, by advisor?

how much is the staff in charge?

how much is free will in charge?

the same quandary God felt with the Garden of Eden,

how much are we guides?

how much are we powerless?

I fear the school needs me to remind us

that each student should challenge us

to make sure the way forward for them

is within the structures we offer,

I champion choice as to direction,

I champion pulling the students into realizing

that friend groupings can be larger than what is easiest,

and that a new direction may be just what is right for them,

perhaps the secret to a middle school is a lot of choice

within carefully constructed structures

that reinforce long-term gain over short-term reward,

exercise and cake both have their time.

by Henry H. Walker

June 29, ‘22