1791 | February 2017

It has been quite an interesting few weeks here on the Hilltop. I seemingly can’t catch a break from snow days and delays. The political landscape remains challenging, and we are all suffering from the grind of February in general. Surely this is the time of year when a school earns its stripes, as we are suddenly far from the excitement of either the school year beginning or ending. As I turn my attention to this month’s 1791, I find myself torn between what I should write about and what I want to write about. Perhaps this is a reflection of the tension that vexes all leaders about the difference between personal desires and the responsibility that this role demands. I think I will ultimately write about both: addressing the complicated political landscape and celebrating our beloved Patriots. First I need to start by stepping back and stating that things are likely never as rosy nor as dire as they may seem.
 
I want to start with my most important statement of the month: Berwick Academy’s mission and values are timeless, and they do not sway in reaction to a current president or in response to the success or failure of a local sports team. Our core values clearly state that we stand for balance, stretching, integrity, and excellence. Our Statement of Community reminds us that we stand for inclusion and valuing all kinds of difference. Above all of that, our mission of promoting virtue and useful knowledge urges us not only to reflect upon what it means to be educated but more importantly what it means to be good. Leadership requires a certain amount of courage and conviction, but it also requires listening and appreciating the viewpoints of others.

As Head of School, I have intentionally chosen not to write additional letters to our alumni and parent communities in reaction to the election, the inauguration, or even emerging legislation. Given the divided political nature of our community, I know that such statements would be criticized for being either too strong or not strong enough. To me, the most relevant thing to affirm to our community in this medium is that our work and our values on this campus feel more relevant and important than ever. For so many reasons, Berwick Academy must continue producing graduates whose views are reasoned, who hearts are open to disagreement, and whose souls are willing to listen and have their opinions evolve over time. Carol Dweck from Stanford wrote her legendary text, Mindset, on the difference between fixed and growth-oriented concepts of intelligence, showing us the research as to why students will ultimately fail if they believe their intelligence is somehow fixed or purely biological in nature. I hope that our community’s views on the world will similarly not be so rigid and will remain open to the valuable growth afforded us by discourse and dialogue.

A friend recently sent me a video from a professor at Brown named Mark Blyth, who is a noteworthy political economist. He reminds us that what has taken place in the U.S. politically is not a particularly American phenomena. The issue of wealth being so disproportionately awarded to small groups of people is a global epidemic. Political parties and landscapes have shifted dramatically throughout Europe in the past decade, and traditional “party” lines are being redrawn everywhere. In general, the theme of large groups of people just being tired of feeling ignored has actually become fairly universal. The faces behind the podiums may be different and more or less concerning in various ways, but the underlying reasons for the shifts are, in fact, rather logical. It is useful to consider our current political situation through a lens that is not always so American-centric. Perhaps the sky is not falling and we are yet another country caught in a political sea change of sorts.

Similarly, the glorious victory by our Patriots in Super Bowl LI is clearly viewed through a New England-centric lens – whether we are liberal or conservative. Let me clearly state my own view: the comeback victory of the Patriots in Houston was among the best things I have seen in my lifetime. It will sustain me not merely through February but through years of expected future suffering. The performance in Houston struck chords of toughness, character, resilience, and leadership in ways that undoubtedly move all Americans. Certainly I shed a few tears amidst my shouting and prancing in front of the television on Superbowl Sunday.

And yet, I was also reminded through various communications and media outlets in the past few days of just how viscerally much of the country resents our beloved Brady and Belichick. The reasons are pretty obvious, I think. In both cases, there are lingering questions of integrity that have played out on a national stage. Whether it has been filming other practices or deflating footballs, people in other regions wonder less about the public incidents for which the team has been “caught” and more about the ones that may never have found the light of day. I think the concern is logical, separate and apart from my own viewpoint on the validity of these concerns. So while the duck boats rolled through Boston earlier this month, I have little doubt that resentment and frustration were building in other areas of the country. While it may be a stretch to compare this regional division to the state of our political divides, I do see some commonalities around leadership and transparency. I do see a clear concern that too much of the “good stuff” (in one case money/power, in another Lombardi trophies) seems to be headed to too small of a group of people – and for reasons that are not uniformly received as being completely fair. Can people fully support so much going to so few?

Admittedly, part of this has to do with my being an offensive lineman by position and personality. I played football for ten years, including at the college level. I never touched a football once in all of that time. Lineman looked more like jolly green giants than supermodels with marketing deals. We ate more pizza and carbs than antioxidants or cleansing smoothies. Ultimately, I believe I feel the same way about loving the Patriots as I do about patriotism. We show love and appreciation for something by questioning and challenging it. We try to understand it from all perspectives and not merely by the lens that is easiest for us to access. Even with its warts, I still love my Patriots completely and I still love my country fully as well. I say that while also knowing that I will not be telling my children that I hope they will one day grow up and be just like our President nor will I hope they emulate the lead actors in the Patriots organization. But I also know that they can learn something important from all of these people.

I hope that our students emerge from their Berwick education in a similar frame of mind.  I hope they come to the Hilltop each morning knowing that we stand for something – and it does not change based on a four year rotation in the Oval Office, nor a lucky catch that occurred at midfield. With the stability of our values as the foundational backdrop, I hope that Berwick students evolve, question, are challenged, and remain open to the reality that they have yet to discover all of the answers about what is actually right in this world. And as Professor Blyth at Brown University suggests when confronting a question from a presumably liberal college student, our students must acknowledge that they will need to engage with and empathize with all perspectives in college and beyond…because there are ultimately more of “them” (however we choose to define the “other”) than there are of “you.”
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Berwick Academy

Berwick Academy, situated on an 80-acre campus just over one hour north of Boston, serves 550 students, Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 and Post-Graduates. Berwick students are from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and several countries. Deeply committed to its mission of promoting virtue and useful knowledge, Berwick Academy empowers students to be creative and bold. Berwick strives to graduate alumni who shape their own learning, take risks, ask thoughtful questions, and come to understand and celebrate their authentic selves.